Capt Jack had it Made!

Captain Jack Aubrey was the commander of the HMS SURPRISE in the 2003 film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," as adapted from Patrick O'Brian's series of novels.  The movie itself is probably the finest cinemagraphic representation ever of the realities of life aboard a naval vessel in the days of, "Wooden ships and iron men."  Though Capt Jack is fictional, his position as master of a fighting frigate is clearly historical.  From my position as a commander in the 21st Century I look at Capt Jack with great envy.  While he was at sea, his only duty was to ensure that his men were doing their duty and that ship was well tended, fitted and fought.  He had little, if any, administrative minutiae to fog his days.  He kept logs, wrote letters, and read & reread accounts of other naval officers, to be sure, but the majority of his time was spent on the weather decks ensuring that his ship was on course and "tight." 

 

Unlike Capt Jack, I am constantly buried in an avalanch of paperwork to the extent that it takes significant effort just to get out of my office.  There is so much that I could do that I have had to deliberately choose what will not get done.  Modern communication technologies, as great as they are, more often add to time pressures than take away from them.  Here's an example.  When I first came on active duty we had very few computers capable of performing word processing.  As a result, if I wanted to type up something official, I had to use a typewriter.  We didn't even have electric ones - just manuals.  When I finished writing my document and wanted to forward it to someone in another command, I either had to hand-deliver it, or put it in a messenger envelope and have it sent through our courier system.  If I sent it at the beginning of one week I might reasonably expect a documenatry response by the beginning of the next week.  Now someone will forward a 15-page document by email and expect it to be read, digested and critiqued in less than an hour.  That might be fine if it were done only once a day.  The reality is that the ease of generating documentation with today's technology means that the quantity of documentation has multiplied exponentially.  This boils down to a lot more time looking at my computer and trying to dig through my "in" box than I would like to be spending. 

 

Good leadership is about people.  Just as life is about people.  Everything else pales in importance to people.  If my paperwork doesn't have a beneficial effect on the people with whom I am charged to lead, then it is counterproductive and a "sea-anchor" slowing progress.  There are some collaborative tools out there that I want to investigate using in order to decrease the time it takes for me to handle paperwork, but for the moment I still find myself signing my name up to 50-60 times a day on documents that I usually have to reacquaint myself with in order to ensure that what I'm signing is accurate & trustworthy. 

 

No matter how important a piece of paper is to the operation of my unit, I still need to get out to see, and be seen by, the people I lead.  I've already had several situations in which I have learned things just by visiting my people, that I otherwise never would have known.  In those situations I have learned of needs that I could fill in order to help my people get the mission accomplished.  There is no great leadership without presence.  No email or video teleconference can make up for looking someone in the eye and dripping sweat with the people in your charge. 

 

Jack Aubrey had it good.  He was on a small ship with a contained amount of sailors.  They learned very quickly what was important to him and what he expected.  That is critical for anyone in a leadership role.  One of the things I'm doing to get out from behind my desk is that I'm going to get a stand-up desk soon.  It will make walking away from my office that much easier, because I'll already be standing.  More updates on this later.

 

If you haven't done so yet, watch "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."  It's a great leadership film.

 

Dirk