Leaders leading leaders
Leadership lessons show up in unexpected places. I have been travelling on board the MV Roland Oldendorff, a bulk carrier on a two-month voyage from Rotterdam to Narvik, Hamburg, Milne Inlet in the Canadian Arctic, and back again. Among the many things I have observed, one whiteboard in the ship’s office stopped me in my tracks. Between schedules and inspection notes, three simple rules stood out:
Plan what you want to do
- Do what you plan
- Record what you have done
At first glance, it looks deceptively simple. Yet the longer I live on board, the more I see the depth hidden in those three lines.
It begins with planning. Whether it is a routine task or an emergency, the first step is always to think before you move. Too often, I have seen managers brush this off with a cheerful “we’ll wing it” or “I’m a spontaneous type.” That may work at a dinner party. On a ship, it is a dangerous illusion. If you are assigning tasks to your officers or crew or responding to an emergency that has just been radioed in, you are expected to have already considered what you are trying to achieve and how.
Then comes the doing. Reality has its own opinion. Ballast pumps fail, systems misbehave, and sometimes what looked perfect on paper simply will not work in practice. The strength of the crew here is that they move forward with what they have, adapting without fuss, and still aiming for the original goal.
Finally, record. On land, documentation is often treated as an afterthought. On board, it is different. It is not about saving your skin or flooding inboxes. It is about making sure the right people know what happened, good or bad, so trust can grow in the system.
Living in this environment, where everything is highly regulated and constantly inspected, I see how essential those three steps are. Yes, there are endless forms and reports, but they exist because surprises are constant and the margin for error is vanishingly small.
Plan. Do. Record. Simple words, but when they become habits, they allow leaders to lead other leaders and their teams to move forward with clarity.
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