During the 1990s I served at sea in the Navy under a ‘Leader in Service’ who I now commonly refer to as Captain-my-Hero. One day a ship with a significantly junior Captain was to rendezvous with us to start several days of training manoeuvres. On joining us, this ship got its final approach horribly wrong and put both ships in danger of collision. After a simultaneous reversing of engines, we were both stopped in the water, much like two charging thoroughbreds skidding to a stop in a cloud of dust. As we slowly backed out of trouble Captain-my-Hero quietly called for his Signals Yeoman and I managed to hear him dictate a message to be dispatched by flashing light:
“For: Your Captain
From: This Captain
Message: Snap”
Here was a man leading in the space where humility meets generosity. This ‘Leader in Service’ would have been completely justified in sending a very severe form of what we used to call, a Nastygram. Instead he sent a simple message, Snap, implying: “This little bunfight took the two of us to create and I accept 50 percent of the blame”. He was leading in service of the other Captain, the other ship and his own team. I learned a lot from Captain-my-Hero.
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