Taking the Helm
A good leader is successful at exchanging information
Leadership and communication go hand in hand. Often, if you are a good communicator, you’ll be seen as a leader. Because communication is an exchange of information between people, the…
Effective leadership highlights genuine influence over power
I’m going to guess that most of you reading this article are impacted in some way by the new STCW requirements mandating a leadership class either for yourself or someone…
Technical skills don’t automatically make you a leader
The higher a leader goes in an organization, commonly their technical skills are called upon less and less, while their interpersonal skills become more important. For example, a captain doesn’t…
Take charge of leadership training
It seems that society has become quite enamored with the idea of leadership in recent years. The last time I did a Google search of the term “leadership,” I came…
Wield your power wisely or risk crew turnover
This month, let’s consider the idea of leadership power. Power isn’t something that gets discussed very often, even though it’s all around us in every aspect of our lives. Before…
Reciprocity influences loyalty, cooperation, productivity
Odds are if one of your friends helped you move, or picked you up from the airport or bought you dinner, you’d be willing to do the same for them…
Building relationships through humanity
A common misconception about leadership is that followers will simply do what they’re told, no matter what. I’m guilty of this myself. I don’t know why, but when I became…
The best leaders master leadership of self before tackling others
This may sound odd coming from someone who works with people who want to become better leaders, but leadership isn’t something that can be taught just in a classroom. Learning…
Look back on 2015 and take account of accountability
As the calendar winds to an end, many career-minded crew may look back to see how successful they’ve been regarding their goals for the year and the actual outcomes. I…
Charm, humor do not count as effective leadership
I recently re-read the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey, which I highly recommend. I was reminded of the difference between relying on character to…
