Conversations in Management
Star
Trek had been on the air since September 1966, but it wasn’t
until the following November that Communications Officer, Lt.
Uhura made her first appearance and began advising Captain Kirk
of the hailing frequency’s status. In that show—The
Corbomite Maneuver— Uhura reported on the status seven times
in four acts before picking up any other lines. Despite the
enormous popularity of the franchise today, the original series
struggled to find an audience and ran anemically on NBC for only
three years. That might have been because Star Trek was
initially considered a substantive drama at a time when American
tastes were trending towards pure camp. Star Trek played
against shows like Batman, Lost in Space and Laugh In. Despite
William Shatner’s overwrought performance as Captain Kirk, the
show addressed issues such as racism, freedom, religion and Cold
War politics. But Star Trek’s primary appeal was its look at the
technology of the future. Dozens of feature stories appeared in
newspapers and magazines pointing out that the show was based on
real science. With the help of NASA and an army of
professorial types, potential viewers were assured that the
kinds of devices displayed on the show were things that might
actually one day come to pass. That was both electrifying and
hard to believe for the majority of the audience that watched
the show on flickering 1950’s era black and white TV’s. For
those folks color was a quantum technological advancement
and one which they wouldn’t enjoy for years to come.
None-the-less, people of a certain age will recognize that
Kirk’s communicator looks like a pre-historic version of the
Motorola RAZR and Spock’s data cartridges look more 8-Track than
Blu-ray.
While the
writers may have gotten the science right, it’s interesting to
note what they didn’t think would change much in the future—human
behavior. In episode after episode, we see our progeny
behaving in much the same way we do. With alarming regularity,
some unlikely soul falls
inexplicably in love and
immediately starts doing goofy things that would otherwise
horrify them. Then, too, we see heroic, courageous and
inspirational acts along with cowardly, mean-spirited and
conniving behavior. Even the aliens discovered while boldly
going where no man’s gone before seem familiar. Despite their
oddly shaped heads and vaguely reptilian appearance, they behave
just like humans—though frequently with attitude.
Given that
much wasn’t expected to change behavior-wise in the future, it’s
not surprising that Star Trek’s sub-text was always about
communications. It didn’t matter if the Enterprise was trying to
contact an unknown, sentient life-form or reestablish a
connection with an infrequently visited Federation colony, it
was always important that the hailing frequency remain
open. It was always essential that two-way communications
were possible as a necessary prerequisite to understanding.
Even a cursory look at the reruns reveals that when
communications broke down, Kirk and his crew were in trouble.
Today and every day, it’s
essential that we keep our hailing frequencies open—it’s the
life-blood of relationships and organizations. When the
frequency closes, trust erodes, suspicion reigns and chaos
ensues. But the frequency travels both ways. Each of us needs to
send with precision and be ready to receive with accuracy. It
takes both components to really understand the message. Sadly,
most of us don’t have a Lt. Uhura to tell us our frequency is
open and so we have to ask ourselves. Is your hailing frequency
open? It’s worth checking if you want to understand what’s going
on. While you’re checking, beam me up, Scotty.
—Ebert
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