Arsenal of Freedom: a lesson from the Enterprise
This is a story about a leadership lesson I learned from the guy who hosted Reading Rainbow.
I’ve got a shelf full of leadership books and an impressive pile of HBR articles, TED talks and the like. I’m also finding inspiration for my work with leaders in less obvious places, like television shows that aired more than three decades ago.
My wife and I were tweens when Star Trek: The Next Generation began airing, and we recently started re-watching via Amazon Prime. (Our trip down nostalgia lane has yet to captivate the interests of our own tween-age daughter.) Low-resolution special effects and truly, truly questionable hair and makeup choices aside, the show still leaves a lot to admire.
Ignoring for a moment the volumes written about Captain Picard and his leadership abilities, I was impressed by a leadership lesson from Geordi LaForge in the episode “Arsenal of Freedom.”
Long story short, Picard leaves the ship not knowing if he’ll return, and puts LaForge in charge. The acting captain immediately faces existential challenges to the Enterprise and everyone on it, and to the away crew that includes Picard himself. He comes under fire verbally from a fellow officer who challenges his authority, and literally from a nearby planet. While trying to save the ship and its occupants, adapting to changing circumstances and relying on a bridge team more junior than usual, LaForge barely wavers in his instructions or loses his cool.
So… keep your head on straight in a crisis and set a good example by doing so. Leaders change the weather. If you freak out or complain, everyone who works for you will take this as license to do the same.
But this approach turned out not to be enough.
Sensing great concern (her specialty), Counselor Troi pulls LaForge aside for a chat. She points out that he seems level-headed and confident. He says he’s very nervous on the inside. She commends him for keeping all of that to himself, but points out that the two key members of his bridge crew are visibly unsettled and seeming to lack confidence in their own abilities. LaForge had been so focused on his own state of mind that he missed theirs. The remedy, Troi says, is for him to express his confidence and allow them to rely on it — as he had done when Picard asked him to take over the ship for the first time.
LaForge thanks Troi for her advice and uses it. The pep talk works.
In that tidy, 48 minutes with commercials kind of way, it all works out and the crew is reunited with Picard back in charge. TV can be great because compressing conflict and resolution is deeply satisfying. Real life and work are not the same, but the principle here sure is.
Stretching your team’s boundaries — by asking them to do things they’ve never done before — is what great leaders do. It’s what growth requires. And it implies that you know they are capable even before they may know it themselves. But it isn’t enough. Expressing your confidence before, while and after the work is done is the missing ingredient. It costs you absolutely nothing, yet can make the difference between inspired performance and terrifying failure.
I would imagine the lives of your team won’t hang in the balance next time you get to put this lesson into practice. I hope you do it anyway. Make it so!
(Originally posted on Medium)