“…to boldly go where no man has ever gone before…..”
Especially in the age of ” disruption”,” innovation”, “porous technology”, “product parity”…..one needs a Starship Enterprise, Commanded by Captain James T Kirk.
Those of us born in the 70s would remember the hugely successful television Series Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry. In India much before Ramayan & Mahabharath changed the Sunday morning viewing habits, kids were already drawn to the television sharp at 10 a.m on Sunday Mornings.
When cricket came to a pause
Cricket bats in their laps, sweat trickling down a patchy muddy face, water being passed across the whole bunch of cross-legged kids sitting on the floor, couple of them standing on the door with one foot on the other knee like a four. The game of cricket took a back seat and the stumps were left behind on the road, as kids darted into the nearest friends house.
The game resumed when the entire crew had a hearty laugh after being in a tough spot for 45 minutes and the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), took a genteel turn into space from the left to the right into the screen. The game resumed.
Effortless, yet, fragile.
As a group of kids growing up we saw a lot of bravery in the way Captain James T Kirk conducted himself, the house was divided into loyalty between Captain and Science Officer Spock. The former seemed effortless and yet fragile and the latter was all powerful, yet had a limit beyond which he froze. Speaking of “freezing” Spock also had this “sharp pluck of the shoulder”, that could disarm anyone.
Role Plays
Like Chota Bheem & friends today, children took roles of William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk Leonard Nimoy as Spock DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard ” Bones ” MCoy, James Doohan as Montgomery ” Scotty” Scott, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, and Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov. I guess much like Bheem, Captain James T. Kirk ( the one who go this role ) decided who were the others in the journey and what role they played.
The modern day enterprise & the stars in the ship.
The modern day enterprise too comprises of the Star Cast in the spaceship ( read as corporation ), which is constantly trying to journey into newer galaxies. Refer to the picture of this post as we meet them:-
- First Officer, Spock ( Lenoard Nimoy ), has access to big data, is intuitive, driven by logic, sums up all the “parameters”, brings in knowledge of the existing and emerging trends and is always a sounding board for Captain Kirk. Cut to: Modern day CIO / CTO / Head of BIU all rolled into one. Sounds familiar :-). Despite all the overwhelming data and now BIG DATA the Captain takes a final call based on gut feel.
- Chief of Security, Pavel Chekov ( Walter Koenig ), has his ears to the ground, sums up existing parameters – temperature, speed, etc. monitors breaches and performance dips, for Captain Kirk at the beginning, in between or at the end of the journey. Cut to: Our friendly millennial, Business / Data Analyst, who can conjure up scenarios, create dash-boards, has access to new and emerging technologies causing “disruptions”. I suspect is a favourite of the Captain too for being quite an upstart, who perhaps ( rather always ) believes that Business can be run better.
- Communications Officer, Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ), keeps the Captain posted of the overall well being of the enterprise, acts as a bridge between multiple teams, mans deck in the absence of Captain and is multi-skilled and dependable. She also is a talented singer and gets the gang together. Cut to: Today, the super efficient Executive Assistant to the CEO, does all the above, ensures the calendars are managed to clock work precision, meetings are minuted, follow-up is planned, multiple colleagues and departments are got together and the CEOs agenda is implemented.
- Commanding Officer, James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) – lets come back to him further below.
- Chief Engineer, Montgomery Scott ( James Doohan ) – “Beam me up! Scotty!” didn’t we all – including Scott wait to hear this and heaved a sigh of relief. Slightly anxious by nature, unsure of how it can be done, but believes if Boss has said it, I will give it a shot. Cut to: Head of Sales, has tough targets, discusses deliberates with the Boss, knows in the heart of heart that there is no escaping – the numbers need to be delivered. Does it and leaves his Captain BEAMING! Real life has its own air-pockets in the journey though
- Senior Helmsman, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu ( George Takei ) – Right on the Deck! Does what the Captain tells him, sets co-ordinates and the Starship is set on the onward journey. some times Scotty repeats what the Captain says ( not that Sulu has not heard ), some where there seems to be a feeling of dotted line reporting to the Captain. Lets give it to Sulu, he is our Salesman out there in the field doing the numbers for the modern enterprise
- Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy ( DeForest Kelly ) – the most important man in Captain Kirk’s team, responsible for the health of the Starship, in conflict with the Captain’s – goals, needs to push the limits, take unnecessary risks, fears for loss of people, perhaps does not want to disrupt business as usual. Has the interest of everyone and the Startship at heart. Today: The Head of HR, responsible for the overall organisations health – recruitment, training, performance management, appraisals managing attrition, etc. Reports into the CEO who is responsible to the shareholders and the board as he creates new frontiers and a valuable organisation.
Coming back to Captain James T. Kirk – the gentleman in point 4 who got left behind, the cool sauve, unassuming CEO of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). Has a lot on his plate:-
- a team from different federations, countries, cultures, etc.
- on a journey into the unknown
- for better or worse this is the team that needs to deliver
- the ever constant change
- the pulls of logic & big data ( Spock ), human issues ( Doc ), sales numbers ( Scotty )
- the need to hold his cool when the core team behaves erratic – Spock going off the handle or Doc getting emotional or Scotty – saying I cant
Haven’t seen him pull a gun in the first instance but has been a capable negotiator across the federation and highly respected amongst his team. Largely because he recognises, what each one of them brings on the table, is focussed on one agenda – Shareholder Value ( for people back home ).
Looks forward to what’s next rather than what’s now.
“Lieutenant Sulu, let’s change course….!”
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