6 Lessons on Leadership from Captain Bligh

While out and out mutiny may be rare on project teams, lackluster performance and disconnects between the project manager and the team happen more often than they need to.

Observing some of the actions and attitudes of the cold, hard Captain William Bligh can provide you with a measure to use against your own behavior as a project manager.

For those who are not familiar, Mutiny on the Bounty tells the fascinating true story of First Officer Fletcher Christian’s mutiny of 1787.   While the book is excellent, the quotes in this post are taken from the 1962 film version starring Marlon Brando as Christian and Trevor Howard as Bligh.

Here are Bligh’s 6 guidelines for leadership.

How many of these describe your attitudes or the attitudes of other project managers you know?

1.  Fear is the Best Motivator

Bligh sees laziness and weakness in both officers and crew members. Early in the film he incorrectly accuses his first officer of interfering with the progress of their mission.  When Fletcher questions him on this, the Captain responds, “You would do nothing to speed its progress.”  As for his crew, “The typical seaman is a half witted, wife beating perpetual drunkard.”

The Bligh style leader believes that a team is only ever truly motivated by fear.  “Cruelty with a purpose is not cruelty, it’s efficiency”.

2.  Policies and Procedures Must Be Followed To The Letter

Upon overhearing a crew member speaking against him, Bligh orders the man to receive the full punishment of two dozen lashes in accordance with the naval code.  While the punishment is being administered, he commands that it be given harder.  “You are going too lightly.  Lay on with a will or you will take his place.”

3.  You Must Have a Fanatical Fixmindedness to Metrics

The narrator describes how the Captain, “….studied his charts hour upon hour to the exclusion of all else.”  Bligh’s terrible decision to take the shorter South American route around Cape Horn instead of the traditional African route around the Cape of Good Hope was made solely to shave 5 months off the voyage.  The Captain knew at the time that only one other ship had successfully made the journey in Winter, and that a cost of 50% of the crew.

In project management, we refer to this as the path of numbers over common sense.

Treat Information That Doesn’t Fit Your Plans as a Direct Challenge to your Authority

In the midst of a terrible storm Bligh goads Christian, “Afraid of a little weather?”  When Fletcher responds cautiously that the masts are in danger of breaking, Bligh verbally strikes at him. “Are you arguing with me?”

5. Take No Regard for the Well Being of Your Team

Bligh sees everyone as expendable and secondary to the success of the project.   After one of the Captain’s orders leads to the death of a crewman, Fletcher requests a proper burial for the man.  Bligh explodes at him. “Never mind Norman!  We lost one full league before I countermanded your order!”

Don’t be fooled.  It doesn’t really matter if your project is on time, on budget and on scope. If you destroy your team, you are a failure as a project manager.

6.  Make Crucial Decisions Without Providing Explanation

After coming through four weeks of horrifying weather, Bligh suddenly institutes “half rations”.  As a team member observed, “Starving the crew is not going to make the ship go faster.”

Have you ever been on a project where the the team’s task deadlines are shortened by half but overtime is forbidden?  This gives people a choice of poor performance or working without pay.

Words from the Admiralty

At Bligh’s court martial, he is exonerated, but reproached by the Admiralty with these words:

The Articles of War are fallible as any Articles are bound to be.

No code can cover all contingencies.
We cannot put justice aboard all our ships.

Justice and decency are carried in the heart of the Captain, or they are not on board.

Alec Satin

   Alec is a PMP certified Program Manager with 16 years of information technology experience.  Alec is one of the brightest and most talented PMs I have ever worked with.  Please visit his blog: http://blog.alecsatin.com