Why Sci-Fi is Relevant to Business (and Life)
Whooo-hoooo! It’s Friday and that means Battlestar Galactica – one of the best shows on television! Chilling, thrilling, thought-provoking, with the “science” the least of the show. 
As regular readers know, I, along with what may seem a disportionate number of bloggers, am a Sci-Fi geek. And, yes, some of it is supremely silly – but who says silly can’t also be useful? It all started for me with the original Star Trek back in the 60s. Good (heck, even bad) Sci-Fi is all about possibilities. So, without further ado, here are some of the relevant lessons:
1. If you can’t win, change the rules. This is how Kirk got through Star Trek Academy. And, the Stargate team never met a rule they didn’t think around (physics? schmysmics!) Granted, they all have help from the script writers, but they don’t give up. (Please note, however, that all of them do their best to act with integrity and not hurt innocents. Even Kirk, despite his somewhat alarming propensity to think with his – ahem – little brain, was essentially a responsible adult.)
2. Make sure you’re not the unknown on the Enterprise Away Team, SG-1 team or Cylon attack squadron. Don’t be one of the bit player crowd. Speak out, step up, do something – before you land on the unknown planet. You might not only survive, you might live to get a featured role!
3. Stay out of the Transporter! If you know something doesn’t work, don’t go there again! The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. One time of being split into two people or sent to an alternate dimension would be quite enough for me, thank you!
4. Love the Freaks. They’re the ones that’ll save you. Sure, they may look a little (lot) different (three heads?) or be a bit pompous, but they bring a whole new set of brains and perspective to the problems and opportunities.
Happy Friday! I’m off to make a new tinfoil hat (Note: Reynolds Heavy-Duty Extra Wide works best) and stock up on ‘tooni fixings before tonight. Live long and prosper.
P.S. If you can talk “trek” it’ll help immeasurably in working with the techies in your company. No, you don’t have to learn Klingon, but you can relate on a personal level – which is where the good work gets done.
Read More: (From CNet) Why I Still Love Star Trek
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Frelling fantastic post Mary!!
Oh! A fellow sci-fi enthusiast! Amazing how much instant affinity that creates. Have been enjoying your writing. A refreshing addition to my RSS feeds
.. help immeasurably in working with the techies in your company
In which case you may find of some relevance, particularly as a followup from your Enough Friends posting the other day:
One of the value-adds of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) *is* the community values, knowing that the kinds of corporate dirty tricks and sleaze we read about in the news is pretty much nonexistent, and that you can trust that if you do business with the community, you don’t have to watch your back every stupid minute to make sure you don’t end up corporate road kill. There is competition, of course. But it’s not based on war concepts of kill or be killed. It’s based on technical merit. Which method is more likely to produce excellent and useful software, looking at it from the public’s point of view?
One could make a case that why techies love StarTrek and such, is that it *is* moralistic and aligned with their ethical stance.
I was never much of a Trekky, but I do love Star Wars and as a matter of fact, just watched “Enterprise Strikes Back” last night! What I never realized was that Princess Leah was a very strong and confident woman who was a great leader. And Yoda…such the wise one! If only more people used “the force” more often
Great post! Great lessons.
I especially like the piece about not being the unknown member of the away team. Those were the ones you just knew were not going to survive!
Yes, and whatever you do, don’t let them put you in in a red shirt…and woe is you if your name is something lke “Jones” “I’m sorry, Jim, but Ensign Jones won’t make it.”
But seriously, folks – there is no safety these days in “going along” with the mass mediocrity culture. Your head will be one of the first to roll in a corporate “reduction in force.” And, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve got to stand out.
[...] Brings to mind something I learned years ago during a team-building project, “You can mandate behavior, you can’t (easily) change beliefs.” A disconnect between the two is a chasm into which many a company brand has fallen. For example, the CEO can talk all he wants about “our new customer intimacy commitment” but when field sales is still compensated on gross revenues and landing new accounts, it doesn’t tranlate into reality. (And, if you don’t truly believe, those virtual bullets will kill you. Another life lesson from The Matrix. Yes, I’m a hopeless Sci-Fi geek.) [...]