Too many hands on the tiller
There’s a Seneca quote that’s always stuck with me.
‘If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.’
It’s a good reminder that you need an idea of your destination before you plot a course to reaching that place. And it reminds me how the boat and its crew are important for reaching the destination too.
Small boats are easy. The crew is small, everyone knows their job, you’re all within ear-shot of the captain, you can feed information back to other crew members easily, and your ability to react to a gust of wind or obstacle ahead is quick. If a jib line gets caught in a cleat, your crew-mates can help you dislodge it.
It’d be dead easy to talk about large boats versus small boats now. How having more departments or more leaders makes it harder to sail to your destination. But that’s not the point I want to make.
Sailing a boat, big or small, is hard when there are too many hands on the tiller. Too many people trying to set the direction.
Regardless of how many people are on your boat or how big it is, you need one hand on the tiller.
That doesn’t mean one person calling all the shots. Captains will listen to their crew and get feedback on the prevailing conditions. They use that information to adjust the course and turn the tiller.
You can have more than one hand on the tiller too, but each person needs to push it in the same direction for a smooth sail. No one wants to get seasick or turn around in circles.
Being a leader in today’s world is more like being an admiral: having influence over several boats rather than being on every one. Clear direction, clear decisions, and clear coordination.
Many hands, many tillers.