3 skills I learned as a Boat Captain and apply to my job today in tech
Once upon a lifetime ago, I worked as a boat captain (and dive instructor) sailing and diving throughout the majestic islands of the Bahamas. Typically, now is the moment when you (like many before you) wonder — “why on earth did you leave that job? And how did you end up working at a tech company?”
Well, I’ll leave those answers to another blog post. Today, I want to share with you 3 of the top skills/ qualities I mastered (or so I thought) as a young boat captain at the tender age of 22.
I carried these skills over to all my subsequent jobs, including the current one at Wix (where I’ve been for the last 7 years).
These skills have been essential to me especially in my current position as a manager of a large and diverse team. And, as a leader, these are skills I not only look for when hiring new team members, but also do my best to nourish in myself and those I manage.
Let’s get to it! The three skills I’ll cover in this post are adaptability, being a team player and critical thinking. Let’s dive in!
Adaptability
Being adaptable is a critical skill to possess as a boat captain. You need to adapt to changes brought on by bad weather, changes in your crew, government and international regulations, safety issues, and so much more.
Adaptability is a skill that’s just as important when working in a tech company (big or small). I remember a week where I completely changed our cruise itinerary last minute due to a severe weather warning. I then had to change our plans 3 more times as the weather changed unexpectedly and eventually ended up sailing the Florida Keys instead of the Bahamas. Once we were there, one of our passengers suffered from a heart attack. I administered CPR alongside another crew member and my second mate called for a medical evacuation out at sea. Luckily, our passenger survived and the remaining twenty passengers enjoyed the rest of their week-long trip. Transparency and visible adaptability of my crew led our passengers to embrace the multiple itinerary changes and emergencies with respect, grace and humor. I’d like to believe that adaptability is a quality that I‘m able to help my current team members master. Working in our fast-paced industry requires serious adaptability. We often try to set clear tasks and priorities but we have to be dynamic. We never know when a new important task or critical bug in production will get thrown our way and change our existing priorities. From my experience, team members that possess this quality have a happier work experience and are able to thrive at their job.
On a side note, I believe this is an important trait to possess in our personal lives as well. Things happen, life happens and if we have a hard time adapting to new realities, well life will just be that much harder. This year (2020) dealing with a world pandemic in the form of Covid-19, we have all felt it. The need to adjust to this new wild reality of mask wearing, social-distancing, travel restrictions, and for some- much health and/or mental issues and financial difficulties is not easy, but we must adapt.
Being a Team Player
Ok, ok, I know that this one can easily be applied to nearly every job that involves working in a team setting. However, this quality is one that I really learned the hard way when I managed a 6 person crew while also living with them 24/7 (it was a live-aboard dive boat). Working with your roommates and living where you worked meant that I paid extra close attention to the people I hired.
Hiring people that seemed like team players was a must. Even more important was to lead by example when it came to being a team player, both at work and home (which again, was the same place). There was no job that was “below my paid grade” and there was no task that I wasn’t open to letting anyone else on the team take on. While an individual’s success is often wonderful and fulfilling, there is nothing better than achieving success as part of a team that works well together. As a team leader, I truly believe that my success and my team’s success are intertwined. If we are all active participants then we all learn and grow as individuals when the team does well.
Critical Thinking
As a boat captain I often used logic and reasoning to identify the pros and cons of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems we encountered. Often, in such situations we were under pressure and the matter was time sensitive. This is no different than my job today where I often have to employ critical thinking to resolve a situation or prioritize tasks of my team.
I have to admit that there is a huge difference. As a boat captain I was in my early twenties with relatively little life experience and I was the only female in an all male crew. I was surrounded by men who were older than me and often had more experience than I did out at sea. I often felt a lot of pressure to prove myself. The ability to think critically was key to my sanity and success out at sea. Speaking from experience, I believe that critical thinking is an excellent skill for accelerating your personal growth along with your professional growth.
I’ll end this skill with a scene from my days as a captain that could definitely fit well in some Hollywood movie. We moored (tied) for the night next to a wrecked ship, somewhere we stopped at once or twice a week. I confirmed it looked good and secure before taking a break to eat. All of a sudden, one of my crew members ran in and yelled hysterically to me that we broke the mooring and were floating out at sea. Our passengers all gasped at once and started asking a million questions. I had no time to overthink, I had to act immediately because I knew that there were huge rocks and small uninhabited islands all around. I excused myself, then rushed to the helm and turned on the spotlights. I saw that miraculously we had drifted between two huge rocks without hitting them. I looked at our radar to see what else was around. I also rechecked the weather report to see how fast and in what direction the wind was taking us, and checked the tide chart to confirm we were in high tide. I called for my first mate to go to the bow of the ship as I prepared to drop our anchor. We were lucky that day but we also reacted fast and applied some good ol’ critical thinking to analyze the situation at hand.
To wrap it all up, I have to be honest, I learned much more than the 3 skills above while working as a captain and living out at sea for 3 years. I learned, for example, how important strong communication skills are. I also learned that being a creative problem solver and thinking outside of the box is a skill worth having in any industry and in “real life”. I learned yet again how important and rewarding it is to provide great customer service. I learned that leadership is earned and not given, and the list goes on and on.
Well over a decade has gone by since I left that job, but I continue to do my best to improve those skills and pass them on to those I manage and work with side by side today.
I believe that any kind of team leader whether in tech, military, public service or anywhere else, should strive to master and teach the skills above. Such leadership develops team members confidence and tends to inspire everyone to perform at their best — and their most contented.
