Patrick Stewart died yesterday.
And as the airwaves and the internet fill up with tributes to this colossus of stage and screen, I can only think about how as Captain Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation he became my model for what a true leader, and even more importantly, what a true manager is.
In the past, I’ve hesitated to talk at length about how Captain Picard is the leader we should all aspire to. Mostly, because for most it is hard to move past the action hero tropes that he was not immune to as he became more important to the series. I’ve never seen myself on the bridge of a starship. I was far more interested in the quiet intellectual wielding of power and knowledge of Stewart’s Picard. It is as the philosopher king, the man apart who feels the weight of the crown, that we truly see what Captain Picard stood for.
He was the man who did the right thing because it was the right thing. Who would follow orders because they were orders up to the point where they crossed his internal morality. Who felt the weight of the conflict between what was expected of him and what he expected of himself.
To lead by just our moral compass is easy. That’s what leaders do. But managers don’t always have that luxury. We have to implement policy that we don’t always agree with. We can push back, make our arguments, but ultimately orders from Star Fleet command are orders and our job is implementation. In a lessor actor, Picard would have been cold, aloof, and always playing second fiddle to Riker’s more traditional hero’s journey.
But what we got was, to use an often-overused phrase when talking about Patrick Stewart, a Shakespearian interpretation of what it meant to be responsible. To take those responsibilities to heart, to feel their weight, and to bear that weight alone. To be the hero we needed.
In a time when intellectualism seems to be under attack, Picard represents the thinker. The one who considers force the last resort, will tackle the thorny issue even if it makes him unpopular, and would rather preserve his professional distance than the comfort of friends that might blur his judgement.
Captain Picard is the leader and manager we need and deserve. He is the leader and manager we should aspire to be without shame or embarrassment.
And with the passing of the man who brought him to life we are all the poorer.
“O Captain, My Captain!”
You will be missed.
