In the book Typhoon, Joseph Conrad characterizes Captain MacWhirr early on as, “Having just enough imagination to carry him through each successive day, and no more, he was tranquilly sure of himself, and from the very same cause he was not in the least conceited…every ship Captain MacWhirr commanded was the floating abode of harmony and peace…yet the uninteresting lives of men so entirely given to the actuality of the bare existence have their mysterious side.”

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership; what types of qualities make good leaders and how to effectively acquire those traits throughout our careers. This passage from Conrad’s novel introduces some interesting leadership traits through the unique characterization of Captain MacWhirr, points from which any team leader, foreman or crew member in an arboricultural firm or operation can meditate on. After all, seafaring and arboriculture have a mottled history.

1.”Having just enough imagination to carry him through each successive day, and no more…”

Leadership grows deep roots in the medium of focus and execution. Long term expectations are realized through meeting smaller goals, moment to moment and day to day. So then, focusing on a daily process of trouble shooting each specific job, each specific tree, each specific branch or rig or whatever the task is, should consume the immediate infatuation. What’s tomorrow won’t help today. It is overwhelming for both the mind and the body to take on an unecessary work load. The old adage ‘one day at a time’ bleeds through the page on this particular point. And it is advice well taken by any aspiring leader.

2. “He was tranquilly sure of himself and from the very same cause he was not in the least conceited”

Confidence and ego should be cooked on low heat in the oven of wisdom. Be careful what you are absolutely sure of, but don’t be afraid of what you know when it is hard earned and well excavated, either from experience or mentorship. Leaders are very capable, both in skill and in appealing to the palette of others. Not necessarily because of the environment they come from, but because of the environment they create. ‘A floating abode of peace and harmony’. An air filled with abrasive conceit is hard to breathe. Team cohesion is based in confidence and broadened with humility and humbly striving for bettering the whole through the daily operational process. The sea of arboriculture is a lonely and dangerous one sometimes, so team commitment is key.

3. “yet the uninteresting lives of men so entirely given to the actuality of the bare existence have their mysterious side.”

There is a mysterious and curious quality in great leaders. I think it is becase of that unflinching sacrafice of self to the bare existence-safety, business success, and caring for our family-of life and the purpose of one’s work in life. There is an unwavering commitment to the execution of a plan, a stillness, or calmness if you will, in the face of dire challenge, financial hardship or transition over rough seas and through sketchy crowns. Survival is an actuality of a leader’s pursuit. Rather than an incapacitated white knuckle grip on the wheel, the mysterious leader gazes fiercely upon the compass and carefully upon the barometer. Curious tools themselves, but undeniably accurate and irresistibly reliable.

In Conrad’s book MacWhirr is sailing the SS Nan-Shan, but in my imagination he very well could be running a three-person crew at the helm of 75′ bucket truck, scouring the Green Acre Esates contract in a plant health care rig on a flat bed dually, clearing transmission lines across the American West or riding off into the sunrise on the ball of a fifty ton crane over the old VA hospital.

Stand clear, matey.