Sailing contributes to a leadership foundation in many ways:
- It’s work. If you don’t put effort in, you don’t go anywhere.
- It’s team work. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, and in close quarters on a hot day when everything that could go wrong is going wrong, it builds the ability to work through the challenges.
- It’s real. It’s not a textbook or a simulator or a case presentation in class or a video game or the indoor tank with models. You can’t phone it in.
- It gives you a water-eye view and understanding of the Rules of the Road, vectors and the holy sh!t of constant bearing/decreasing range, especially if you are in a small sailboat in a channel with massive container ships. Decisions must be made, sometimes in the instant, involving multiple factors which must be integrated. Awareness of surroundings is critical. Safety is paramount.
- The systems are all there - navigation, power systems, gear, communications, engineering, operations, damage control, safety, sanitation, galley operations, inport procedures, externals such as weather, etc., that happen in larger ways aboard Navy combatants. You have to know your ship and what it can do.
- You learn to expect plans will implode and be able to recover and flex to new solutions and workarounds.
- You learn how to pay attention to your surroundings, especially the people, as your life might depend on their awareness and attentiveness to their role. You learn how to work with different personality types. You begin to understand the importance of training people so you have depth on your team, and to build their skills and confidence through working with them, praising them, delivering useful critiques and then trusting them to do the work in their own.
- The sense of accomplishment when the mission is accomplished, and the realization there is always more to learn.
I grew up sailing Hobies hanging out over the water from about 8-9. Nothing like it. My neighbor was a retired USCG CWO who would take me out with his grandkids. Great lessons, safety first. Fast forward, DH and I had a sailboat for many years, berthing it at Naval Station Long Beach, Newport Beach and Shelter Island in San Diego. We used our backgrounds in Navy leadership and seamanship to plan our day sails, races and journeys with the same attention to clear communications, safety and a systems approach. Of course, our boat was always spotless, with all gear stowed, dock lines neatly coiled and everything shipshape. That took more time than anything else at times, but a clean ship is a happy ship.
Sailing teaches a great deal about everyday leadership in a working environment.