Star Trek Taught Me How to Lead
My favorite Star Trek quote comes from Captain Jean-Luc Picard: “The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth. It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based.” I love that quote because it speaks to me in the beautiful language of absolutes. There is a truth, and there is a lie. There is a right, and there is a wrong. There is a success, and there is a failure. It’s simple, it’s clear, it’s aspirational and it is achievable. Picard led his team with the absolute and unshakeable idea that as long as you do the right thing, you will be a great leader and your people will follow you. This sentiment has guided much of my early life and had a pretty definite, if at times misguided, impact on my path to leadership.