Business Lessons from Star Trek: Keep Your Ambition Under Control
To get your next promotion, you have to learn how to take initiative, have patience, master your body language, and not burn bridges. Don’t walk over peers and superiors either.
“The Best of Both Worlds - Part 1,” an episode of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation provides valuable career management lessons on the topic of ambition, as demonstrated in the video above or click here.
The episode in a nutshell
An upstart named Lt. Commander Shelby is an expert on the Borg, assigned to the Enterprise to assist in a crisis. But Shelby’s too aggressive with Commander Riker’s choice to remain on the Enterprise. She fails to treat him as a superior officer, only seeing him as a barrier to her promotion.
She disregards the chain of command by doing an end run around Riker to Captain Picard.
Shelby’s a woman in a hurry. She’s so ambitious that she assumes Riker’s career choices are in her way.
What can we learn from Shelby in managing our career?
- Don’t be too aggressive: don’t be so ambitious that you walk over your peers and superiors because your actions will come back to haunt you.
- Take initiative: if you have a good idea, run with it but keep your superior informed. Don’t do an end run around your boss. You may need this person someday.
- Master your body language: don’t use negative body language. Learn how to show concern or disagreement without looking smug.
The next time you’re battling the Borg, focus on defeating the Borg, not on promoting yourself.
