Of Pirates and Principled Leadership

With the daily news awash with stories of home foreclosures and bankrupt businesses, we are all encouraged when the news instead offers a glimpse of hope and heroism.  On April 12th, it was heartening to hear that an American leader, Captain Richard Phillips, was rescued from the small lifeboat where Somali pirates held him captive. Captain Phillips had five days earlier surrendered to the pirates in order to secure the safety of his crew aboard the ship, Maersk Alabama.  As it turns out, this real-life pirate tale is a story about a couple of key leadership qualities that would serve to foster exceptional performance in most any team in today’s organizations. 

Captain Phillips is clearly a courageous leader, and President Obama said as much immediately following the ordeal.  The type of courage he exhibited involved putting himself in harm’s way to insure that his team would be safe and secure.  In the corporate world, we generally don’t have to risk life and limb to protect our teams, yet a demonstration of courage in leadership would surely serve to strengthen them, while bolstering team member morale and loyalty.  It might be helpful to recall that courage is not really defined as the “the absence of fear”, but as “the mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger, or hardship”.  How can we as leaders do that in our roles?  Here are a few quick thoughts:

·      Take the blame for a mistake made by a member of your team, while honestly and privately discussing how things might have been handled differently with the individual

·      Have a difficult conversation with a team member who needs someone to care enough to provide some honest feedback

·      Pave the way politically for your team member to introduce a new program or project to insure its success

·      If you see an attitude or behavior that needs to be eliminated in your organization, be the champion for changing the culture, and a role model for the new way

·      Stand up for corporate policies that support and are congruent with your personal values and the values of the organization, and stand against incongruent policies and actions

The news this week reminds us that courageous leadership makes a big difference in the lives of people every day.  Don’t we need to challenge ourselves to greater strength to resist the dangers that lurk on mahogany row in the corporate world?

Tagged as: Changing Culture, Corporate Policies, Corporate Politics, Leadership, Role Model, Team member