Leadership Lessons I have Learned from Start Trek

I have followed Star Trek since 1966. Like many people of my generation, the values, stories, characters and lessons consciously and sometimes unconsciously are present in my thinking, my observations and my professional practice. I will try to share a lesson every few days.

Lesson 3: Keep Your Communicator On.
You can be whisked out of lots of problematic situations if you can communicate with your crew of trusted advisers. Today, we live and breadth with our communicators. I personally skip a heartbeat if I can’t locate my iPhone for a moment.

By contrast, many leaders and managers know that some communicator down time is healthy. The most interesting Star Trek scenarios happen when communicators malfunction on a strange new planet. To survive without communicators, the stranded crew members develop relationships with different people, learn new customs, and empathize with both friends and enemies. This is often where they live the mission to “explore strange, new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

With all our fun communication devices, it takes discipline and emotional intelligence to know when to turn them off and take some time to explore the place you are in and the people that are actually with you. Who knows, you may fulfill your mission too.