Leading with Vulnerability

10Breaking the Leadership Stereotype

It was a dark and stormy night, a ship captain was sitting writing in his log when all of a sudden one of his officers ran in.

“Captain, we have a huge problem! There's a ship 10 miles ahead of us and it refuses to get out of the way!”

The captain looks up and says, “Don't they know who we are? Tell them to move!”

“We tried that sir, they refused.”

The captain gets up from his chair, puts on his hat and jack and says, “Well, then I'll tell them myself.”

He walks over to the bridge and sends out a message, “Move starboard 15 degrees at once.”

A message comes back, “You move starboard 15 degrees at once.”

The captain is shocked. Who would dare speak to him in such a way? He gets back on the radio, “This is Captain James. T Smith III and I'm ordering you to move starboard 15 degrees now.”

A message comes back, “This is Fred. You move starboard 15 degrees yourself.”

At this point the captain is furious and turning red, all of his officers are looking at him wondering what he's going to do next. He sends out one last message, “This is the U.S.S. Missouri. We are the largest, the greatest, and most powerful ship in the US naval fleet, and if you do not move starboard 15 degrees now, then I will be forced to take action.”

A few seconds go by and a message comes back. “This is the lighthouse. It's your call.”

Leaders of organizations around the world ...