Time for me to revisit a guilty pleasure. As a child of the seventies, Star Trek’s original series was incredibly important to me. Even as a tyke, I knew it was often campy and usually ridiculous, I enjoyed the thought of exploring the galaxy enough to rewatch episodes every time they aired.
A few days after I moved to Arkansas, the pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation aired. I was so happy to re-enter the universe of Trek, TNG was appointment viewing for me through all seven years of its run. While I enjoyed the galaxy-hopping SciFi fun, I quickly found myself wanting to emulate some of the behaviors of the characters on the show. However, over the course of the run, I realized that I was learning important life lessons on poise, agreeable disagreement, the value of diversity, and leadership. This personal growth journey continued with Deep Space Nine.
It’s not an overstatement that much of what I learned about behaving as a functional adult came from these two Star Trek series. It’s likely that it was a “right time / right place” situation given my age and development, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share content so valuable to me.
Wes Roberts wrote a book called Make It So which is more of a plot synopsis of the leadership lessons from Star Trek: TNG. I don’t recommend the book necessarily, but am offering it as an option if you’re curious.
If you want to learn while being entertained, the above two Trek series might be worth your time.
