Concerning Command Presence
It's kinda important
Full disclosure: I haven’t watched Starfleet Academy, nor am I likely to. These are simply my impressions based on the marketing I’ve seen. Considering the show runners apparently have never watched any Star Trek before, I suppose it’s all good.
I’ve often told my troops that when the nation called, “Send in the Marines!” that the American people expected and deserved a certain product. We were there to deliver said product. One would think that the citizens of the Federation deserved better too.
I spent twenty-six years in the United States Marine Corps. Eleven of those years I held the rank of first sergeant and sergeant major. Essentially, the function of those jobs is to act as the senior enlisted advisor to the commander of their unit. Unlike other services, they are even their own MOS in the Corps.
Now imagine Sergeant Major Burke reporting to his new duty station aboard a Federation star ship and I see this.
As a sergeant major, I’d suggest she and I discuss something in the ready room. Then I’d ask her what in wide, wide, void of space she thought she was doing lounging in the command seat like that. Her command presence is lackadaisical and unconcerned with the performance of her professional duties. That’s the message this sends.
The internet defines command presence thusly: the ability to project authority, confidence, and calm, inspiring trust and respect. It is a combination of bearing, character, and professional competence—not merely rank—that signals who is in charge and in control. It is cultivated through knowledge, discipline, and leading from the front.
I submit the ship’s captain lounging and reading a book does not inspire confidence or inspire trust in subordinates. This isn’t the carriage of a commander. It is the carriage of someone who is about to have their lunch money taken by the Klingons.
One of the fourteen Marine Corps leadership traits is bearing. According to Marine Corps Training and Education Command bearing this is what it means:
Definition - Creating a favorable impression in carriage, appearance, and personal conduct at all times.
Significance - The ability to look, talk, and act like a leader whether or not these manifestations indicate one’s true feelings.
Example - Wearing clean uniforms, boots, and collar devices. Avoiding profane and vulgar language. Keeping a trim, fit appearance.
How we carry ourselves, especially as leaders, communicates a whole lot more than our words do. The comportment of the captain in the above picture communicates her lack of concern about what is happening on the bridge or whether or not anyone is actually doing their jobs correctly.
The six troop leading steps are used to plan and execute operations is the acronym BAMCIS. The most important and critical of which is Supervise. How is she supervising here?
Presumably, she writes fitness or progress reports on the capabilities of her subordinates. How does a leader do that competently if they aren’t paying attention?
I love how the Star Trek folks think this is leading with confidence. As if being comfortable is at all important in a command position. I’ll be honest, I spent a lot of time in my career worried about whether or not I did my job correctly. I found that whenever I did that, I was usually doing pretty good. Whenever I was confident and comfortable in how awesome I was, that’s when I stepped on my junk. Clearly, the Star Trek folks haven’t the faintest idea how leadership works.
No Ma’am, this isn’t the comportment of a leader. This is what you look like…
One of the eleven leadership principles is Set the Example:
A leader who shows professional competence, courage and integrity sets high personal standards for himself before he can rightfully demand it from others. Your appearance, attitude, physical fitness and personal example are all on display daily for the Marines and Sailors in your unit. Remember, your Marines and Sailors reflect your image!
- Techniques for setting the example are to:
- Show your subordinates you are willing to do the same things you ask them to do
- Maintain an optimistic outlook
- Conduct yourself so that your personal habits are not open to criticism
- Avoid showing favoritism to any subordinate
- Delegate authority and avoid over supervision, in order to develop leadership among subordinates
- Leadership is taught by example
What exactly is she teaching subordinates with this kind of comportment? That it’s ok to lounge around the command deck in their professional capacity? To ignore their surroundings? To be negligent in the performance of their daily tasks and duties?
The apologists will argue that they are trying to show her chaotic energy and independent personality, yatta-yatta, the thing, the thing. I call BS on that as, once again, it proves the show runners have no idea what folks in an actual functioning military are like or how they behave. (I’m also uninterested in arguments that Starfleet isn’t a military. Yes they are and simply saying ‘no, they aren’t’ doesn’t make it so).
Western militaries do not want robots, they do want independent thinkers capable of initiative. This is particularly true of the United States where we stress decentralized command. Have the show runners ever even heard of the strategic corporal? No, they haven’t. Their characters fail to measure up to the very basic leadership traits and principles that conventional militaries function on. “Maybe in the future they’re even better at it!” Humanity has been exploring and waging war for 5,000-6,000 years of recorded history. I think we’ve got the leadership part down pretty well, sparky.
I am less concerned about her “disrespecting the captain’s chair” as her conduct and appearance lack even a modicum of professionalism and is a poor example of the expectations of an officer. Why is this important? Let me explain.
Years ago I realized that anything I did publicly, my Marines would do times ten. If I were at a unit function and picked up a beer to drink, in the Marines minds that would be seen as permission to drink an entire beer truck. If I were seen to put minimum effort into my physical fitness, they would stop physical training entirely. See the trend here?
It sure would suck if we had to execute an emergency transport of an injured cadet to the medical bay but there were no available bed to send them to because the staff were all taking naps while on duty. “But the Captain lounges in her chair!”
There’s a reason Set the Example is a leadership principle. Troops need leaders they can aspire to emulate. Likewise, fans need heroes who’s nobility and conduct inspire us to be better than we are. If all the ‘heroes’ of the story are ‘just like us’ then there is no need to seek self improvement (BTW, know yourself and seek self-improvement is also a leadership principle). The captain in the above pictures is giving her approval for you to remain stagnant and comfortable in your mediocrity. Reject that nonsense.
Enough said, I think.
I'm just some Coastie's brat and I grew up knowing better than to present myself poorly when my Father was in his uniform. I can't imagine being IN uniform and flopping around like a beached jellyfish like that. I really wish some people with knowledge, background or at the very least respect for the material and what it represents were being hired to write these shows (not just Trek, Star Wars too...heck any SciFi these days).
Starfleet Academy. Proving nothing is so worthless it can't serve as a bad example