Lessons in Management and Life from Star Trek
[You don't have to know Star Trek to appreciate the Lessons]

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Category: Leadership

JUMP TO LESSON:
002: Management authority challenged (Picard, Wesley)
028: Un-cluttering for management role (Riker, Pulaski)
034: Managing over-eager employees (Riker)
035: Managing effort and rest (Riker)
058: Leadership trust in management (Picard, Data)
067: Managing sudden loss of resources
084: Leadership air of confidence (Picard, Crusher)
088: Not afraid to promote those better than oneself (Riker)
089: Unchanging attributes (Riker)
090: Confronting harmful management directives (Picard)
096: The role of management (Troy)
099: Leadership in the face of underwhelming forces (Picard)
109: Adapting to new management (LaForge, Troy)
114: Management encouraging open discussion (Picard, Worf)
126: Importance of proper training (Picard)
133: Cloaked in rank and title (Picard, Q)
136: Personal culpability unrecognized (Data)
139: Announcing your limtiations (Picard, Data, Crusher)

Lesson No. 002: Management authority challenged (Picard, Wesley)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Capt. Picard and Ensign Wesley Crusher are on board a run-down, beat up shuttle that is captained by a rather contentious, sarcastic, scruffy looking fellow. The shuttle captain never misses an opportunity to express his disdain for the much, much larger and more powerful USS Enterprise by continually belittling his own shuttle craft in front of Picard.

After crash landing on a moon with desert-like features, Picard recommends the 3 of them head towards the mountain range in the distance to seek cover from the sun’s overwhelming heat. The shuttle captain immediately refutes Picard’s authority to decide what they all should do. Even though Picard is quantum levels higher in leadership experience and abilities, Picard does not openly challenge the shuttle captain. Instead Picard tells the shuttle captain that he appreciates the shuttle captain’s piloting abilities and welcomes his input, and asks if there is any alternative solution that Picard may have overlooked. The shuttle captain had no other solutions and resolved to follow Picard’s orders.

Lesson:
Here is an excellent example of true leadership. Leadership is less about leading others than it is having others follow you – voluntarily! History is filled with events where people have followed so-called leaders out of fear and not reverence. A true leader inspires others, including even those who may oppose him or her.

We all encounter people in life, especially at work, who through their own inferiority complex, manage to be very condescending and patronizing of others. Overtly suppressing such people by imposing management rank may appear to clear any potential problem issues, but in reality it only acerbates relationships and increases the rift among all involved. As a leader, or manager, one needs to emulate Picard’s actions here and first encourage useful, constructive dialogue in potential conflict situations.

Respect and loyalty to rank may be inherently obvious; however, our allegiance and faith lie in the individuals we seek to follow as leaders.

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Lesson No. 028: Un-cluttering for management role (Riker, Pulaski)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Cmdr. Riker, as Number One or second in command of the starship Enterprise, is offered a promotion for the first time to captain his own starship. While making his decision, Riker has to deal with his father being on board the Enterprise. Riker has a very poor relationship with his father and shows his contempt with every snide and sniping remark he makes to Dr. Pulaski regarding his father. Pulaski advises Riker to jettison the emotional baggage he is carrying around before taking on his own command of a starship.

Lesson:
The role of leadership requires substantial changes in our behavior from what we may have found acceptable in a staff or follower-role.

Without any management responsibilities, you can be quiet cavalier with work life. By just doing the tasks assigned properly and effectively, you can display frivolous, even uncaring attitudes at work with nary a repercussion. Exhibiting personal opinions, exalting own prejudices and displays of negative emotions are usually all within the realm of non-management roles.

As a leader, however, people will look to you for guidance, understanding, strength, and reliability. None of these qualities are applicable if you, as the leader, are seen as acting with any of the aforementioned negative characteristics.

By controlling the negative aspects of our emotion driven actions and embracing almost a parental role over the staff, we are, not only, better able to meet our fiduciary responsibilities as managers, but also stand to gain the trust and loyalty of those whom we manage.

Follow the Doctor’s orders and jettison your emotional baggage too. It will also make you feel a lot better.

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Lesson No. 034: Managing over-eager employees (Riker)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Lt. Cmdr. Shelby, a very career aggressive minded individual, is put on temporary assignment on the Enterprise to handle a potential Borg attack situation. Cmdr. Riker, second in command on the Enterprise, gathers a team together, including Shelby, to investigate a planet that shows signs of being attacked by the Borg. Upon arriving at the planet, Riker orders a schedule for the reconnaissance work on the planet. In her eagerness, Shelby beams down to the planet with Cmdr. Data ahead of schedule. Riker pulls Shelby aside to let her know of his displeasure with her disregarding his orders and risking their lives by coming to the planet ahead of schedule and alone with Data. Believing she did nothing wrong, Shelby argues that a couple of extra man-power would have proved useless if the more powerful Borg had been present on the planet anyway. Riker informs Shelby that the issue at hand is not the relevance of the extra-manpower on the planet, but that he wants to be informed if his orders are going to be changed. Shelby acquiesces by telling Riker that his comments are noted for future reference.

Lesson:
A sign of a good manager is to always inspire initiative and encourage outside-the-box thinking in others. However, do not let those goals ever overshadow your leadership position and responsibilities in the group. In the end, it is the manager who is responsible for the group, not the individuals within the group. The management structure does serve the purpose of establishing protocols by which tasks and assignments are performed. Adherence to delivery deadlines, rules of conduct, methods of operations all fall under the leadership of the management. Violation of these standards by any staff member, based on their individual decisions, can and will cause disruption within the group. No one is recommending engaging in military style regimentation (in any non-military organization); however, allowing staff to make their own decisions and orders, without management involvement, on things that impact others in the company or the company itself is a disastrous move.

Shelby is lucky Riker didn’t reduce her in rank immediately as penalty for not following orders.

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Lesson No. 035: Managing effort and rest (Riker)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
The officers and crew of the Enterprise are discussing possible battle strategies against an impending attack by the Borg. As the discussions continue over a great span of time, some in the group being to rub their eyes, yawn and stretch, and begin to show visible signs of being tired. Cmdr. Riker orders the meeting adjourned and everyone back to their quarters for rest. Lt. Cmdr. Shelby, a very career aggressive minded individual on temporary assignment on the Enterprise, asks to continue the discussion with Cmdr. Data, who is an Android and does not need rest. Riker rejects the request and orders Shelby to get some rest too as he doesn’t want the crew to be battling the Borg the same time they are fighting their own fatigue.

Lesson:
As the manager or leader of a team, you must be extremely sensitive to your team’s needs. Although enthusiastic or high-stamina individuals within the group may want to continue forward, know when to stop in favor of the team and not one particular individual in the team.

It is easy to get drawn into an endless spiraling sequence of events that may induce us into thinking that we can still go further without rest, but that is exactly the time to stop. Have you ever driven a car, late at night, and sleep was slowly devouring your eyes and other senses? By cranking up the radio, lowering the windows, or even just slapping your own face you try to convince yourself that you can keep going. Long before your eyes have closed, your senses become so dull that you won’t even realize you have crossed over to the opposite oncoming traffic lane…until it’s too late.

It is far better to take the rest you need today to live and fight again tomorrow, than to keep fighting today and lose to rest never more.

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Lesson No. 058: Leadership trust in management (Picard, Data)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
The Enterprise is incapacitated by the primordial gravitational forces of a dark matter region of space. As the ship’s deflector shield increases in power to protect the ship, an energy wave front emanates from the dark matter and strikes the ship depleting the shield’s strength. When the shields strength is increased, the ensuing energy wave front from the dark matter hits the ship with even greater magnitude almost destroying the ship. As a final resort, the shields are routed through the warp engines to maximize its strength. The next energy wave emanated from the dark matter is measured to be off the scales and will definitely totally destroy the ship when it hits.

Lt. Cmdr. Data, having quickly analyzed the correlation between the shield strength increases and the power output of the energy wave during the past two hits to the ship, tells Capt. Picard to order the shields be dropped immediately. Cmdr. Riker yells out that dropping the shields in the face of the incoming energy wave will be suicide. Data just repeats his request to drop the shields. Picard orders the shields dropped. The energy wave dissipates immediately and no harm comes to the ship. Data explains that the energy waves emanating from the dark matter were magnified echoes of the harmonic oscillations from the shield. Therefore, as the shield increased in power, so did the magnified echo in the energy wave. By shutting down the shields, the energy wave echo reciprocated accordingly.

Lesson:
The role of leadership dictates that the responsibility for all final decisions lies with the one in charge; however, that does not mean that all solutions must also be generated by the leader. Rather it is usually the function of the true leader to encourage those within the group to provide alternative solutions to issues being faced. By reviewing the different solutions proposed, the leader can then make the appropriate decision on the proper course of action.

If the leadership decision making process is to be dependent on the opinions and recommendations of others, then the single most crucial aspect of the leader-to-others relationship must be trust. The leadership must establish an environment of trust that is based on each individual’s single-minded focus on the success of the organization, or the project, or the mission. Without this unified focus on the same goal, the true motivation for any opinion or recommendation from anyone will always require scrutiny. Of what use is the information, if the source cannot be trusted?

When, like Picard, the leadership is successful in building the trust based relationships, it becomes much easier to decide in favor of recommended solutions, even if it means going against personal intuition and face certain failure or disaster.

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Lesson No. 067: Managing sudden loss of resources
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
The leader of a genetically engineered alien world, who has always worked hard to serve the people of his society, sees failure in him self when many of the population decide to leave their home world. The idea of leaving their home world does not arise from any dissatisfaction with their world or their leadership, but rather, with the arrival of the Enterprise and the attraction to visit other worlds and other civilizations. The leader of the world must now contend with serious gaps in his society, as each member in the society is engineered to serve unique functions and the sudden departure of so many will surely disrupt, if not severely damage the existing society.

Lesson:
Leadership, no matter how facilitating and engaging, is always vulnerable to the prospects of sudden loss of resources. The loss may not be directly caused by the leadership or even by the current working environment. People voluntarily leave organizations for a multitude of reasons beyond just dissatisfaction with their work or management. Health conditions, family needs, restlessness, continuing education and ambition, are but only a few reasons why people seek to change jobs. When this happens, the leadership cannot be self-reproaching. Instead, the leadership must first quickly accept the situation of the departures, for it would be detrimental to all concerned to linger on attempting to retain the resources. If by any chance, the departing resource can be “bought off” to remain, then this only delays their inevitable departure and just serves to antagonize those who did not receive any rewards for not trying to leave.

Once the gap analysis is performed on the missing resources, the leadership can work towards realignment or addition of new resources. True, there will be hardships endured by those who chose to remain by their picking up the initial slack in effort; however, once things return to a level of normalcy, these individuals should be quickly recognized and rewarded through various means including financial, promotions, increased responsibilities and even extra paid days off.

One of the attributes of good leadership is to accept harsh realities, no matter how painful they may be. Nothing is as painful or as jeopardizing as losing key resources. However, after an initial tilt, the leadership can bring the ship back on course, if acceptance of the situation is immediate and the contingency plans remain focused on the right goals.

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Lesson No. 084: Leadership air of confidence (Picard, Crusher)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Capt. Picard & Dr. Crusher are being held captive by an alien race that implants telepathic devices on both of them, enabling each to hear the other’s thoughts. While trying to escape, they come upon an area which has two possible paths to take. Crusher is unsure which path to follow. Picard points in one direction and assertively indicates that it is the correct path. As they start down the path, Crusher hears Picard’s thoughts and realizes that Picard has no better idea than her as to which path they should be taking and that he was only guessing earlier when he chose which path to take. When she tells Picard this and asks if he does that often when giving orders, Picard answers, that there are times when it is necessary for the Captain to give the appearance of confidence.

Lesson:
Let’s take that one step further. Leaders must ALWAYS give the appearance of confidence. We look to our leaders for direction, hope and inspiration. If we believe that our leadership is lacking decisiveness in the choices they make, then we lose our trust in them and do not believe that they can guide us properly. We are willing to accept that our leaders are only human and that they at times may make the wrong decisions; however, we still expect them to make the decisions and live by their eventual consequences. What is not acceptable is for a leader to show uncertainty and be wavering in making decisions. By vacillating too much, or hesitating in pronouncing directives, the leader proves to be undependable and not worthy of following.

Managers, when confronted with risk mitigation situations, must quickly digest and discern the available information to arrive at an actionable solution. To delay or to not make any decision would be to only exacerbate the situation. Sometimes, in the face of the sounds of battle, the regiment would much rather receive the order to charge towards the gunfire, than to wait around for officers to deliberate and allow the battle to come to them.

Once all the factors involved in a situation have been understood and all possible alternatives have been considered, the resulting selection of possible options to follow is not the final solution. Only when the actual actionable directive or directives are given is the decision process considered to be concluded. The leader must make the choices, right or wrong, and present them with certainty at all times if others are expected to follow. This holds true whether you are the head of a family, a corporation or a nation, and especially if you are the captain of a starship.

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Lesson No. 088: Not afraid to promote those better than oneself (Riker)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
In a private discussion, Capt. Picard relates to Cmdr. Riker’s old captain why he (Picard) chose Riker to be his Second in Command on board the Enterprise. Riker had apparently refused to let his former captain beam down to a hazardous area during a crisis, disobeying direct orders and even risking court martial, because Riker knew he was right in doing his duty of protecting the life of the Captain. Picard said he wanted his Number One to be someone who would stand up to him, be more concerned about the mission, the ship and the crew than how his actions might be reflected on his record.

Lesson:
When selecting members for a team for any assignment, and especially when promoting someone into a management position, it is imperative that personal ego does not interfere with the selection process. For it is usually the egos of those people with inferiority complexes, that motivates them to pass over talented individuals from selection, from fear of being overshadowed. In actuality, by selecting individuals who are more talented, skillful or experienced than ourselves, we not only better ensure the success of the tasks at hand, but we also gain to improve ourselves by working with these people. By challenging us and complementing us, those better than us, only drive to aspire to greater heights and accomplishments.

In the tale of Robin Hood, Little John manages to knock Robin Hood off the log bridge in their hand to hand combat during their first encounter. Upon finding out that the man he had just bested was the same man with whom he had come to join up, Little John realizes that Robin Hood will probably no longer accept him, having just been dumped in the water by him. Instead Robin Hood shakes Little John’s hand and says that he (Robin) admires any man that can better him and he welcomes such men into his band of merry men.

Strong, self-confident leaders, like Capt. Picard and Robin Hood, are never afraid to recognize individuals who excel in different areas beyond themselves, as long as the individuals are committed to the same causes as the leadership.

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Lesson No. 089: Unchanging attributes (Riker)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Cmdr. Riker, second in command of the Enterprise, is told by his former captain in a chance meeting, that Riker has apparently changed from the fresh cadet who was serving under his former captain to a seasoned officer as Number One on board the Enterprise, stating and standing by his convictions. Riker’s former captain offers advice that, while changes in a man’s life can be for the good, one should make sure that he does not change his sense of duty or loyalty, as they say more about a man than his rank or uniform.

Lesson:
Duty and loyalty, add honor, integrity, decency and valor and no more need be said for the guide to the perfect individual. We can all only hope to be worthy of such recognition in our own lives. While change is one of the constants of the universe, these intrinsic human qualities of goodness must always persevere over the passage of time. The one overriding control over all of these attributes must be the human nature of humility, without which, the rest of the qualities will be viewed upon by others with just disdain.

Just as Riker humbly expresses his hope that his sense of honor continues to remain firm, so this entire lesson should be humbly seen as an attempt to highlight a few of the founding blocks of mankind’s greatest attributes.

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Lesson No. 090: Confronting harmful management directives (Picard)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Cmdr. Riker, second in command of the Enterprise, is under direct orders of a Starfleet Admiral to not disclose certain classified information to anyone regarding their current mission, including to Capt. Picard. Picard soon discovers the non-full disclosure of the mission details and confronts Riker. Picard tells Riker that he cannot force Riker to disobey the Admiral’s orders, however, trusts that Riker will not jeopardize the ship or its crew by blindly following the Admiral’s orders, adding the stipulation that if he finds Riker has violated that trust, he will be forced to reevaluate the command structure of the Enterprise.

Lesson:
Following orders is part of the human condition. From childhood, obeying parental instructions, to adulthood, obeying managers, clients and even traffic signals, we all learn to follow orders as a daily part of our lives, sometimes without question. However, there are times, when we need to draw a line, beyond which we will not cross, just in the name of following orders. These lines may be drawn in moral and ethical values, or in recognition of potential jeopardy to others or organizations, or in the simple notion that the order is unjust.

When following orders that cause wrongful harm, be ready to face the consequences and not hide behind the skirt of “I was only following orders.” To underscore this by example - CFO’s who readily support their CEO’s in exploiting their companies to profit personally at the expense of the company must not be allowed to escape the full punishment of the law by pleading their innocence in just having followed orders. Leaders and managers should always make it very clear to everyone that, words and actions, which prove detrimental to the business, organization or its people, will not be tolerated, regardless from where the order originated.

Just as Riker is threatened by Picard with demotion for any betrayal of trust to the crew or to the ship, so must all within any organization be forewarned of equal or tougher penalties should they too betray the trust of the organization and its people.

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Lesson No. 096: The role of management (Troy)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Deanna Troy, ship’s counselor, decides to take the Bridge Officer’s Test to attain the rank of a full commander on the Enterprise. Her main impetus for this decision was her one time prior experience at command during a past emergency situation when she was forced to take command of the ship. After successfully leading the crew to overcome the emergency, she had relinquished command back to the Captain. Afterwards, she always missed the experience of being in command. So, now she wants the opportunity to explore this whole new side of herself.

Lesson:
The role of management has many attractions. If having the power, prestige and greater financial rewards that accompany the rise to management are the incentives, then failure as a good manager is pretty well guaranteed. These types of self-aggrandizing goals to reach management usually produce very arrogant, uncaring, and pretty much worthless managers. However, if the main reasons for wanting to take a management command position is the desire to serve others before yourself, to help make the proper decisions for the benefit of others or the organization, to help others through mentoring, and to get the pure satisfaction from knowing that you are part of a greater process leading others and the organization to success, then you definitely have the right motivations for a management position.

There are many who are extremely well skilled and knowledgeable about their own particular areas of expertise. However, this may not necessarily translate into good managerial qualifications. The key abilities for any managerial role is really not the amount of expertise and knowledge in specific fields (although such skills definitely do help), rather it is the ability to channel the efforts of other experts into a cohesive process by which projects, assignments and missions are accomplished successfully. This is by no means a simple chore. Given the respective differing personalities, egos, territorial loyalties, departmental priorities, conflicting agendas, and the ever present unpredictable situations requiring immediate risk mitigation, the role of the manager is mainly delegated to showing leadership in relationship management, situation containment and resolution, and motivation for goal attainment.

Before you can take on the monumental responsibilities of managing others, you must first become very self-aware and comfortable with your own abilities, constraints and weaknesses. If you wish for others to follow your leadership and put their trust and loyalty in your judgments, then first be sure you can commit to do the same for yourself. That is, be sure you are confident in yourself first, before you ask others to have confidence in you.

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Lesson No. 099: Leadership in the face of underwhelming forces (Picard)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Chief of Security on board the Enterprise, Tasha Yar is kidnapped by an alien race that live by certain codes of conduct based on maintaining honor above all. Cmdr. Data researches the cultural ways of the alien race and discovers that the kidnapping is the established way for the leader of the alien race to show his bravery over his visitors, the crew of the Enterprise. The correct acceptable way for resolving the kidnap situation according to their culture is for Picard to “ask politely” for the return of Yar. In spite of the readily overwhelming strength of the Enterprise with its Phasers and Photon torpedoes that can lay the entire alien planet to waste, Picard chooses to oblige the alien customs and acknowledges the alien leaders bravery at taking Yar and respectfully asks for her return.

Lesson:
Sometimes, leadership requires showing restraint and perhaps even some form of capitulation in the desire to obtain greater goals. Having the overwhelming power to totally destroy an enemy does not necessarily dictate usage of that power in all situations. Good leaders will always put aside their personal ego and selfish pride for the greater good in resolving hostile situations.

In the case of a hostage situation, the hostage negotiator can often do more good than the horde of officers and SWAT sharp shooters bearing down on the one bad guy with a single weapon pointed at the hostages. By simple math, the firepower of law enforcement clearly outguns the bad guy. However, such overwhelming strength is for naught if they do not have a clear access to the bad guy. On the other hand, through meticulously constructed conversation by a professional hostage negotiator, the bad guy may be reached and even impacted in the right manner so as to resolve the situation peacefully.

Deploying resources to end hostile situations forcefully may have merit in certain situation; however, the loss of life on all sides through this process is usually high. This is why leadership calls for exercising all other options before relying on brute force as the solution.

By not going in with Phasers and Photon torpedoes blasting, Picard manages to resolve the hostage situation with just some patronizing words, stroking the egos of the alien race leader, and without diminishing the pride of the Federation.

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Lesson No. 109: Adapting to new management (LaForge, Troy)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
The Enterprise is attacked while Chief Engineer Jeordi LaForge is left in command. In his newfound command position, LaForge experiences great stress and concern at taking the ship into battle; however, he keeps a cool head, takes charge of the situation and makes some very difficult decisions. Even though LaForge believes the Junior Officers under him are handling the current situation as well as he is, Counselor Troy points out that they are actually not faring as well as LaForge and that they are quite nervous about making mistakes. Troy recognizes that the junior officers need more encouragement from LaForge, they draw strength from LaForge and look for guidance and leadership from him; she tells LaForge to help them by showing confidence in them, just like Capt Picard once showed confidence in him.

Lesson:
Adapting oneself to a new management role must take into consideration addressing the “buy-in” or acceptance of the new management by the staff. Just as the new manager looks for guidance and encouragement from the management above them, so the staff seeks the same confidence builders from the new manager. Instilling trust and confidence in the staff by recognizing their knowledge, talents and experience is primary to developing a successful team. Cohesion in teamwork occurs through open communications and understanding of common goals and methods of operations as shared by both the staff and the management.

Staff has a better chance of attaining peak performance if they are not burdened with doubts about their management’s opinions of their abilities, whether they are working a company project or flying a starship into battle.

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Lesson No. 114: Management encouraging open discussion (Picard, Worf)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
The Enterprise encounters a dark void in space which registers no energy or matter. Lt. Worf, head of security, suggests going to yellow alert immediately. Capt. Picard, curious about Worf’s reaction, inquires why Worf made that recommendation. Worf pauses and does not answer. Seeing Worf’s hesitation, Picard tells Worf that the ship operates best when its officers share what is on their mind. Worf replies that his reaction was based on an old Klingon legend which talks of such a dark space creature that devours entire space vessels. Worf admits that he believed such thoughts were not worthy of a trained starship security officer and that’s why he didn’t want to mention it.

Lesson:
The hesitation of people to speak up in a public forum can have its roots in multiple reasons, from being embarrassed, to facing retribution, to disclosing ignorance, or to even just plain shyness.

In organizations, and especially in meetings, it becomes the duty of the leadership to encourage everyone to be expressive and to contribute to the process, no matter how trivial they may feel their item to be. By the leadership clearly stating that all input received will always be evaluated with proper care and respect, many of the fears of expressing oneself in public are greatly diminished.

For those who have opinions and are still reluctant to express themselves, it is worthwhile to mention that issues that go unaddressed may lie dormant and not surface until too late. One word or one question heard today may proactively stave off a disaster later. It also helps to underscore that it is usually the questions and issues that go unattended which can escalate into problems, finally surfacing not from within, but rather from clients.

Picard’s comments on a ship’s best performance being derived from the shared thoughts of its crew and officers easily translate to fit the functions of an organization and its staff and management.

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Lesson No. 126: Importance of proper training (Picard)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
An Alien ensign on temporary assignment to the Enterprise discovers an unknown bacteria life-form has attached itself to a Klingon vessel which is rendezvousing with the Enterprise. The Ensign fails to inform anyone of his findings as it is the procedure of his species to not discuss any matter until it is fully analyzed and options for solutions are made available.

After the Klingon vessel departs, the bacteria life-form is discovered by the ship’s automatic systems as it has begun to eat away the hull of the ship. When the Ensign explains that he had discovered the bacteria earlier and felt it was not yet necessary to inform anyone, Picard informs him that it is procedure on board the Enterprise to inform command immediately of any anomaly or anything that occurs which is out of the ordinary, pointing out that the Ensign’s delay has not only endangered the Enterprise, but also missed the opportunity to inform the Klingon ship of the danger also.

Lesson:
This highlights the importance of training. Whenever new employees join an organization, it should be mandatory policy to provide training not only for the technical aspects of the job, but also for all company policies and procedures.

Every company always has certain nuances in the manner in which they conduct their business affairs. From formal business wear, to decorating personal work areas, to protocol based communications with upper management, to taking coffee breaks, to working overtime, to charging business expenses, each company has its own set of rules for employees to follow. Although violation of such rules may not bring about anything as catastrophic as the destruction of the Enterprise, however, it may very well result in something far more serious - getting fired!

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Lesson No. 133: Cloaked in rank and title (Picard, Q)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
As the omnipotent alien Q loses all of his powers and becomes totally human, full of frailty and weaknesses, he ponders what it takes to be human. He confesses to Picard that he does not have what it takes to be a human. Without his superior powers he finds that he is frightened of everything, and declares that he is a coward and that he is miserable.

Lesson:
This scene ought to be seen by every arrogant person in a power position, management or otherwise, who acts impertinently towards others, driven solely by their own over-inflated egos due to their position.

It also provides great insight for those who fall victim to these dreadful tyrants.

Never allow anyone in an office of power to intimidate you with their rank. The true measure of a person is not based on their rank or the office they hold, but the manner in which they treat others. Power, due to rank or authority, demands from the person of position, empathy and humility. All arrogant abusers of power, who wield their rank as weapons of intimidation over others, are not to be feared, but rather pitied. They are nothing more than this same frightened, coward of an alien being, who is a whimpering nobody, afraid and alone, once their power is removed.

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Lesson No. 136: Personal culpability unrecognized (Data)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Lt. Cmdr. Data, an android, creates a brand new android life-form, based on his own architecture. As the creator, Data considers the new android life-form his child, fashions it as a female and names her Lal. Upon hearing of Lal, an Admiral arrives from Star Fleet to take Lal away from Data for studying back at Star Fleet. Data declines to support the request as he does not wish to relinquish his child. When the Admiral makes the request an order, Lal experiences emotions for the first time, and in a fit of terror of being ripped away from her father Data, Lal suffers internal cascade failure causing a permanent shut down. After Lal expires, all that the Admiral can say of Lal and the incident is “It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Lesson:
Swine! Swine! Swine! This horrendous individual, the Admiral, is totally devoid of any conscience for his own culpability. This Admiral proceeds in complete arrogance, exercising his self-proclaimed supremacy and unfaltering lack of any guilt for having been the sole cause of the death of Lal by trying to forcibly remove the child from its parent.

Unfortunately, these most disgusting, despicable and not even pity worthy examples of humans are usually found in high ranking positions, always unleashing harm upon the masses without any hesitation or reluctance, for they all suffer from a lack of conscience.

There are heads of companies and nations alike through out history that have wrecked financial and economic havoc, and war, respectively, and never felt it necessary to hold themselves accountable for the devastation and loss of lives they caused.

Be forewarned when you see these people. Recognize them for their truly evil nature and shun them for the pariahs that they are.

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Lesson No. 139: Announcing your limtiations (Picard, Data, Crusher)
Movie/TV Series: Star Trek - The Next Generation

Noteworthy Scene: (Skip to the Lesson if you're not a Star Trek fan!)
Lt. Cmdr. Data, an android, is surprised to find Capt. Picard and Dr. Crusher waiting in attendance for his upcoming violin recital. Taken slightly aback by their unexpected presence, Data suggests to Picard and Crusher that they attend a later performance of the same recital, when someone else will be performing his same violin piece, as his (Data’s) performance may not be as good for it lacks “soul”.

Crusher tells Data that announcing he is going to fail before he attempts something is never wise. When Data responds by asking if honesty is not always the preferred choice, Picard advises that excessive honesty can be disastrous, especially in a commander and that knowing your own limitations is one thing, however, advertising them to the crew can damage credibility as a leader. Data understands how this could lead to the crew losing confidence in the commander. Dr Crusher delivers the most cogent point of all by pointing out that the risk of constantly predicting potential self-failures before they happen, is that one may actually begin to lose confidence in oneself.

Lesson:
Successful leaders and managers must always recognize and admit to themselves their own limitations. To deny one’s own limitations is to invite failure whenever the boundary conditions of the limits are encroached. Only through an understanding of the limitations can one ever hope to surmount them and exceed beyond their current capabilities.

However, publically predicting failure due to one’s own limitations is never advisable. It disillusions and destroys confidence in all concerned. Great leaders through out history may have recognized the inevitability of defeat in their immediate battle due to overwhelming odds and superior fire power, however, from General George Armstrong Custer at Little Bighorn to the allied soldiers in Bataan during World War II, defeat, was never pronounced before the fight.

Although pure in his quest for absolute human honesty, Data is well advised by Picard and Crusher to not let honesty be mistaken for a lack of confidence.

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