Welcome aboard!
The Yeoman’s Voyage
You’re probably familiar with some things nautical if you’ve signed up. Yet, you’re wondering, what does the Age of Sail have to do with modern leadership? It’s all about the stories. If you check our history, we were telling each other stories thousands of years before we ever wrote anything down. Stories are important, they convey and make accessible meaning. Stories provide imagery and wire emotional connections to the rational and researched lessons that we need to not only learn but apply. Finally, the Age of Sail was also the Age of Discovery. There seemed no limit to the new shores that lay over the horizon. There was fear but also fortitude. There was sacrifice but also incredible reward. In addition to leveraging these metaphors (and our actual time on the boat for our premium members) to make durable the lessons learned here; there’s something inspiring about the intrepid sea captain. He’s leaving behind comfort and familiarity to enter a world of wind, waves and will, and only able to control one of the three. We have respect for that.
First, though, before going anywhere, we have to know where we are.
From the Age of Sail to today, an ocean going captain relies on a harbor pilot, more familiar with the local waters, to guide the ship to a point where the captain can then navigate beyond the horizon. You are that harbor pilot. You know yourself, what you’ve achieved and what you want better than anyone. No one else can (or should) be directing you. The first step in your voyage is to assess subjectively your progress in development in all the aspects or “slices of life” that matter.