Funny, nobody ever seems to talk about the downside of nirvana. You always hear the positives: how great it will be, how easy it will make everything, how good you’ll feel. The same is true for GTD nirvana, that rarified state called Captain and Commander. David Allen points out the up- and downside of every other quadrant on the graph. But not the upper right–no, there it’s all supposed to be peachy keen. Except it’s not. The Captain and Commander has a dark side.
Captain and Commander is high perspective and high control. Information is a commodity to the Captain and Commander: whoever has the most, wins. It’s all about gaining that extra edge. And because the extra edge is attainable, it becomes easy to believe the you can take on more and more, running ever faster, juggling more and more projects because your carefully tended system allows you to. But one person can only do so much. This sends you back to find a better tool, a cooler iPhone app, another technique that will push you a little farther. Ultimately, Captain and Commanders must stand alone, either steering the ship to victory or going down with it–they are the stars of the show. If you don’t believe me, go see Star Trek at your local movie theater.
The authors of Tribal Leadership identified Stage Three as the “I’m great and you’re not” culture. Stage Three is the natural habitat of the Captain and Commander. There’s nothing wrong with that–I’m a confessed Stage Three resident myself. The problem is getting stuck at that stage of development. Playing Captain and Commander can only take you so far. To get to the next level requires a “we,” not a “me.” Jim Collins, in Good to Great, described the best leaders as those who were ambitious for the group, not merely for themselves. It’s that unselfish ambition, paired with humility, that supplies the most powerful perspective of all, sharing control, and fostering collaboration.
So then the matrix becomes a little more complex doesn’t it? I have found that a problem with captain and commander is that contrast it has with the other zones. Once reaching optimal performance it can be easier to fall into a much lower level of performance making it even harder to climb back up.
If captain and commander’s dark side is an I’m great attitude then we have to add a 3rd dimension to the matrix. What would that next line of measurement be?