I posted this meditation after a long consideration as to how to approach dealing with the monumental subject of some of Starfleet's best in the center seat of command. Here's a breakdown of four of the best reposted here at The Genesis Particle.
-- Subspace Meditator
In the Star Trek sci-fi universe there have been five well-loved series. In each of those series, five iconic Starfleet captains have commanded the bridges of mighty Federation starships powered by the imagination of their viewers. With this meditation, I'd like to use three of those five captains as a means to explore what is commonly called "the leader principle." Here, we'll examine what it means to be a leader through the eyes of the legendary Captains Kirk, Picard, and Sisko, and how each of these men inspired their crews through dynamic personal leadership. Furthermore, we'll look at what this means in the real world, and how we might each benefit from a study of these classic leader types, fictional though they may be.
So, fellow officer, take a seat in the captain's chair as we jump to warp speed and begin.
How did he do it? "I changed the conditions of the test. I got a commendation for original thinking," he says to the inexperienced Lieutenant Saavik in The Wrath of Khan. Throughout the Original Series we see a Captain Kirk who time and again beats back death, beats back defeat, saving the day not only for (and with the help of) his gallant crew, but also for Starfleet's noble ideals, and the safety and security of the galaxy itself.
Yet even Captain Kirk is powerless to forever hold back the hand of fate. Twice in the original crew movie series James Kirk faces what for him become the ultimate losses in the form of the death of his most beloved friend, the Vulcan science officer, Mr. Spock, and the destruction of the one true "lady" in his life, the great Starship Enterprise herself.
Yet even these "defeats" are not enough to break the man, the captain, the leader that is James Kirk, for, as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
reminds him after the destruction of the Enterprise, Kirk always finds a
means to "turn death into a fighting chance to live." He does it when
the original Enterprise meets its end in The Search for Spock.
And he does it when given the chance to return his best friend to life
when it is discovered that Spock has been regenerated on the Genesis Planet.
What principles of leadership can we learn from Captain Kirk?
The greatest lesson I think Kirk shows us is that there is always a way out of a "no-win scenario." To find it takes courage, imagination, cunning, ingenuity, determination, and above all, the will to overcome. Captain Kirk demonstrated these traits repeatedly and in abundance during his Starfleet career, facing down many impossible scenarios - from military to diplomatic to scientific - and proving that the will to prevail shines brilliantly within the human spirit, and is capable of overcoming all obstacles if we are but willing to listen and heed it.
Of course there are many more leadership traits that we could examine with this heroic Starfleet commander. But our focus was to take his core traits and collapse in on a few key examples of how they make Kirk the man he is and why his example is worth emulating.
Following
on the heels of his predecessor, the noble captain of the Starship
Enterprise-D is our second model for consideration. Jean-Luc Picard
is a renaissance man in the finest tradition of the term. Picard is a
philosopher; amateur musician, painter, and actor; accomplished
diplomat; skilled fencer; trained archaeologist; a student of history;
an enthusiast of the natural sciences, particularly the astro and
temporal sciences; and, of course, the highly respected and successful
captain of the Federation flagship. He is a type of the best of the
human species and of human potential which even the superbeing Q recognizes as true.
Picard exudes leadership by first demonstrating the best, and then demanding and subsequently expecting the best from his crew. He inspires his people to go out of their way for him because they recognize that they act in the name of the best Starfleet captain of the modern era. His example of thinking before action has led the Enterprise-D out of treacherous situations on multiple occasions. This is has been especially true in matters of interstellar standoffs where reflection, calm, considered judgment, and reason have prevented armed conflicts from ensuing - both military and political. And one of the greatest examples of Picard's ability to see the "big picture," to use his deep knowledge of the human condition to look down the long tunnel of history and avoid unwarranted bloodshed, is when fellow Starfleet captain Benjamin Maxwell unjustifiably attacks Cardassian territory to the end of preventing what he believes is a clandestine Cardassian military rearmament and future assault upon the Federation. Picard prevents Maxwell from taking Starfleet and the Federation to war against the Cardassian Union without the firing of a single shot against neither the rogue Starfleet captain nor the Cardassian forces. Yet Picard does not idly dismiss the warnings of Benjamin Maxwell, nor the evidence - albeit specious at best - which he has produced to support his accusations. Picard goes on, in diplomatic, but firm, unadulterated language to warn the Cardassians that Starfleet will be on guard.
Yet a second example is the defection of Romulan admiral Alidar Jarok. Moving to investigate an alleged plot by the Romulan Empire to provoke war, the Enterprise is requested to determine if the supposed evidence of apparent defector Admiral Jarok is true. Picard rushes into the Romulan Neutral Zone on Starfleet Command's orders only to discover that the Romulans have staged the entire affair using the duped Admiral Jarok as an unwitting pawn in a devious machination to frame the Federation. Though Picard is in direct violation of the Federation peace treaty with the Romulans, and though the Enterprise is completely surrounded by enemy vessels and cut off from escape, Picard demonstrates the forethought and superior understanding of Romulan psychology to prepare for such possibility well before entering Romulan space. He again saves the Enterprise from destruction, Starfleet from an unwanted conflict, and the Federation from intergalactic humiliation by the cunning use of a brilliant tactical counterploy alongside the Federation's interstellar ally, the Klingon Empire.
Though we have focused on two military examples of Picard's leadership, the core trait that Subspace Meditator sees - which is in fact demonstrated well and beyond Picard's skills as a military commander - is his ability to think through a situation deeply before taking action; his ability to see multiple possibilities and multiple probabilities, and further, to deduce from these the best likely scenarios with which to guide his crew to the successful completion of their mission. Alternately said, Picard has a well-honed ability - derived from years of experience as a field officer - to foresee a myriad of options and collapse in on the few (or one) that will bring the Enterprise home.
Subspace Meditator believes that, more than any other trait Picard manifests in the TNG era, this trait is what distinguishes and separates him from his counterparts in the Star Trek universe.
And a superior trait it is to have indeed!
"There's only one order... We hold."
Of course, longtime fans of Trek film and TV will know that Benjamin Lafayette Sisko is not the first nor last individual of African descent to be shown in Trek
programming, so his presence in this regard is not unique. What is
unique in that regard is that he is the first to be regularly shown in Star Trek
episodic television. And this opportunity gave actor Avery Brooks a
unique canvass upon which to paint Ben L. Sisko. Let's return to that
fictional canvass and highlight some of those areas as well as the
leadership style and core traits that make Sisko who he is, and not
simply as the "black captain," but as an outstanding Starfleet
officer.
Family Man & Intimate Friend
Though it is known from other Trek lore that Starfleet does not discourage nor mandate its officers from having families, Ben Sisko is the only officer ever featured in its mythology to actively have one. All other episodic captains have been single. So Sisko's relationship to his son, Jake, is quite unique to explore from a storytelling point of view.
But let's back up.
Sisko is not simply a single father, but a widower. Having lost his wife at the climactic Battle of Wolf 359 in which Starfleet confronted the Borg invasion of Earth, led by the Borg-transformed Jean-Luc Picard, when the DS9 series opens, we find an emotionally lost Commander Sisko struggling to come to grips with Jennifer Sisko's
death, a transfer to a recently abandoned Cardassian base far from
Earth, and a very young teenage son whom he must now raise alone. For
the first time in Trek history we are given the chance to see
what Starfleet life is like for the married and attached individual.
The heartwarming aspect of the father-son relationship across the seven
years is how both come to terms with the severance of the husband-son
roles neither will ever have or play in the life of their deceased loved
one again. Benjamin and Jake learn ever-the-more to lean on each other,
both imparting lessons to one another just as real parents and children
do. What is most satisfying about this relationship to the Meditator is
watching the boy Jake mature into a young man. And what assists this
satisfaction best is to see it through his father's eyes. Whether
teaching his son to cook his own meals, or about the "fairer sex," or
giving him lessons in what true courage on the battlefield (and in life)
means, or whether it is teaching Jake to know and be true to himself -
no matter what others' expectations are, including his father's - this
relationship brings out the best of what it means to be a dad, a mentor,
a friend. It is especially heartwarming for those of us who have shared
this bond with our fathers. And instructive to those of us who have
not.
The relationship of Captain Sisko to his son is only paralleled by the relationship to his Trill friend and mentor, Dax.
We learn that the centuries-old symbiotic creature Dax is capable of
assuming the host bodies of various individuals over the course of their
lifetime. We also learn that the creature shares the experiences and
memories of these persons, imparting to each new host the life lessons
of the previous. As DS9 opens, we're introduced to the latest Dax host, Jadzia.
Herself a trained scientist, the young Jadzia is recently bonded to her
Trill symbiont, and reuniting with Sisko for first time in many years.
She is pleased, as is he, to be joining her new superior officer in
Starfleet's bold new venture to bring the recently-freed Bajoran star
system into the Federation. She informs him that the previous Dax host, Curzon,
has died, but that she shares his memories of a much younger and
inexperienced Ben Sisko, and how Curzon mentored and shaped his
worldview and future career. The relationship between Jadzia Dax and
Sisko progresses over the next six years until Jadzia is sadly killed at
the hand of Cardassian captain, Gul Dukat.
What is fascinating, however, is that, before her premature death,
Jadzia - in the form of her symbiont - continues to mentor the now much
more seasoned Sisko. Yet, simultaneously, Sisko does his own
mentoring of the young woman herself, returning the lessons in the form
of experience she, as a being independent of her symbiont, has yet to
have on her own. Across the breath of the series the contrast becomes
quite satisfying as the viewer is given a glimpse of the extended
family-friend relationship which the two have.
War Leader & Superb Strategist
Deep Space Nine became the focal point of the Federation Alliance's efforts to repel the Dominion invasion and occupation of the Alpha Quadrant during the Dominion War. On the front lines of this herculean effort was Ben Sisko himself. Tasked with planning and strategizing some of the fiercest engagements of the war, Captain Sisko led DS9 and Starfleet through the blood and horror of billions dead, but trillions liberated from the tyranny of the Changeling Founders' vision of order in the galaxy. The Dominion War was not an easy time for Sisko. Throughout this conflict the captain would not only see many of his crew killed, including Jadzia Dax, but his personal morality and principles as a human being and Starfleet officer would be put to the ultimate test more than once. He would see more conflict than he ever wanted and share in the pain, anguish, wrath, and sorrow of war all soldiers feel. Yet, leading his people through the conflagration, Sisko never lost touch with what it meant to be a man, a human being capable of seeing and feeling the human factor.
The Human Equation Not Forgotten
All of these roles serve to make Ben Sisko one of the most impressive characters and captains in Trek and Starfleet history. Indeed, it may be argued that he is the most unique persona to be conceived in the scope of the franchise. The above aspects of Sisko, Subspace Meditator believes, make him a much more well-rounded character, giving him an edge in observing, and applying, the human factor to all of his endeavors as a Starfleet officer. Sisko's humanity is never left behind, nor his mental and emotional state a mere afterthought. They are directly applied and demonstrated - indeed felt - whether in the loss of Jadzia Dax, the growing pains of his son, the struggles of the Bajoran people to rebuild after decades of slavery and occupation, or the triumphs and tragedies of the Dominion War. He is a complete man, making his leadership style an example of what it means to be a whole individual.
I wanted to include the captain of the Starship Voyager because one of the most unique aspects of Kathryn Janeway's appearance in Star Trek
history - in my view at least - is, not that she's a woman, but that,
of all the heroic captains portrayed in the five series, Janeway alone
was a superbly skilled scientist and mathematician, in addition to being a Starfleet captain. This is depicted again and again in Star Trek: Voyager and
is certainly impressive, for Janeway utilizes these skills on numerous
occasions to keep pace with - and in fact surpass - her chief engineer,
tactical officer, and many others whose scientific and technical skill
our other Starfleet captains have merely relied upon to provide
expertise.
Part of that legacy is Janeway's continued battles with the Borg Collective. Time and again assaulted by the ruthless and unmerciful will of the Borg to assimilate Voyager, Janeway adroitly, and with ever renewed vigor, finds new and innovative ways to confront and defeat them. But this is not only in terms of military strategy, for Janeway must also confront Borg cunning and maneuver in the person of the Borg Queen, she who is the Collective's central mind and governor. It is Janeway who defeats the Queen and takes from her the rescued assimilated human, Seven of Nine. Janeway who preempts Borg efforts to attack and defeat the superior Species 8472 while simultaneously preventing an invasion of the Milky Way galaxy by the aggressive race itself. It is Janeway who more than once thwarts the Borg Queen's efforts to assimilate weaker races, and who frees other assimilated drones from the grip of the Collective. And it is Janeway who destroys the Queen's entire transwarp hub complex, crippling the Borg's hyperspace routes throughout the entire the galaxy for decades.
"But You're a Mother to This Crew"
Q once called Janeway a mother to her crew, the woman who held Voyager's morale together through an array of impossible odds, keeping her people together as a family cast away on a stormy and tempest sea. And in some ways the Meditator can agree with Q's praise and his comparison, especially in observing the nurturing relationship between Janeway and Seven of Nine. But beyond such accolades, Janeway is a proven leader with the skill, the tenacity, the drive to succeed whatever the odds, and no matter how insurmountable they may seem. This drive places her in the best ranks with the elite of Starfleet's center chair commanders. Indeed, the Meditator says that USS Voyager's seven-year odyssey revealed Captain Janeway's strengths in a way that mere service in the Alpha Quadrant would never have. It raised the honorable captain's pedigree because it forced her to run faster, reach higher, strive harder, never quitting until the race was won. This is the finest of Starfleet tradition and Kathryn Janeway is in numerous ways an exception to advancing that tradition!
And this, the Meditator thinks, is the principle lesson to be learned from Janeway: that to be the best one must step out of the norm, the familiar, the comfortable. One must go beyond the acceptable and known, casting away fear, and sweeping boldly into what is unknown. If an individual can do this, is willing to do this, they can distinguish themselves in human history. Captain Janeway most certainly did!
In our next blog on the four captains, we shall compare and contrast their style of leadership and what we can continue to learn from these examples with respect to how each fit in with their era on the small screen.
Until next time...
To the upward reach of man.
**I did not include Captain Jonathan Archer in this analysis simply because I did not watch the show with the same frequency or intensity as I did that of the others. So I cannot be as readily insightful with respect to Archer's boat as I can with Kirk, Picard, Sisko, or Janeway. Sorry Enterprise fans.
-- Subspace Meditator
In the Star Trek sci-fi universe there have been five well-loved series. In each of those series, five iconic Starfleet captains have commanded the bridges of mighty Federation starships powered by the imagination of their viewers. With this meditation, I'd like to use three of those five captains as a means to explore what is commonly called "the leader principle." Here, we'll examine what it means to be a leader through the eyes of the legendary Captains Kirk, Picard, and Sisko, and how each of these men inspired their crews through dynamic personal leadership. Furthermore, we'll look at what this means in the real world, and how we might each benefit from a study of these classic leader types, fictional though they may be.
So, fellow officer, take a seat in the captain's chair as we jump to warp speed and begin.
James Kirk
"I don't like to lose."
-- Admiral James T. Kirk
Without
question one of the most iconic science fiction heroes of all time is
the legendary *first captain* of the Starship Enterprise, James Tiberius Kirk.
Known as a man of action, Captain Kirk is a leader with presence who
doesn't take no for an answer, and who doesn't suffer defeat gladly. As a
young cadet, Kirk proved the latter by famously rigging Starfleet
Academy graduates' most despised command test of all, the Kobayashi Maru,
enabling him to become the only Academy superstar to ever beat "the
no-win scenario," for as Kirk himself would say many years later, "I
don't believe in a no-win scenario."
How did he do it? "I changed the conditions of the test. I got a commendation for original thinking," he says to the inexperienced Lieutenant Saavik in The Wrath of Khan. Throughout the Original Series we see a Captain Kirk who time and again beats back death, beats back defeat, saving the day not only for (and with the help of) his gallant crew, but also for Starfleet's noble ideals, and the safety and security of the galaxy itself.
Yet even Captain Kirk is powerless to forever hold back the hand of fate. Twice in the original crew movie series James Kirk faces what for him become the ultimate losses in the form of the death of his most beloved friend, the Vulcan science officer, Mr. Spock, and the destruction of the one true "lady" in his life, the great Starship Enterprise herself.
"I Don't Like To Lose."
What principles of leadership can we learn from Captain Kirk?
The greatest lesson I think Kirk shows us is that there is always a way out of a "no-win scenario." To find it takes courage, imagination, cunning, ingenuity, determination, and above all, the will to overcome. Captain Kirk demonstrated these traits repeatedly and in abundance during his Starfleet career, facing down many impossible scenarios - from military to diplomatic to scientific - and proving that the will to prevail shines brilliantly within the human spirit, and is capable of overcoming all obstacles if we are but willing to listen and heed it.
Of course there are many more leadership traits that we could examine with this heroic Starfleet commander. But our focus was to take his core traits and collapse in on a few key examples of how they make Kirk the man he is and why his example is worth emulating.
Jean-Luc Picard
"Make it so."
-- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Picard exudes leadership by first demonstrating the best, and then demanding and subsequently expecting the best from his crew. He inspires his people to go out of their way for him because they recognize that they act in the name of the best Starfleet captain of the modern era. His example of thinking before action has led the Enterprise-D out of treacherous situations on multiple occasions. This is has been especially true in matters of interstellar standoffs where reflection, calm, considered judgment, and reason have prevented armed conflicts from ensuing - both military and political. And one of the greatest examples of Picard's ability to see the "big picture," to use his deep knowledge of the human condition to look down the long tunnel of history and avoid unwarranted bloodshed, is when fellow Starfleet captain Benjamin Maxwell unjustifiably attacks Cardassian territory to the end of preventing what he believes is a clandestine Cardassian military rearmament and future assault upon the Federation. Picard prevents Maxwell from taking Starfleet and the Federation to war against the Cardassian Union without the firing of a single shot against neither the rogue Starfleet captain nor the Cardassian forces. Yet Picard does not idly dismiss the warnings of Benjamin Maxwell, nor the evidence - albeit specious at best - which he has produced to support his accusations. Picard goes on, in diplomatic, but firm, unadulterated language to warn the Cardassians that Starfleet will be on guard.
Yet a second example is the defection of Romulan admiral Alidar Jarok. Moving to investigate an alleged plot by the Romulan Empire to provoke war, the Enterprise is requested to determine if the supposed evidence of apparent defector Admiral Jarok is true. Picard rushes into the Romulan Neutral Zone on Starfleet Command's orders only to discover that the Romulans have staged the entire affair using the duped Admiral Jarok as an unwitting pawn in a devious machination to frame the Federation. Though Picard is in direct violation of the Federation peace treaty with the Romulans, and though the Enterprise is completely surrounded by enemy vessels and cut off from escape, Picard demonstrates the forethought and superior understanding of Romulan psychology to prepare for such possibility well before entering Romulan space. He again saves the Enterprise from destruction, Starfleet from an unwanted conflict, and the Federation from intergalactic humiliation by the cunning use of a brilliant tactical counterploy alongside the Federation's interstellar ally, the Klingon Empire.
Though we have focused on two military examples of Picard's leadership, the core trait that Subspace Meditator sees - which is in fact demonstrated well and beyond Picard's skills as a military commander - is his ability to think through a situation deeply before taking action; his ability to see multiple possibilities and multiple probabilities, and further, to deduce from these the best likely scenarios with which to guide his crew to the successful completion of their mission. Alternately said, Picard has a well-honed ability - derived from years of experience as a field officer - to foresee a myriad of options and collapse in on the few (or one) that will bring the Enterprise home.
Subspace Meditator believes that, more than any other trait Picard manifests in the TNG era, this trait is what distinguishes and separates him from his counterparts in the Star Trek universe.
And a superior trait it is to have indeed!
Benjamin Sisko
"There's only one order... We hold."
-- Captain Benjamin Sisko
Of course, longtime fans of Trek film and TV will know that Benjamin Lafayette Sisko is not the first nor last individual of African descent to be shown in Trek
programming, so his presence in this regard is not unique. What is
unique in that regard is that he is the first to be regularly shown in Star Trek
episodic television. And this opportunity gave actor Avery Brooks a
unique canvass upon which to paint Ben L. Sisko. Let's return to that
fictional canvass and highlight some of those areas as well as the
leadership style and core traits that make Sisko who he is, and not
simply as the "black captain," but as an outstanding Starfleet
officer. Family Man & Intimate Friend
Though it is known from other Trek lore that Starfleet does not discourage nor mandate its officers from having families, Ben Sisko is the only officer ever featured in its mythology to actively have one. All other episodic captains have been single. So Sisko's relationship to his son, Jake, is quite unique to explore from a storytelling point of view.
But let's back up.
 |
| father and son, Benjamin and Jake Sisko |
 |
| Jadzia Dax and Ben Sisko |
Emissary to the Prophets
One
of the most intriguing aspects of Ben Sisko is his special relationship
to the Bajoran people themselves and to their deities, the Prophets.
Known as the Emissary to the Prophets, Sisko is reluctantly introduced
to the role Bajor will come to expect of him when he first arrives on
DS9. As we learn, Sisko does not want it and is extremely reticent to
assume the figure of religious icon to the deeply spiritual Bajorans. It
is a part which Starfleet itself will always have difficulty accepting
and which Sisko will continually struggle to balance between his life as
an atheist human Starfleet officer and the need to strengthen the
Federation's ties with the Bajoran people. Such a balance, though continually tested and uneasy, is achieved. And as DS9
continues, Sisko uses this special relationship, long ago foreseen and
"prophesied" of by ancient Bajoran seers, to guide Bajor through some
of it darkest hours. Sisko meets the Prophets on numerous occasions,
joining them in the non-corporeal realm outside of time and space which
they inhabit to consult with them, to receive guidance and instruction
from them, and even to teach them on occasion what it means to be a creature that exists within time and space.
War Leader & Superb Strategist
Deep Space Nine became the focal point of the Federation Alliance's efforts to repel the Dominion invasion and occupation of the Alpha Quadrant during the Dominion War. On the front lines of this herculean effort was Ben Sisko himself. Tasked with planning and strategizing some of the fiercest engagements of the war, Captain Sisko led DS9 and Starfleet through the blood and horror of billions dead, but trillions liberated from the tyranny of the Changeling Founders' vision of order in the galaxy. The Dominion War was not an easy time for Sisko. Throughout this conflict the captain would not only see many of his crew killed, including Jadzia Dax, but his personal morality and principles as a human being and Starfleet officer would be put to the ultimate test more than once. He would see more conflict than he ever wanted and share in the pain, anguish, wrath, and sorrow of war all soldiers feel. Yet, leading his people through the conflagration, Sisko never lost touch with what it meant to be a man, a human being capable of seeing and feeling the human factor.
The Human Equation Not Forgotten
All of these roles serve to make Ben Sisko one of the most impressive characters and captains in Trek and Starfleet history. Indeed, it may be argued that he is the most unique persona to be conceived in the scope of the franchise. The above aspects of Sisko, Subspace Meditator believes, make him a much more well-rounded character, giving him an edge in observing, and applying, the human factor to all of his endeavors as a Starfleet officer. Sisko's humanity is never left behind, nor his mental and emotional state a mere afterthought. They are directly applied and demonstrated - indeed felt - whether in the loss of Jadzia Dax, the growing pains of his son, the struggles of the Bajoran people to rebuild after decades of slavery and occupation, or the triumphs and tragedies of the Dominion War. He is a complete man, making his leadership style an example of what it means to be a whole individual.
Special Profile: Kathryn Janeway
"Get this crew home."
-- Captain Janeway to Cmdr. Chakotay
I wanted to include the captain of the Starship Voyager because one of the most unique aspects of Kathryn Janeway's appearance in Star Trek
history - in my view at least - is, not that she's a woman, but that,
of all the heroic captains portrayed in the five series, Janeway alone
was a superbly skilled scientist and mathematician, in addition to being a Starfleet captain. This is depicted again and again in Star Trek: Voyager and
is certainly impressive, for Janeway utilizes these skills on numerous
occasions to keep pace with - and in fact surpass - her chief engineer,
tactical officer, and many others whose scientific and technical skill
our other Starfleet captains have merely relied upon to provide
expertise.
As
an aside, while her appearance as a female isn't unique for much the
same reasons Sisko's isn't as a black officer, it would be remiss of us
not to notice that, for the first time in Trek history, a female captain becomes regularly featured on the bridge of a Federation starship in the person of Captain Janeway, making her, just as Sisko, another Star Trek milestone.
It
should also be noted that Janeway's epic seven-year struggle to return
her crew to the Alpha Quadrant after Voyager is stranded in the distant
and unexplored Delta Quadrant, makes her one of the most gallant and
enduring Fleet officers to ever don the uniform. Janeway and Voyager are
thrust into an unknown and dangerous space fraught with perils the
likes of which no human eyes have ever seen before. And seventy thousand lightyears
from home, she and her crew are the farthest any human vessel has ever
traveled inside the Milky Way. In such conditions many would be tempted
to give up, find the nearest habitable planet to settle on, and call it
the next hundred years.
But Janeway does no such thing.
She
pushes the Voyager and its crew to never settle for anything less than
seeing Earth and the Alpha Quadrant again. The journey is not easy. Nor
would Janeway, undaunted explorer she is, have it be. With none of the
Federation's resources, none of Starfleet's armed might to back them up,
Voyager does not set a direct, non-stop course for Earth, but takes
many detours and assumes many missions, charting the Delta Quadrant, its
uncounted species and dangers along the way.
 |
| USS Voyager's flight path for visual purposes. Far away in the vast reaches of space, Janeway never gives up. |
Invincible Borg Fighter
Part of that legacy is Janeway's continued battles with the Borg Collective. Time and again assaulted by the ruthless and unmerciful will of the Borg to assimilate Voyager, Janeway adroitly, and with ever renewed vigor, finds new and innovative ways to confront and defeat them. But this is not only in terms of military strategy, for Janeway must also confront Borg cunning and maneuver in the person of the Borg Queen, she who is the Collective's central mind and governor. It is Janeway who defeats the Queen and takes from her the rescued assimilated human, Seven of Nine. Janeway who preempts Borg efforts to attack and defeat the superior Species 8472 while simultaneously preventing an invasion of the Milky Way galaxy by the aggressive race itself. It is Janeway who more than once thwarts the Borg Queen's efforts to assimilate weaker races, and who frees other assimilated drones from the grip of the Collective. And it is Janeway who destroys the Queen's entire transwarp hub complex, crippling the Borg's hyperspace routes throughout the entire the galaxy for decades.
"But You're a Mother to This Crew"
Q once called Janeway a mother to her crew, the woman who held Voyager's morale together through an array of impossible odds, keeping her people together as a family cast away on a stormy and tempest sea. And in some ways the Meditator can agree with Q's praise and his comparison, especially in observing the nurturing relationship between Janeway and Seven of Nine. But beyond such accolades, Janeway is a proven leader with the skill, the tenacity, the drive to succeed whatever the odds, and no matter how insurmountable they may seem. This drive places her in the best ranks with the elite of Starfleet's center chair commanders. Indeed, the Meditator says that USS Voyager's seven-year odyssey revealed Captain Janeway's strengths in a way that mere service in the Alpha Quadrant would never have. It raised the honorable captain's pedigree because it forced her to run faster, reach higher, strive harder, never quitting until the race was won. This is the finest of Starfleet tradition and Kathryn Janeway is in numerous ways an exception to advancing that tradition!
And this, the Meditator thinks, is the principle lesson to be learned from Janeway: that to be the best one must step out of the norm, the familiar, the comfortable. One must go beyond the acceptable and known, casting away fear, and sweeping boldly into what is unknown. If an individual can do this, is willing to do this, they can distinguish themselves in human history. Captain Janeway most certainly did!
In our next blog on the four captains, we shall compare and contrast their style of leadership and what we can continue to learn from these examples with respect to how each fit in with their era on the small screen.
Until next time...
To the upward reach of man.
------------------------------------
*I know that some of you hardcore Treksters will say that J.T. was not the very first captain of the original Enterprise. Chris Pike was. Some of you will even go back to Captain Robert April.
Guess what, Trekkies? I know that! I'm a Trekkie too! But for the sake
of argument and popular knowledge, I am listing James T. Kirk as the
first acknowledged skipper of the Enterprise, OK?**I did not include Captain Jonathan Archer in this analysis simply because I did not watch the show with the same frequency or intensity as I did that of the others. So I cannot be as readily insightful with respect to Archer's boat as I can with Kirk, Picard, Sisko, or Janeway. Sorry Enterprise fans.
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