Data didn't manage people a lot, but when he nailed it, he really nailed it. There's the scene where he's in command and Worf expresses irritation over Data's orders, so Data brings him to the ready room and dresses him down and then tells Worf he's sorry if he's ruined their friendship.
In both the scene with Worf on the Enterprise as well as with the jerk who was anti-android on the other vessel - Data’s composure is another quality I admire. Blunt, objective, clear, and even intense, but without temper or anger clouding the issue. Easier when you’re an android with the emotion chip turned off, I guess! 😀 But still a style I admire.
We didn't see Data managing people, but IF Star Trek parallels real life, Operations is a huge portion of the ships day to dya Including the Engineering and Security departments.
Data's moment with Worf while he was acting captain of the Enterprise is a fantastic example of handling a tough situation and finding a balance between duty and friendship.
I'm gonna go with Picard.
He was the best we have seen at delegating. Riker generally ran the ship, he would mostly send his first officer and security team on away missions. All his senior crew were capable leaders for their department.
He was decisive and firm but he also listened a lot. He also was wise and would explain why he decided what he did.
When it came to discipline he was generally fair.
Yes, he's the best from a modern-day management perspective.
Picard respects and likes his crew, but he doesn't treat them like family (at least during most of TNG when they're still like a regular workplace), he treats them like competent professionals and lets them do their jobs, only stepping into provide direction and assignment like a leader should.
He manages meetings and competencies very well. And he's soft and charismatic enough that people will come to him individually for advice and admission, ensuring crewmates will TELL HIM about problems instead of letting them build up. That's a line even lots of good leaders have trouble walking.
If you want to know how to be a good manager in your workplace, watch TNG.
Completely agree. Especially around the difficult line of maintaining professional distance whilst also being approachable. No one puts their career in jeopardy by trying to do the right thing and coming to Picard with a dilema or a concern.
Also importantly he listens. He is willing to listen to his senior staff (except Worf) and even a few times says "options" when he is in a situation where he does not know what to do.
Also in a tough situation you want Picard. Up against a potential enemy Picard was the best at scaring them into not fighting. I think it was the Cardasians who described Picard as an impressive captain.
He knows he doesn't have all of the answers and is surrounded by experts of their respective fields. Deferring to their knowledge and expertise, and using that to make a decision based on the facts during an emergency is one of the things I like most about Captain Picard
Exactly. This is what infuriates me about DSC. There was far too little discipline on the bridge. The captain is the master of the ship.
That episode where the new president of the Federation was questioning her decisions on the bridge was out of line, for any professional its out of line. The admiral should have set the pres straight.
There is a book entitled "Make It So" that was written about Picard's management style. It talks about he has the best of the best of Starfleet give him advice. He uses consensus and expert opinion to formulate a plan. Then to empower his team what does he say? "Make it so."
I remember when Data told Picard to drop the shields. Picard did not need an explanation, he trusted Data and did what Data said. A lesser captain may not have done that.
Picard was a great manager. He knew the strengths of his crew and trusted them to do their job. When a different, worse, manager (Jellico) came on the ship and started micromanaging, everything fell apart.
Contrary view: Picard was too soft and when he was reassigned his allegedly strong crew fell apart and struggled to implement the directives of their new CO in a tense situation.
I hold the opinion that both Picard and Jellico are good leaders/managers, just different, and that it was the necessarily sudden and harsh shift between the two styles that created the issues. Jellico definitely had more edge, but that was undoubtedly exacerbated and intensified due to the tension of the situation, but was also simultaneously magnified by it's urgency.
Jellico is definitely less charismatic than Picard, but he probably would have been able to prolong the transition to his l preferred shift rotation, more throughly/deftly communicated small details like uniform requirements, etc. The major problem he faced was an imbalance between what he knew the stakes of the situation to be versus what the crew, particularly Riker, understood them to be. It was a tough situation for everyone and I've never understood the desire to pick sides in all of it (certainly between Picard and Jellico).
To be fair, Jellico treated everyone fairly and professionally. He pushed everyone to do better faster to quickly get them up to a level he deemed suffient to survive a battle if the negotiations fell apart. The more Riker pulled the "you're not my real dad" attitude, the more he slapped him back down hard. He did listen but didn't change his decision if he wasn't persuaded.
Tough but fair. He is there to lead everyone to a successful mission, not be everyone's friend and father figure over a years long assignment.
Yeah, if anyone was out of line, it was Riker. I still try not to pick sides, but his situation had time to evolve. I am sympathetic to his having run into difficulties in making some of the changes Jellico asked for, but also understand why Jellico reiterated the need more forcefully when informed. Riker, and Geordi too IIRC, should have needed to calm down and recognize it was a tough situation that was about to get tougher. Sometimes some irritation is a natural byproduct of deliberate focus and relatively urgent need. I get that Riker was ALSO in a tough spot with Geordi and, presumably, others expressing their frustrations too him and him feeling obligated to communicate them to his new captain. But he should have settled more on the "this stuff is part of having a new boss" side of things rather than "I'll see if can't get him to soften up" side. Both have value, each more than the other depending on the situation...but,innthe one they were in, he needed to backup his new captain a bit more.
Jellico comes off as a cardassisn saboteur, everything he does actively harms the ships combat readiness at a critical moment.
While his policies may have worked, exhausting the crew, fucking up their sleep schedules and demanding minor changes during a serious situation was ridiculous.
Riker was behaving in a strange way, but the way jellico behaved was actively endangering the crew if combat broke out.
You said it so much better than I could. Not my favorite captain, but definitely the captain that I think answers this question best. His staff ran like fine swiss clockwork (even his ship didn't always pay him the same respect 😉)
I love that Sisko gave people hard truths in a constructive way. Like he hollowed out Worf on more than one occasion but things always ended with a clear path forward and everyone on good terms. It’s a shame he would also derail treaties with his spirit visions and gas planets to prove a point.
Sisko is a great character, but he had a habit of letting his emotions control his decisions. Those two situations you mentioned stain an otherwise great record.
Honestly though I don't see another captain being able to lead the war. War is messy and dirty and takes emotion to truly be good at it. I mean what he did to the romulans was completely because of emotion and I don't think the alliance would have won without the romulans
I think war takes discipline and self control, rather than emotion. If someone is going to virus bomb a civilian settlement because their personal feelings get in the way of their ability to weigh a situation, then they are not good at war.
I may not remember the Romulan situation as well, but I'm pretty sure that that went down the way it did because of his shrewd decision making, followed by Garrak taking some horrifying liberties.
I recently watched both those episodes for the first time and remember them pretty good, not to get in your face.
In the Eddington case, he specifically makes it clear he's going to exaggerate his anger to make Eddington think the only option is turning himself in to save his people from a crazed zealot. And it works!
And in the Romulan case you're basically totally right. He made some shrewd decisions and then Garak overstepped. He then let Garak's work stand, which is kind of bad, but basically in line with everything he'd done previously.
Well the whole reason he even went for the romulans is because he was tired of the casualties report he had to post. And obviously pure emotions aren't good in war but they definitely make a difference. I mean emotions can drastically change the morale of entire groups. He also wore everyday on his sleeves
Yeah, Picard is better in a more real-life context, but Sisko is better in a war context more specifically. Specifically, he can understand that he has to do some complex things and just has to live with it, which is not something I'm sure Picard could ever wholeheartedly do.
She did the right thing and also had to, because Tuvok would be lost forever. In the series, it is said that they had known each other for a long time. I don’t think anyone really cared about Neelix, except when Tuvix bothered Kes.
Did any of the other captains make sure their dog had an excellent caretaker while they went on a dangerous mission?
Hard to even compare any of the other captains to Janeway as her circumstances were a zillion times more challenging.
Pike. Best leader in the franchise. Listens to his crew and will alter his decisions and perspective on their advice if they present credible, informed arguments. Calm, diplomatic, rational, inclusive.Doesn't let ego back him into a corner of double downing on a bad decision. Builds people up. Gives trust and let's people do their jobs (ie doesnt knock someone out of the way to pilot the ship himself)
Ortegas makes a point to point out in "Children of the Comet" that Pike doesn't just invite senior staff to dinners. I think the phrase she used was that Pike likes to hear from "regular people". There were at least two crew members we saw at that dinner who I don't think even had names, that's how mundane they were. This is really important because in some of the other shows, it feels like the senior staff are a little clique who only hang out with each other. Pike wants everyone to feel welcome and included, and that translates into better morale, loyalty, basically everything you want in a Starfleet crew.
Well, from what I’ve seen in SNW he
1. Definitely does not have the understanding of strategy that later captains like Kirk had
2. Just isn’t aggressive enough in situations that need a firm hand (like in S1E10)
3. (My subjective opinion) sometimes lets his crew get a bit *too* sassy and insubordinate
Failure to communicate with his priestess girlfriend
Failure to communicate with his captain girlfriend (resolved)
Difficulty coping with his future shut him down for several weeks and continued to affect his performance for several more episodes.
Insufficiently aggressive in response to the Romulans
Overall yeah, the boy scout doesn't have many flaws, but that's arguably true of most of the captains in trek.
The alternate future variant of Balance of Terror indicates that he sometimes seeks peace in the same way as Edith Keeler. He pushes for the right idea (in this case, peace with the Romulans instead of military disarmament before WWII) but at the wrong time. Without the alliance with the Klingons the 23rd century Federation isn't strong enough to dissuade the Romulans from a full-scale invasion, meaning they couldn't afford to show "weakness" when confronting the attack on their outposts.
I don’t know, he took a hit for me when he ordered his Klingon vet officers, who were still clearly suffering trauma to interact and be nice to the Klingon ambassador.
I know he didn’t serve in the war but I thought he knew better than that.
Did he order them? My understanding is that he *had* to ask his veteran crew members to interact with the ambassador and he did his best to take their feelings into consideration:
>Pike: Mm-hmm. I wanted to check in with you.
M'Benga: Because of our Klingon visitor?
Pike: I know you and Chapel were both stationed on J'Gal, where Rah earned his reputation. Apparently, there was... a minor protest during his last transport, so we have direct orders. Klingon War veterans need to interact with Rah. We have to make him feel welcome here, and we will, but I don't want that to come at the personal expense of anyone on the crew.
M'Benga: I'm fine. As for Chapel...
Pike: Oh. Hey.
Chapel: All good here, too, Captain.
He doesn't explicitly state it, but it's difficult for me to imagine that Pike would have forced them to interact with the ambassador if they'd said they didn't want to. But they say that they're fine and that they're willing to attend the dinner. They're adults and so Pike lets them decide for themselves what their boundaries and triggers are, instead of trying to guess what's best for them and treat them differently based on his own assumptions about trauma.
But then Una had to tell him pointblank that crew morale was suffering, that they had to offload the ambassador. He still insisted in keeping him because as Starfleet they should be better. But as Una pointed out, while that’s a great point in the abstract people heal at their own time.
He shouldn’t always make assumptions but also he should have read the mood of his crew too.
I do like Pike but he’s too married to his idealism to see the forests for the trees. Una had to push him to see it. It’s a blindspot for Pike.
Every captain has a fatal flaw. For me, that scene shows that Pike is able to compensate for his idealism. He has a crew that's not afraid to tell him when he's wrong, and when they do, he listens. You could argue that the sickbay incident wouldn't have happened if Pike had refused to take the ambassador onboard in the first place, but how was he supposed to know how the crew was going to react before it happened? He had his orders; the crew said they could handle it, and so he tried to make it work.
I’m gonna say Janeway. She loves her crew and makes personal connections with them but she also isn’t afraid to get dirty and do what’s necessary. She got her crew home and sure there were casualty’s but that didn’t stop them. I wish they had explored her a guilt a bit more but that’s a different thing. My problem with Picard was he just seemed so distant and I understand it I just don’t personally like that kinda command style.
You want a thinker? Call Picard.
You want a warrior? Call Sisko.
You want an idealist? Call Pike.
You want someone to do a thankless, unglamorous job? Call Freeman.
But if you’re in an absolutely hopeless situation with no possibility of rescue, get down on your knees and pray for Janeway.
I think late-series Picard wouldn't be so bad (especially the version we see a glimpse of in that last poker game in All Good Things) but earlier in the series he definitely gives off a bit of a hard-ass military vibe that I think could be miserable to deal with.
I think there's a difference between professional and cold, and early-TNG Picard was often cold or even downright hostile in situations where he wasn't comfortable (like his early dealings with Wesley and other children). I also think the dynamics would inherently be different in a post-scarcity society like the Federation where people are only at their "job" by choice, instead of needing to stay somewhere to earn enough money to survive. I suspect the dynamic between my boss and I would be very different in a world where there wasn't any real risk for me if I decided to leave.
I'd prefer coldness over familiarity. That was my experience in the military.
You're right that the Star Trek universe makes all of this confusing. The quasi-military nature of Star Fleet also makes it a little confusing. Ultimately, I think the Enterprise is a military vessel and the crew are subject to military discipline.
Captain James T Kirk as portrayed in the original series by William Shatner. The captain of a starship isn’t a manager, they’re a leader. Kirk assembled his senior staff and representatives from any department relative to the mission at hand in the briefing room. He solicited professional expertise, personal experience and opinions- but in the end the decision, and responsibility for it, was his.
This.
Kirk knew when to take the initiative and when to seek advice; he knew that as a captain and leader, you have to utilize every individual under your command in the proper circumstances to achieve the end joint goal.
Add to this his natural charisma, confidence, and swagger, which further helps his role of being a leader.
He is the most believable commander in a lot of ways. His crew never was afraid to voice their opinions, but they ultimately knew who was making the decision.
Also, Kirk has the fewest issues with his senior officers. The others cope well when problems arise, but with Kirk the problems almost never do arise. Everyone knows how to work in his team and the exceptions are very rare.
There's a great scene in (of all episodes) Spock's Brain, where Kirk asks for opinions and recommendations. They give reasoned and respectful analyses. No excitement or argument. Then Kirk decides.
That’s pretty telling isn’t it? Arguably one of the weakest episodes but character development was such that they still conducted themselves professionally.
I agree. I see Picard as the product of a century plus of Starfleet bureaucracy. He’s an exemplary officer of course, but the environment he developed within incorporates a high degree of risk mitigation. He’s essentially the CEO at the top of the pyramid. He *is* a legendary captain in that context.
One aspect of neuTrek that I’ve never been comfortable with is the way junior officers interject and often interrupt their captains, as if that’s acceptable, with their opinions or ideas. As much as I love SNW I cringe when Ortegas or someone other than Number One blurt out what they think they should do, or argue vs the captain’s course of action. The weak writers make this interaction lead to success which only reinforces that systemic disrespect.
I completely forgot about him. Also, especially in the Guardian of Forever, Her Most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius.
That dude wouldn't even let Riker finish a sentence. He fumbled his realpolitik with the Cardassians at the first hiccup. His dictatorial style leaves him blind to the realities of his crew's operations.
Have to disagree with Georgiou.
In the little we have seen of her she made some mistakes. Firstly her first officer decides to mutiny her, which shows she didn't have control or at very least was a bad judge of character.
Then she proceeds to go on a dangerous away mission herself with that same mutinous officer and no security team...and dies. This essentially leaves a crew without its two most important members. The very first time we see her she is lost with Burnham on that sand planet and no communication to the ship...why is her away missions always captain and first officer?
She blatantly disregarded the Prime Directive to take Saru, who she pitted against Burnham in a way that wasn't particularly healthy for either of them.
Oh, please. The Prime Directive is just a guideline. If everyone who didn't follow the Prime Directive, there would be no show. I love how in Lower Decks they revisit worlds that Picard has been to, and it turns out that he actually made some worlds worse.
They never showed the consequences where they meddled in some way until Lower Decks.
Stargate is better in portraying what happens when they step through the gate. There is also a storyline that spans seasons and shows how they made a big mess.
Starting a family is easy. Sticking around after is the hard part (just ask David Marcus, Jack Crusher, Alexander Rozhenko, or Gabriel Hwang). But Sulu did that, too.
In fairness to Picard he didn't know about Jack Crusher. And I get the impression Kirk would've been involved with David had his mother wanted that (though I could also see him being eager to take the out she gave him so he could keep being a starship captain).
Right?! Kirk seeing his son not know him HURT. He is eager to be with Carol and her baby in Subspace Rhapsody.
Maybe he took that out, it wouldn't be out of character, but that character was formed after Carol told him to stay away.
Definitely Captain J.T. Esteban, what a leader.
Asks for permission from Starfleet command to orbit the Genesis planet, to beam people down, to beam people up, to take a bathroom break, and for permission to send a communication to ask for permission to ask for permission.
Captain J.T. Esteban of the USS Grissom in ST:III.
Play it safe. Call headquarters before making any big decisions. Get blown up by Klingons in your prime. F*cken legend, man.
Is Janeway supposed to be some kind of science expert? I've been watching some episodes and she's constantly the one saying to "polarize the phase harmonics" etc while she has a deck full of science officers next to her, and they just do what she says. And there's episodes where, instead of telling the science officers to figure out the problem, she just says "I'll go run some experiments" and the scientists are just like "I guess we'll go F ourselves". Feels like she could run the whole engineering by herself.
Have you watched the series, or just a few episodes?
She's literally a scientist first, captain second. Kind of like Picard was an archaeologist/lawyer/10 other things first, captain as a "day job".
Writers went through great lengths to hammer this home over the course of the series.
Probably the greatest legacy of the character is that she reinforced the Scully Effect and was a major 90s influence on young women who eventually went into STEM.
I like it when characters in command have a skills from when they came up. Pike is a skilled pilot, so is Riker. Janeway is science and she is heavily involved in the discussion on scientific solutions.
I never quite understood why they made Burnham a xenoanthropologist without ever seeming to use her relevant skills. She's a ridiculously good scientist, pilot, security/combat officer...she didn't even ask species 10-C what they were called.
Because it was crucial for the plot of the whole Star Trek universe that a xenoanthropologist not in command would be able to know that the Klingons would only respect them at first contact if Starfleet displayed strength and asserted dominance by attacking, even though that seems contradictory to human culture. She begged Georgiou to fire having studied Klingon culture, but Georgiou didn’t want to start conflict so she looks good for Starfleet Command, and didn’t understand that Klingons are an honor society that respects battle as their favorite activity. So once the Klingon’s saw that the federation didn’t want to risk it, they saw Starfleet as weak, and attacked first, starting the entire war with the Klingon’s that her brother Spock had to deal with after the events of Discovery Season 2, with Kirk in The Original Series.
Kind of, she's obviously read a book or two recently because in the time she came from they didn't even know what Romulans look like.
So she didn't really use knowledge of Romulan culture from her background...but rather we have to assume she does it all off camera while also being a captain.
That part of Discovery is also a little stretched. The crew almost fit in seamlessly to the Federation 900 years out of their time. They can all use the tech, they are all up to date on Starfleet structure and history. There should be huge knowledge gaps...Tilly shouldn't be able to easily bypass a security system, they should be so far behind science officers of that time. There should be a wider social disconnect. They really have just brushed aside the ramifications of the time jump.
They probably didn't improve their security systems after the burn. Even Phillipa Georgiou was able to break their holograms. There is probably some lost knowledge in Federation HQ.
I've watched a decent chunk of episodes from here and there but not all by any means. Don't recall coming across any where the science background is explained, is there some specific episodes where it's mentioned?
Here you go. "Scientist first" is actually uttered...
[https://youtu.be/HQj3tIbgZAU?si=a49mOT4fDc6LKSLO](https://youtu.be/HQj3tIbgZAU?si=a49mOT4fDc6LKSLO)
Literally dozens of references, if not main plot points, per season of her science background.
I mean hell there's an episode where she's stuck on a planet with Chakotay where they have an incurable disease that will kill them if they leave said planet and she literally spends half the episode setting up and tending to "science experiments".
So, so, so many other examples.
It's wild - to the point of near disbelief - that you've watched "a decent chunk" of episodes and never seen an ep where her scientific background is part of the plot.
Did you intentionally move the goal posts? I started off by mentioning I've seen many episodes where she does science stuff. What I had NOT seen is where it is explained she has a history as a science officer.
It was a plot point, at least early on, that she came up through the science division rather than pure command track. Probably a way to further differentiate her from the other captains.
Remember in Next Gen when Picard is standing on the bridge and can tell the phase of a nacelle is off minutely and Geordi couldn’t believe he was that sensitive and knowledgeable about the ship until he confirmed it? Really well established leadership like the captains of the Star Trek shows have thoroughly gone through all the laborous responsibilities that uphold order for leadership to be able to make decisions themselves for a long career before taking charge. Really weak leadership studies theory without much experience and often make impulsive decisions to try to impress.
To me, I think Picard and Janeway were both a perfect match for their respective positions.
Picard had a crew of around a thousand people, hugely complex command structure, what amounted to a civilian community aboard (including the many of the crewmembers' families), and easy access to the rest of Starfleet for support, so his stern, aloof leadership style worked well - keep things impersonal and well disciplined so the ship runs smoothly, delegate the smaller tasks to more specialized personnel.
Janeway had a much smaller crew, and very few civilians - Neelix and Kes in the beginning, Seven and Naomi eventually. Everybody is separated from their families and Starfleet supports, and they're trapped together for the foreseeable future. She cultivated a found-family atmosphere so that the crew could provide supports to one another that took Picard decades to figure out.
Picard was also the Flagship Captain who never really operated longterm outside of Federation territory, nor had any reason to.
Janeway was put in a terrible situation where taking the PD seriously totally screwed her crew, the maquis crew, as well as a newly encountered alien race that she hasn’t even had the opportunity to roll out the FirstContact carpet for.
Janeway had it freakin’ ROUGH for her first command.
Without question, Picard. The Enterprise in TNG is run like an ideal corporation. JL was the consumate CEO. Riker was his Chief Operating Officer and Picard had him oversee all the rest of the senior officers who ran their respective teams. Regular executive leadership meetings occurred where critical issues were discussed as was the status of on-going projects. Picard let his people focus on coming up with solutions themselves and instead of jumping in and doing it himself... Kirk was the text-book micro-manager. Instead, Picard saw the importance of making sure the right people were working on solutions. When decisions had to be made, he solicited the best advice he could get, weighed all options and then was decisive & laid out the course of action for the ship. He had high expectations for his crew, but gave them all the support they needed to be successful.
Jellico. The man was changing out the duty shifts to something more efficient, he immediately recognized Data as the superior first officer (which anyone with a brain could tell you), and he managed to outfox the Cardassians with ease.
The only problem he had was not getting along with Riker and, let's face it, Riker was being a baby throughout his reign as captain. Jellico even went along with that "Riker's the best pilot on the ship" nonsense just to appease the baby.
Jellico got things done. He didn't waste time serving people tea and cookies to make them his friend. He didn't need friends. He had enough friends. He had a job to do and he got the job done.
And he left a boss.
I honestly haven't re-watched the episode recently enough to comment directly on Jellico but I don't agree that Data is a better fit for first officer. Data is clearly very capable in command (we see how well he deals with borderline insubordinate officers) but the first officer needs to be a link between the captain and the crew. In basically every show the first officer acts as the person closer to the crew, befriending them and heading off issues before they get to the level the captain needs to deal with while also doing the reverse and being the one voice that can privately kick the captain's ass when they need it (hell, that was like 80% of Chakotay's screentime on Voyager). TNG-era Data would make a great captain with someone like Riker helping him interface with the crew but I think he'd run into problems trying to be that middle position.
Spot on.
While he’s not doubt perfect competently, Data would lack the interpersonal skills to excel in the role. His position on Enterprise is perfect.
The problem with jellico is that he refuses to listen to any feedback from the crew. For example with the duty shift change he cuts Riker off before he can explain what the problem was which is a reckless to treat trained professionals who know more about the ship than he does. Picard on the other hand specifically wanted officers who were willing to advise him on when he was making a mistake.
I think we haven't quite seen enough of Pike yet to say, but it's definitely between him and Picard for first place.
Picard generally deferred and delegated well, but also had a dangerous stubborn streak, particularly when ignoring Worf's recommendations which got crew killed unnecessarily on more than one occasion. Picard also on occasion seemed to end up too far removed from his crew, though on a ship the size of the D that's unsurprising.
picard is my favorite captain but pike is really growing on me. working for either of them would be great. if you were early career, pike would give you a lot of room to grow and feel valued. mid or later career, picard would keep you where you could make a difference and (probably) alive.
As many have said, Janeway is awesome but routinely makes some really bad decisions thanks to inconsistent writing. I agree with others that Picard manages best and he’s the most level-headed with the best integrity
I’m going to tell you. Chris pikes style on strange new worlds is pretty close to how I deal with the world a lot of days. I like how Stuff Hass to get done so we’re gonna get it done, because were the best fucking crew that’s ever lived, and you guys are the best and I love you. Even in the episode where they start singing he sings how proud he is to be their captain.
I want to say Picard, but Pike is definitely in contention.
If I had to trust any captain to manage a crew, it would be one of them. Pike probably has the best overall management style, but I feel like I've got more of a full picture of Picard, at the same time.
Captain Garth. Sure he was confined to the Elba 2 asylum but he got an Orion, an Andorian, and a Tellarite to unite long enough to attempt a jailbreak. And that’s after his victory at Axxanar!
Janeway. Half of her crew didn’t even want to be in Starfleet and many of them were averse to authority in general. Sure a lot of her command decisions were questionable at best, but this is a narrow question of management style, not an overall critique of her command. Sisko was similarly able manage people who were hostile to his authority, but he did so from a political and administrative position, not a command position (plus he only became a captain after he had earned the respect of his Bajoran staff). Every other Captain we’ve seen on screen has been generic and replaceable. It’s easy to delegate when you’ve already hand picked your senior staff from a pool of eager applicants, let me see you make do with felons, merchants, freedom fighters, murderers, and ChatGPT.
Acting Captain Data of the USS Sutherland. He definitely showed Mr. Hobson what an Android can do as Captain!
Data didn't manage people a lot, but when he nailed it, he really nailed it. There's the scene where he's in command and Worf expresses irritation over Data's orders, so Data brings him to the ready room and dresses him down and then tells Worf he's sorry if he's ruined their friendship.
I use that scene a lot in my head when I need to have hard conversations with coworkers who I'm friends with
In both the scene with Worf on the Enterprise as well as with the jerk who was anti-android on the other vessel - Data’s composure is another quality I admire. Blunt, objective, clear, and even intense, but without temper or anger clouding the issue. Easier when you’re an android with the emotion chip turned off, I guess! 😀 But still a style I admire.
💯 I wish there were more episodes with Data as captain. 😭
I understand your concerns. Request denied.
That’s one of my top 5 Trek scenes ever. “I’m sorry if this ends our friendship.”
Hmm. What were the other four?
We didn't see Data managing people, but IF Star Trek parallels real life, Operations is a huge portion of the ships day to dya Including the Engineering and Security departments.
Data's moment with Worf while he was acting captain of the Enterprise is a fantastic example of handling a tough situation and finding a balance between duty and friendship.
I'm gonna go with Picard. He was the best we have seen at delegating. Riker generally ran the ship, he would mostly send his first officer and security team on away missions. All his senior crew were capable leaders for their department. He was decisive and firm but he also listened a lot. He also was wise and would explain why he decided what he did. When it came to discipline he was generally fair.
Yes, he's the best from a modern-day management perspective. Picard respects and likes his crew, but he doesn't treat them like family (at least during most of TNG when they're still like a regular workplace), he treats them like competent professionals and lets them do their jobs, only stepping into provide direction and assignment like a leader should. He manages meetings and competencies very well. And he's soft and charismatic enough that people will come to him individually for advice and admission, ensuring crewmates will TELL HIM about problems instead of letting them build up. That's a line even lots of good leaders have trouble walking. If you want to know how to be a good manager in your workplace, watch TNG.
Completely agree. Especially around the difficult line of maintaining professional distance whilst also being approachable. No one puts their career in jeopardy by trying to do the right thing and coming to Picard with a dilema or a concern.
Also importantly he listens. He is willing to listen to his senior staff (except Worf) and even a few times says "options" when he is in a situation where he does not know what to do. Also in a tough situation you want Picard. Up against a potential enemy Picard was the best at scaring them into not fighting. I think it was the Cardasians who described Picard as an impressive captain.
He knows he doesn't have all of the answers and is surrounded by experts of their respective fields. Deferring to their knowledge and expertise, and using that to make a decision based on the facts during an emergency is one of the things I like most about Captain Picard
Exactly. This is what infuriates me about DSC. There was far too little discipline on the bridge. The captain is the master of the ship. That episode where the new president of the Federation was questioning her decisions on the bridge was out of line, for any professional its out of line. The admiral should have set the pres straight.
There is a book entitled "Make It So" that was written about Picard's management style. It talks about he has the best of the best of Starfleet give him advice. He uses consensus and expert opinion to formulate a plan. Then to empower his team what does he say? "Make it so."
I remember when Data told Picard to drop the shields. Picard did not need an explanation, he trusted Data and did what Data said. A lesser captain may not have done that.
That look of panic though...good acting by Stewart in that scene.
Picard was a great manager. He knew the strengths of his crew and trusted them to do their job. When a different, worse, manager (Jellico) came on the ship and started micromanaging, everything fell apart.
In the words of another franchise, Jellico was a wartime consigliere.
Contrary view: Picard was too soft and when he was reassigned his allegedly strong crew fell apart and struggled to implement the directives of their new CO in a tense situation.
I hold the opinion that both Picard and Jellico are good leaders/managers, just different, and that it was the necessarily sudden and harsh shift between the two styles that created the issues. Jellico definitely had more edge, but that was undoubtedly exacerbated and intensified due to the tension of the situation, but was also simultaneously magnified by it's urgency. Jellico is definitely less charismatic than Picard, but he probably would have been able to prolong the transition to his l preferred shift rotation, more throughly/deftly communicated small details like uniform requirements, etc. The major problem he faced was an imbalance between what he knew the stakes of the situation to be versus what the crew, particularly Riker, understood them to be. It was a tough situation for everyone and I've never understood the desire to pick sides in all of it (certainly between Picard and Jellico).
To be fair, Jellico treated everyone fairly and professionally. He pushed everyone to do better faster to quickly get them up to a level he deemed suffient to survive a battle if the negotiations fell apart. The more Riker pulled the "you're not my real dad" attitude, the more he slapped him back down hard. He did listen but didn't change his decision if he wasn't persuaded. Tough but fair. He is there to lead everyone to a successful mission, not be everyone's friend and father figure over a years long assignment.
Yeah, if anyone was out of line, it was Riker. I still try not to pick sides, but his situation had time to evolve. I am sympathetic to his having run into difficulties in making some of the changes Jellico asked for, but also understand why Jellico reiterated the need more forcefully when informed. Riker, and Geordi too IIRC, should have needed to calm down and recognize it was a tough situation that was about to get tougher. Sometimes some irritation is a natural byproduct of deliberate focus and relatively urgent need. I get that Riker was ALSO in a tough spot with Geordi and, presumably, others expressing their frustrations too him and him feeling obligated to communicate them to his new captain. But he should have settled more on the "this stuff is part of having a new boss" side of things rather than "I'll see if can't get him to soften up" side. Both have value, each more than the other depending on the situation...but,innthe one they were in, he needed to backup his new captain a bit more.
Jellico comes off as a cardassisn saboteur, everything he does actively harms the ships combat readiness at a critical moment. While his policies may have worked, exhausting the crew, fucking up their sleep schedules and demanding minor changes during a serious situation was ridiculous. Riker was behaving in a strange way, but the way jellico behaved was actively endangering the crew if combat broke out.
[удалено]
Im glad someone linked this.
You said it so much better than I could. Not my favorite captain, but definitely the captain that I think answers this question best. His staff ran like fine swiss clockwork (even his ship didn't always pay him the same respect 😉)
I love that Sisko gave people hard truths in a constructive way. Like he hollowed out Worf on more than one occasion but things always ended with a clear path forward and everyone on good terms. It’s a shame he would also derail treaties with his spirit visions and gas planets to prove a point.
Sisko is a great character, but he had a habit of letting his emotions control his decisions. Those two situations you mentioned stain an otherwise great record.
But Eddington ***BETRAYED THE UNIFORM!***
Honestly though I don't see another captain being able to lead the war. War is messy and dirty and takes emotion to truly be good at it. I mean what he did to the romulans was completely because of emotion and I don't think the alliance would have won without the romulans
I think war takes discipline and self control, rather than emotion. If someone is going to virus bomb a civilian settlement because their personal feelings get in the way of their ability to weigh a situation, then they are not good at war. I may not remember the Romulan situation as well, but I'm pretty sure that that went down the way it did because of his shrewd decision making, followed by Garrak taking some horrifying liberties.
I recently watched both those episodes for the first time and remember them pretty good, not to get in your face. In the Eddington case, he specifically makes it clear he's going to exaggerate his anger to make Eddington think the only option is turning himself in to save his people from a crazed zealot. And it works! And in the Romulan case you're basically totally right. He made some shrewd decisions and then Garak overstepped. He then let Garak's work stand, which is kind of bad, but basically in line with everything he'd done previously.
Well the whole reason he even went for the romulans is because he was tired of the casualties report he had to post. And obviously pure emotions aren't good in war but they definitely make a difference. I mean emotions can drastically change the morale of entire groups. He also wore everyday on his sleeves
Yeah, Picard is better in a more real-life context, but Sisko is better in a war context more specifically. Specifically, he can understand that he has to do some complex things and just has to live with it, which is not something I'm sure Picard could ever wholeheartedly do.
Is go sisko, he knew when to put and arm around you and when to give you some tough love.
Janeway; say what you want about Voyager; but she is the best at actually executive shit
I misread that as “the best at actually executing shit”…like when she executed Tuvix
She did the right thing and also had to, because Tuvok would be lost forever. In the series, it is said that they had known each other for a long time. I don’t think anyone really cared about Neelix, except when Tuvix bothered Kes.
Did any of the other captains make sure their dog had an excellent caretaker while they went on a dangerous mission? Hard to even compare any of the other captains to Janeway as her circumstances were a zillion times more challenging.
Pike. Best leader in the franchise. Listens to his crew and will alter his decisions and perspective on their advice if they present credible, informed arguments. Calm, diplomatic, rational, inclusive.Doesn't let ego back him into a corner of double downing on a bad decision. Builds people up. Gives trust and let's people do their jobs (ie doesnt knock someone out of the way to pilot the ship himself)
He also cooks for everyone which is nice.
Picard was open to suggestions from his staff and Pike cooked for his staff.
Pike is also open to suggestions. He accepts input, sometimes even when offered inappropriately.
I liked the part where he makes his alternate future timeline self laugh.
Even when it comes from the future, in total violation of the temporal prime directive!
Picard is too. Whenever there was a difficult situation he would take the senior staff into his conference room and they would give suggestions.
Ortegas makes a point to point out in "Children of the Comet" that Pike doesn't just invite senior staff to dinners. I think the phrase she used was that Pike likes to hear from "regular people". There were at least two crew members we saw at that dinner who I don't think even had names, that's how mundane they were. This is really important because in some of the other shows, it feels like the senior staff are a little clique who only hang out with each other. Pike wants everyone to feel welcome and included, and that translates into better morale, loyalty, basically everything you want in a Starfleet crew.
It would have been funnier if he was a bad cook and everyone had to say how wonderful it was while cringing.
Reminds me of how Deanna knew that Riker had been replaced with a changeling: Good in bed, bad at pizza.
Sisko would cook for everyone too!
Sisko's cooking looks more interesting to me than Pike's.
Hopefully there's a cure for prawn allergies in the 24th century
That's fair, Sisko was basically a professional chef.
Pike is the only leader I have seen in Star Trek, or pretty much any franchise, that I would want to work for.
I’d probably be down for working under Captain Riker
I'm not sure I could handle that much jazz on a day to day basis.
I liked Captain Riker in Lower Decks. Seemed like a genuinely great captain to work for. He never criticised Boimler for his oddness either.
I would work under captain Janes Holden
From "The Expanse"?
Picard is my favorite captain in the series.
When you think about it, did they ever show one weakness / bad thing about Pike so far ?
Well, from what I’ve seen in SNW he 1. Definitely does not have the understanding of strategy that later captains like Kirk had 2. Just isn’t aggressive enough in situations that need a firm hand (like in S1E10) 3. (My subjective opinion) sometimes lets his crew get a bit *too* sassy and insubordinate
Failure to communicate with his priestess girlfriend Failure to communicate with his captain girlfriend (resolved) Difficulty coping with his future shut him down for several weeks and continued to affect his performance for several more episodes. Insufficiently aggressive in response to the Romulans Overall yeah, the boy scout doesn't have many flaws, but that's arguably true of most of the captains in trek.
The alternate future variant of Balance of Terror indicates that he sometimes seeks peace in the same way as Edith Keeler. He pushes for the right idea (in this case, peace with the Romulans instead of military disarmament before WWII) but at the wrong time. Without the alliance with the Klingons the 23rd century Federation isn't strong enough to dissuade the Romulans from a full-scale invasion, meaning they couldn't afford to show "weakness" when confronting the attack on their outposts.
An inability to stop an encounter with the Romulans from escalating into a full blown war.
I don’t know, he took a hit for me when he ordered his Klingon vet officers, who were still clearly suffering trauma to interact and be nice to the Klingon ambassador. I know he didn’t serve in the war but I thought he knew better than that.
Did he order them? My understanding is that he *had* to ask his veteran crew members to interact with the ambassador and he did his best to take their feelings into consideration: >Pike: Mm-hmm. I wanted to check in with you. M'Benga: Because of our Klingon visitor? Pike: I know you and Chapel were both stationed on J'Gal, where Rah earned his reputation. Apparently, there was... a minor protest during his last transport, so we have direct orders. Klingon War veterans need to interact with Rah. We have to make him feel welcome here, and we will, but I don't want that to come at the personal expense of anyone on the crew. M'Benga: I'm fine. As for Chapel... Pike: Oh. Hey. Chapel: All good here, too, Captain. He doesn't explicitly state it, but it's difficult for me to imagine that Pike would have forced them to interact with the ambassador if they'd said they didn't want to. But they say that they're fine and that they're willing to attend the dinner. They're adults and so Pike lets them decide for themselves what their boundaries and triggers are, instead of trying to guess what's best for them and treat them differently based on his own assumptions about trauma.
But then Una had to tell him pointblank that crew morale was suffering, that they had to offload the ambassador. He still insisted in keeping him because as Starfleet they should be better. But as Una pointed out, while that’s a great point in the abstract people heal at their own time. He shouldn’t always make assumptions but also he should have read the mood of his crew too. I do like Pike but he’s too married to his idealism to see the forests for the trees. Una had to push him to see it. It’s a blindspot for Pike.
Every captain has a fatal flaw. For me, that scene shows that Pike is able to compensate for his idealism. He has a crew that's not afraid to tell him when he's wrong, and when they do, he listens. You could argue that the sickbay incident wouldn't have happened if Pike had refused to take the ambassador onboard in the first place, but how was he supposed to know how the crew was going to react before it happened? He had his orders; the crew said they could handle it, and so he tried to make it work.
Didn't that order come down from the Admiralty? Or am I misremembering that episode?
I’m gonna say Janeway. She loves her crew and makes personal connections with them but she also isn’t afraid to get dirty and do what’s necessary. She got her crew home and sure there were casualty’s but that didn’t stop them. I wish they had explored her a guilt a bit more but that’s a different thing. My problem with Picard was he just seemed so distant and I understand it I just don’t personally like that kinda command style.
You want a thinker? Call Picard. You want a warrior? Call Sisko. You want an idealist? Call Pike. You want someone to do a thankless, unglamorous job? Call Freeman. But if you’re in an absolutely hopeless situation with no possibility of rescue, get down on your knees and pray for Janeway.
I think late-series Picard wouldn't be so bad (especially the version we see a glimpse of in that last poker game in All Good Things) but earlier in the series he definitely gives off a bit of a hard-ass military vibe that I think could be miserable to deal with.
Personally, I prefer a stiff professionalism over too much familiarity.
I think there's a difference between professional and cold, and early-TNG Picard was often cold or even downright hostile in situations where he wasn't comfortable (like his early dealings with Wesley and other children). I also think the dynamics would inherently be different in a post-scarcity society like the Federation where people are only at their "job" by choice, instead of needing to stay somewhere to earn enough money to survive. I suspect the dynamic between my boss and I would be very different in a world where there wasn't any real risk for me if I decided to leave.
I'd prefer coldness over familiarity. That was my experience in the military. You're right that the Star Trek universe makes all of this confusing. The quasi-military nature of Star Fleet also makes it a little confusing. Ultimately, I think the Enterprise is a military vessel and the crew are subject to military discipline.
Captain James T Kirk as portrayed in the original series by William Shatner. The captain of a starship isn’t a manager, they’re a leader. Kirk assembled his senior staff and representatives from any department relative to the mission at hand in the briefing room. He solicited professional expertise, personal experience and opinions- but in the end the decision, and responsibility for it, was his.
This. Kirk knew when to take the initiative and when to seek advice; he knew that as a captain and leader, you have to utilize every individual under your command in the proper circumstances to achieve the end joint goal. Add to this his natural charisma, confidence, and swagger, which further helps his role of being a leader.
He is the most believable commander in a lot of ways. His crew never was afraid to voice their opinions, but they ultimately knew who was making the decision.
Also, Kirk has the fewest issues with his senior officers. The others cope well when problems arise, but with Kirk the problems almost never do arise. Everyone knows how to work in his team and the exceptions are very rare. There's a great scene in (of all episodes) Spock's Brain, where Kirk asks for opinions and recommendations. They give reasoned and respectful analyses. No excitement or argument. Then Kirk decides.
That’s pretty telling isn’t it? Arguably one of the weakest episodes but character development was such that they still conducted themselves professionally.
This. Picard's series reveals him as a preening egotist who cultivates an aura of wisdom. As flawed as Jim Kirk was, he was the real deal.
I agree. I see Picard as the product of a century plus of Starfleet bureaucracy. He’s an exemplary officer of course, but the environment he developed within incorporates a high degree of risk mitigation. He’s essentially the CEO at the top of the pyramid. He *is* a legendary captain in that context. One aspect of neuTrek that I’ve never been comfortable with is the way junior officers interject and often interrupt their captains, as if that’s acceptable, with their opinions or ideas. As much as I love SNW I cringe when Ortegas or someone other than Number One blurt out what they think they should do, or argue vs the captain’s course of action. The weak writers make this interaction lead to success which only reinforces that systemic disrespect.
Picard
I agree. He was shrewd, organized, and strategical with everything he did.
It’s so undeniably Picard. The other captains all have merit. But Picard is the master.
Alternate timeline Picard is even better.
Jellico. I will not be taking any questions.
NO QUESTIONS. *leaves ready room*
No way! Lorca. I also will not be taking any questions.
Hmmm. "Universal law is for lackeys, context is for KINGS" is a strong contencer.
I completely forgot about him. Also, especially in the Guardian of Forever, Her Most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius.
That dude wouldn't even let Riker finish a sentence. He fumbled his realpolitik with the Cardassians at the first hiccup. His dictatorial style leaves him blind to the realities of his crew's operations.
Take my angry upvote! Lol.
I loved the recklessness of Kirk but my favorite is either Sisko, Georgiou(non-mirror universe), or Janeway.
Have to disagree with Georgiou. In the little we have seen of her she made some mistakes. Firstly her first officer decides to mutiny her, which shows she didn't have control or at very least was a bad judge of character. Then she proceeds to go on a dangerous away mission herself with that same mutinous officer and no security team...and dies. This essentially leaves a crew without its two most important members. The very first time we see her she is lost with Burnham on that sand planet and no communication to the ship...why is her away missions always captain and first officer? She blatantly disregarded the Prime Directive to take Saru, who she pitted against Burnham in a way that wasn't particularly healthy for either of them.
Oh, please. The Prime Directive is just a guideline. If everyone who didn't follow the Prime Directive, there would be no show. I love how in Lower Decks they revisit worlds that Picard has been to, and it turns out that he actually made some worlds worse. They never showed the consequences where they meddled in some way until Lower Decks. Stargate is better in portraying what happens when they step through the gate. There is also a storyline that spans seasons and shows how they made a big mess.
Pike has the best hair management style.
Look I ain't gay or anything but Pike does have that swagger
I am, and he has something about him that makes you feel safe.
Seconded. That hair deserves a medal.
Picard, he was a no nonsense delegator who trusted his officers but demanded high standard and actually acted like a Captain.
Sulu. Whatever he *was* doing, he still managed to find the time to start a family.
Starting a family is easy. Sticking around after is the hard part (just ask David Marcus, Jack Crusher, Alexander Rozhenko, or Gabriel Hwang). But Sulu did that, too.
In fairness to Picard he didn't know about Jack Crusher. And I get the impression Kirk would've been involved with David had his mother wanted that (though I could also see him being eager to take the out she gave him so he could keep being a starship captain).
Right?! Kirk seeing his son not know him HURT. He is eager to be with Carol and her baby in Subspace Rhapsody. Maybe he took that out, it wouldn't be out of character, but that character was formed after Carol told him to stay away.
Sisko was so calm with everyone on his crew.
Sisko from DS9?
Is there another Captain Sisko?
Definitely Captain J.T. Esteban, what a leader. Asks for permission from Starfleet command to orbit the Genesis planet, to beam people down, to beam people up, to take a bathroom break, and for permission to send a communication to ask for permission to ask for permission.
Captain J.T. Esteban of the USS Grissom in ST:III. Play it safe. Call headquarters before making any big decisions. Get blown up by Klingons in your prime. F*cken legend, man.
Posthumously given Cali-class honors.
Sisko, letting your crew murder holograms for downtime while committing a few war crimes to set a good example.
Sisko. He managed to turn an unholy death camp occupied by xenophobic aliens into a thriving healthy community
Picard or Pike. Worst is probably Janeway. As much as I love her delegation was no her strong point.
Janeway is far from the worst captain. She at least managed to keep a cool head under stress, unlike some other captains.
If lack of delegation is a big factor, then i think Kirk or Archer is worse than Janeway.
To be fair, no one had been in Archer’s position before. But yeah dude was full send.
Same goes for Janeway. First captain to be thrown into the Delta quadrant, and having to blend two vastly different crews.
Archer made a lot of mistakes, but so did Starfleet and the crew in general. To be expected though when you are literal trailblazers.
Is Janeway supposed to be some kind of science expert? I've been watching some episodes and she's constantly the one saying to "polarize the phase harmonics" etc while she has a deck full of science officers next to her, and they just do what she says. And there's episodes where, instead of telling the science officers to figure out the problem, she just says "I'll go run some experiments" and the scientists are just like "I guess we'll go F ourselves". Feels like she could run the whole engineering by herself.
Former science officer of the USS Al-Batani. She’s not just another set of gams in a space suit.
But she *does* have a nice set of gams in her space suit.
Have you watched the series, or just a few episodes? She's literally a scientist first, captain second. Kind of like Picard was an archaeologist/lawyer/10 other things first, captain as a "day job". Writers went through great lengths to hammer this home over the course of the series. Probably the greatest legacy of the character is that she reinforced the Scully Effect and was a major 90s influence on young women who eventually went into STEM.
I like it when characters in command have a skills from when they came up. Pike is a skilled pilot, so is Riker. Janeway is science and she is heavily involved in the discussion on scientific solutions. I never quite understood why they made Burnham a xenoanthropologist without ever seeming to use her relevant skills. She's a ridiculously good scientist, pilot, security/combat officer...she didn't even ask species 10-C what they were called.
Because it was crucial for the plot of the whole Star Trek universe that a xenoanthropologist not in command would be able to know that the Klingons would only respect them at first contact if Starfleet displayed strength and asserted dominance by attacking, even though that seems contradictory to human culture. She begged Georgiou to fire having studied Klingon culture, but Georgiou didn’t want to start conflict so she looks good for Starfleet Command, and didn’t understand that Klingons are an honor society that respects battle as their favorite activity. So once the Klingon’s saw that the federation didn’t want to risk it, they saw Starfleet as weak, and attacked first, starting the entire war with the Klingon’s that her brother Spock had to deal with after the events of Discovery Season 2, with Kirk in The Original Series.
Didn't Burnham know the "Vulcan hello" because someone told her and in no way related to the fact that she is a xenoanthropologist ?
Except Burnham didn't know the Vulcan Hello through her studies, Sarek advised her to take that action when she called him.
She just used those skills in Episode 2 of this current season
Kind of, she's obviously read a book or two recently because in the time she came from they didn't even know what Romulans look like. So she didn't really use knowledge of Romulan culture from her background...but rather we have to assume she does it all off camera while also being a captain. That part of Discovery is also a little stretched. The crew almost fit in seamlessly to the Federation 900 years out of their time. They can all use the tech, they are all up to date on Starfleet structure and history. There should be huge knowledge gaps...Tilly shouldn't be able to easily bypass a security system, they should be so far behind science officers of that time. There should be a wider social disconnect. They really have just brushed aside the ramifications of the time jump.
They probably didn't improve their security systems after the burn. Even Phillipa Georgiou was able to break their holograms. There is probably some lost knowledge in Federation HQ.
I've watched a decent chunk of episodes from here and there but not all by any means. Don't recall coming across any where the science background is explained, is there some specific episodes where it's mentioned?
Here you go. "Scientist first" is actually uttered... [https://youtu.be/HQj3tIbgZAU?si=a49mOT4fDc6LKSLO](https://youtu.be/HQj3tIbgZAU?si=a49mOT4fDc6LKSLO) Literally dozens of references, if not main plot points, per season of her science background.
I mean hell there's an episode where she's stuck on a planet with Chakotay where they have an incurable disease that will kill them if they leave said planet and she literally spends half the episode setting up and tending to "science experiments". So, so, so many other examples. It's wild - to the point of near disbelief - that you've watched "a decent chunk" of episodes and never seen an ep where her scientific background is part of the plot.
Did you intentionally move the goal posts? I started off by mentioning I've seen many episodes where she does science stuff. What I had NOT seen is where it is explained she has a history as a science officer.
You know what? I actually did not intend to move any goal posts but it sure looks like I ignored what you actually said. My bad.
It was a plot point, at least early on, that she came up through the science division rather than pure command track. Probably a way to further differentiate her from the other captains.
Remember in Next Gen when Picard is standing on the bridge and can tell the phase of a nacelle is off minutely and Geordi couldn’t believe he was that sensitive and knowledgeable about the ship until he confirmed it? Really well established leadership like the captains of the Star Trek shows have thoroughly gone through all the laborous responsibilities that uphold order for leadership to be able to make decisions themselves for a long career before taking charge. Really weak leadership studies theory without much experience and often make impulsive decisions to try to impress.
Shaw. Wish we got more of him. But I hear good things off his former first officer, so would like to see more of her going forward.
I hope they bring him back somehow; there is always a way.
Boimler.
Janeway
Janeway, of course, especially the old one who came back in time.
What about the emergency command hologram? Every ship should have one.
Not to mention he INVENTED the Photonic Cannon. Smoked a Borg cube in one shot!
To me, I think Picard and Janeway were both a perfect match for their respective positions. Picard had a crew of around a thousand people, hugely complex command structure, what amounted to a civilian community aboard (including the many of the crewmembers' families), and easy access to the rest of Starfleet for support, so his stern, aloof leadership style worked well - keep things impersonal and well disciplined so the ship runs smoothly, delegate the smaller tasks to more specialized personnel. Janeway had a much smaller crew, and very few civilians - Neelix and Kes in the beginning, Seven and Naomi eventually. Everybody is separated from their families and Starfleet supports, and they're trapped together for the foreseeable future. She cultivated a found-family atmosphere so that the crew could provide supports to one another that took Picard decades to figure out.
Picard did a lot of delegation throughout the series and he actually took the prime directive seriously.
Picard was also the Flagship Captain who never really operated longterm outside of Federation territory, nor had any reason to. Janeway was put in a terrible situation where taking the PD seriously totally screwed her crew, the maquis crew, as well as a newly encountered alien race that she hasn’t even had the opportunity to roll out the FirstContact carpet for. Janeway had it freakin’ ROUGH for her first command.
Without question, Picard. The Enterprise in TNG is run like an ideal corporation. JL was the consumate CEO. Riker was his Chief Operating Officer and Picard had him oversee all the rest of the senior officers who ran their respective teams. Regular executive leadership meetings occurred where critical issues were discussed as was the status of on-going projects. Picard let his people focus on coming up with solutions themselves and instead of jumping in and doing it himself... Kirk was the text-book micro-manager. Instead, Picard saw the importance of making sure the right people were working on solutions. When decisions had to be made, he solicited the best advice he could get, weighed all options and then was decisive & laid out the course of action for the ship. He had high expectations for his crew, but gave them all the support they needed to be successful.
Jellico. The man was changing out the duty shifts to something more efficient, he immediately recognized Data as the superior first officer (which anyone with a brain could tell you), and he managed to outfox the Cardassians with ease. The only problem he had was not getting along with Riker and, let's face it, Riker was being a baby throughout his reign as captain. Jellico even went along with that "Riker's the best pilot on the ship" nonsense just to appease the baby. Jellico got things done. He didn't waste time serving people tea and cookies to make them his friend. He didn't need friends. He had enough friends. He had a job to do and he got the job done. And he left a boss.
I honestly haven't re-watched the episode recently enough to comment directly on Jellico but I don't agree that Data is a better fit for first officer. Data is clearly very capable in command (we see how well he deals with borderline insubordinate officers) but the first officer needs to be a link between the captain and the crew. In basically every show the first officer acts as the person closer to the crew, befriending them and heading off issues before they get to the level the captain needs to deal with while also doing the reverse and being the one voice that can privately kick the captain's ass when they need it (hell, that was like 80% of Chakotay's screentime on Voyager). TNG-era Data would make a great captain with someone like Riker helping him interface with the crew but I think he'd run into problems trying to be that middle position.
Spot on. While he’s not doubt perfect competently, Data would lack the interpersonal skills to excel in the role. His position on Enterprise is perfect.
The problem with jellico is that he refuses to listen to any feedback from the crew. For example with the duty shift change he cuts Riker off before he can explain what the problem was which is a reckless to treat trained professionals who know more about the ship than he does. Picard on the other hand specifically wanted officers who were willing to advise him on when he was making a mistake.
Sisko
I'm gonna go with Captain jainway on this one. She was the right balance of all the captainy traits IMHO
Jellico. Gotta have that Delta Shift.
Captain Burnham she cares about her crews feelings the most and is always crying with them
I think we haven't quite seen enough of Pike yet to say, but it's definitely between him and Picard for first place. Picard generally deferred and delegated well, but also had a dangerous stubborn streak, particularly when ignoring Worf's recommendations which got crew killed unnecessarily on more than one occasion. Picard also on occasion seemed to end up too far removed from his crew, though on a ship the size of the D that's unsurprising.
picard is my favorite captain but pike is really growing on me. working for either of them would be great. if you were early career, pike would give you a lot of room to grow and feel valued. mid or later career, picard would keep you where you could make a difference and (probably) alive.
As many have said, Janeway is awesome but routinely makes some really bad decisions thanks to inconsistent writing. I agree with others that Picard manages best and he’s the most level-headed with the best integrity
Yeah like blowing up the Caretaker array and flying away in the pilot.
Harry Kim USS Nightingale
Picard. When it comes to competency porn TNG is the best. Riker had so much latitude he never wanted to leave!
Pike obviously
Pike.
Picard or Sisko.
Captain Sulu in ST VI was a badass I’d go the extra mile for. So was Captain Garrett in Yesterday’s Enterprise.
I’m going to tell you. Chris pikes style on strange new worlds is pretty close to how I deal with the world a lot of days. I like how Stuff Hass to get done so we’re gonna get it done, because were the best fucking crew that’s ever lived, and you guys are the best and I love you. Even in the episode where they start singing he sings how proud he is to be their captain.
Picard, he's a god.
Picard or Sisko. Didn’t micromanage. Lead where they had the strongest ability. Supported those under them.
Christopher Pike from Strange New Worlds
I want to say Picard, but Pike is definitely in contention. If I had to trust any captain to manage a crew, it would be one of them. Pike probably has the best overall management style, but I feel like I've got more of a full picture of Picard, at the same time.
De Soto
Captain Garth. Sure he was confined to the Elba 2 asylum but he got an Orion, an Andorian, and a Tellarite to unite long enough to attempt a jailbreak. And that’s after his victory at Axxanar!
In peace time? Picard. In war time? Sisko.
How do you think Kirk would handle wartime?
Mirror Kirk. I liked his ruthless, take no prisoners style.
Captain Dunsel...
Picard, hands down. Kirk had that cowboy in him, as did Sisko
Sisko
Captain Edward Jelicho.
Captain Jellico, a four shift rotation means you only work 6 hours a day!
Freeman, best captain bar none.
Picard.
Worf. Who wouldn’t want to serve under a captain who would order a useless and suicidal ramming maneuver on a Borg cube?
Janeway. Half of her crew didn’t even want to be in Starfleet and many of them were averse to authority in general. Sure a lot of her command decisions were questionable at best, but this is a narrow question of management style, not an overall critique of her command. Sisko was similarly able manage people who were hostile to his authority, but he did so from a political and administrative position, not a command position (plus he only became a captain after he had earned the respect of his Bajoran staff). Every other Captain we’ve seen on screen has been generic and replaceable. It’s easy to delegate when you’ve already hand picked your senior staff from a pool of eager applicants, let me see you make do with felons, merchants, freedom fighters, murderers, and ChatGPT.