Nibble Stew: Beware of Star Trek managers, especially when bearing MBAs

Monday, June 15, 2026

Beware of Star Trek managers, especially when bearing MBAs

Almost exactly three years ago the Oceangate submarine implosion happened. The disaster came about when a billionaire called Stockton Rush created his own unclassified submarine to go sightseeing on the Titanic. Ignoring all advice from experts he created a "macgyveresque death trap" that eventually killed him and sadly also 4 innocent people. The whole thing was a massive display of stupidity and arrogance with unfortunate outcomes. We are not going to go into the actual event any deeper, but those interested can find lots of material online.<br>Instead we are going to look more deeply into one often overlooked points of Stockton Rush's character. Apparently he felt like he was something of a "new James T. Kirk" (link1 paywalled, link2). Liking Star Trek is not that unusual. I'm guessing that more than 99% of the readers of this blog are fellow Star Trek fans. The problem lies elsewhere, but to understand it we first have travel back in time.<br>A brief overview of the British navy during the Napoleonic wars (by a non-historian, so probably inaccurate)<br>The original concept for Star Trek was, approximately, The Adventures of Horatio Hornblower in Space! The Enterprise is basically a British warship sailing through the vast ocean of outer space. The command structure mirrors this, where you have a captain, navigator, ship's doctor and so on. The Next Generation leaned into this even further by having a first officer and so on. The original Star Trek never went into detail on how the main cast got to their current positions, just that there was an Starfleet Academy they went to.<br>In the Napoleonic era of Hornblower things were quite different. Anyone who wanted to become a captain pretty much had to be from the upper classes. They had to obtain a letter of recommendation so that they could join a vessel as a midshipman at the age of 13 or so. They were expected to be able seamen by this time and then spent the next six to seven years working on the ship rigging sails and doing all manner of random jobs. This went on for six to nine years depending on circumstances, after which the person could take a formal examination to become a lieutenant. The test was not trivial, many people could not pass even after trying multiple times.<br>A lieutenant then had to work successfully for several years before obtaining the rank of captain. Even that did not guarantee a commission. Some captains never commanded a ship simply because there were not enough of them to go around. All in all becoming a ship's captain was a long and difficult journey. In a surprisingly non-British turn of events it was not possible for aristocrats to sneak past the gates. Getting a midshipman position was obviously easier with connections, but the lieutenant's test was something they had to pass on their own.<br>All of this is to say that every captain of the time was an expert with decades of working experience on many different positions aboard the ship.<br>What does a captain actually do?<br>[Note: I have not fact checked this portion at all. Feel free to consider it fanfiction.]<br>The year is 1808 and we are aboard a British warship about to leave for a mission of great importance. The captain gives the order to set sail. Whistles are blown, bells are rung and sailors springs into action. Every single man, with one exception, is either doing manual labour or directly supervising their underlings. That exception is the captain, who seemingly stands around doing nothing (at least if you ask the crew). This is not so.<br>What he is doing is crucial. He is observing the state of the ship and her crew. This includes things like overall crew morale, any aberrations from normal operations that could cause problems, thinking of workflow improvements and so on. In a sense he has to sense the ship itself. This only works because of two things. First of all he has personal experience doing the exact work he is observing. If you have not personally "been there", you can't really know if a crew is working well or not. You need a "gut feeling" to be able to sense this. Secondly the captain does not have any manual labour so he can focus all of his mental energy on observing the ship's state. He is preparing for all the unexpected things that may occur in the future. This can only happen if your brain is free from menial tasks.<br>This is exactly what most books on business and project management advocate. It is a time tested way of improving your chances of success. A highly skilled commander can take an average team of people and lead them to victory. It is the basic plot of most military and sports movies.<br>Getting back to the present<br>Now take a typical modern day billionaire-via-inheritance and show them Star Trek at an impressionable age. Do they see the advantages of education, hard work and ethics? The foundation upon...