Stories of Kindness from Around the World

I have discovered upon taking my first command of my tugboat that I am more a servant to the crew now than ever. I've always been on the lookout for ways to help them in whatever they might need, now more actively so and with much more influence than as first officer. I wanted to share a leadership technique that has literally produced wonders in the past, a technique that I now apply to the entire crew.

Our discussions tend to get rather personal because we spend half our lives on the boat. A crew of 6 living in close proximity for half of the year becomes your family away from home. In these discussions, I am listening and observing carefully to find out what they are passionate about. Then I engage them in their interest, encouraging them to take it to an artistic level. The results of this can be spectacular, with huge benefits to morale and other more obvious results, such as beautifully oil-finished wood from one deckhand.

In the current example, where the kindness comes in, I have discovered that the second mate loves highly-polished brass. There are many things on this boat made of brass, and on a tugboat not everyone takes an interest in such aesthetics. When they do, you can bet that I will enable them as much as possible, because I also love polished brass. Sure I can compel any of my crew to do this as part of their normal duties, but this isn't the same as engaging someone in their passion.

In this instance, the second mate needs some tools for polishing that will enable him to achieve literally excellent results. We of course can obtain such tools through our purchasing system, but it takes time and is subject to many other limitations. It is likely I couldn't get exactly what he needed, as the right tools had to be ordered directly from China. So I ordered the tools with my own money, not an extravagant amount but worth it to get the tools in a timely manner. It is a large set of Dremel tool polishers, and with them he can have a blast making the brass gleam like gold!