Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: Analyzing Captain Spock's Style

This report provides an analysis of Captain Spock's leadership style as depicted in the Star Trek episode "The Galileo Seven." It defines leadership, explores different approaches, and focuses on Spock's character, emphasizing his logic-oriented personality and decision-making process. The report examines how Spock's logical approach influences his leadership, particularly in crisis situations where he prioritizes the safety of his crew. It highlights instances where Spock makes crucial decisions, such as sacrificing weight for escape velocity and ordering his team to leave him behind when injured. The report also discusses how Spock's leadership is perceived by his crew, acknowledging his efficiency and dedication. Ultimately, the analysis concludes that, while not always friendly, Spock is a dedicated, work-oriented, and respected leader, capable of guiding his team effectively.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN STAR TREK
LEADERSHIP IN STAR TREK
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
Leadership may be defined as the ability to guide an organization or a group of people.
The following report discusses the leadership style of Captain Spock, a character from the
television series, Star Trek based on science fiction. The report focusses on the leadership style
of the Vulcan leader, Spock. S'chn T'gai Spock, or Officer Spock, is an extremely logic-oriented
person. Throughout the entire series, in every random situation the personality of this person
which is revealed shows appropriate application of logic and reasoning devoid of emotional
attachments.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Discussion............................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................7
References............................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Leadership may be defined as the ability to guide an organization or a group of people.
This may be considered a research area as well as a hands-on skill. There exist various
viewpoints on the approaches taken to leadership. According to the environment of the
academics in US, leadership maybe defined as the social influence process whereby the
concerned person may support and help his fellow workers to accomplish a common job. These
definitions change with the change in the approach towards the definition of the project.
The following report discusses the leadership style of Captain Spock, a character from the
television series based on science fiction. The report focusses on the leadership style of the
Vulcan leader, Spock as depicted in the sixteenth episode of the first season of the series titled
“The Galileo Seven”. The report attempts an analysis of the effectiveness of the leadership style
and behavior of Captain Spock as depicted in the given episode.
Discussion
A media franchise of America brought into existence by Gene Roddenbury, Star Trek is
based on science fiction (Gregory 2016; Greenberger, 2012). The story of the series narrates the
adventures of the captain and crew of the fictional aircraft, USS Enterprise (NCC - 1701). The
show is set in the twenty-third century in the 2260s in the Milky Way galaxy. The onboard crew
of the spaceship include the captain of the ship, Captain James T. Kirk, the first officer Spock,
who is also the science officer and the chief medical officer of the team, Leonard McCoy along
with the other crew members. The spacecraft that has been in use in the television series is
mentioned to be made by the interstellar Federal republic called United Federation of Planets.
According to the storyline, the crew is entrusted with the duty of finding planets that may sustain

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lifeforms. The expedition is conducted in a relatively small part of the galaxy. The television
series was first broadcasted on the 8th of September, 1966 on NBC in the United States.
The episode in discussion, “The Galileo Seven” is the sixteenth episode of the first
season of the series. The episode was first aired in on the 5th of January in the year 1967 in the
United States (StarTrek.com 2017; Rehak 2016). In this episode, the U.S.S. Enterprise passes by
the Murasaki 312, enroute to Makus III. the Makus III is ridden by plague and needs medical
supplies which are to be delivered by the starship. The crew of the starship are under the orders
from the Starfleet to inquire upon galactic phenomena similar to the exhibited by the beehive-
like group of stars. Thus, seven members of the crew and the first officer, Spock embark on a
journey to take a closer look of the star-group.
The shuttle spacecraft is pulled out of their track and out of the range of sensors of the
starship U.S.S. Enterprise. The crew manages a crash landing on a rocky area covered with fog
on the Taurus II. The Taurus II is inhabited by huge, combative manlike creatures. The crew of
the shuttlecraft along with the first officer had to face and defend themselves against the attacks
of the humanoids while trying to mend the space shuttle and leave the hostile planet as soon as
possible. Due to an ionization effect on the instruments of the space shuttle, the U.S.S. Enterprise
fails in its attempts to find the Galileo.
Commissioner Ferris, the federation official who was in charge of the mission to supply
emergency medical supplements to the planet Makus III, had objected to undertaking of the
exploration mission to explore the galactic phenomena at the quasar like formation of stars under
the leadership of Spock, the science officer of the spacecraft (Startrek.com 2017). The Galactic
High Commissioner demands that the captain of the spaceship, Captain Kirk call off the search
for the lost shuttlecraft and proceed on their journey towards the plague-ridden planet of Makus

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III. In the meantime, on the Taurus II, two of the crew are murdered by the humanoids who
reside on the planet. A crew member places an irrational demand for Spock. Spock was
demanded to halt the repairmen of the space shuttle and participate in the burial of the dead crew.
The logical insight of Spock bars him from complying to the wishes of the lieutenant in the
situation that they were facing at the current moment. The Galileo manages to orbit around the
planet in an unsteady manner while the starship crew gets busy in preparing for the flight to the
planet Makus III. Spock realizes that the shuttle would not be making it out of the gravitational
range of the planet and thus in an attempt to escape the planet, the science officer ignites the fuel
that was left in the shuttle. The crew of the space shuttle get teleported to the space ship after the
crew onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise detect a flare like that of a meteor as the space shuttle gets
destroyed in the atmosphere of the Taurus II. Spock sticks to the point that the decision that he
took to attempt a try at saving themselves was a logical Vulcan approach to the problem.
Officer Spock, is an extremely logic-oriented person. Throughout the entire series, in
every random situation the personality of this person which is revealed shows appropriate
application of logic and reasoning devoid of emotional attachments. Captain Kirk acknowledges
the same fact when he says that he has known Spock to have judged every situation based on
logic and logic alone (Hermalin 2014; Hurwitz and Hurwitz 2015). A true leader must not let the
air of pride cloud into his head. Spock displayed this trait in the earlier part of the episode, where
he mentions that he is a very logical person and neither does he enjoy the idea of commanding
nor is he frightened by it. True to his character, in this situation as well, Spock demonstrated his
sense of proper reasoning when he spoke of the details of the weapon used to kill Latimer instead
of emotionally speaking about the death of his comrade (Nichols 2017; Zehetner and
Steinkellner 2014). This was not very readily accepted by two of the other crew members present

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there and they criticized him for his heartless behavior. On the subject of heading back to the
starship it was observed that 150 pounds of weight needed to be dismounted to achieve escape
velocity. This needed the crucial decision of sacrificing the life of one crew member back on
planet Taurus-II or leaving none behind but jeopardizing the success rate of their survival. At
times a leader is forced to take strong decisions, no matter how cruel it may seem, for the benefit
of the entire team (Hicks 2017). Officer Spock exhibited such nervous strength under the
umbrella of logical indifference and rationally, when he casually decided that it is the most
logical solution to ensure the safety of the entire crew. This shows that though Officer Spock is
emotionally ignorant, he is a responsible leader (Reynolds 2015; Balzac 2014).
A leader must always keep faith in his abilities. He must keep his cool and calm even
when the situation around him intensifies or his team members start doubting him (Hermalin
2014). Officer Spock exhibits such dedication and calmness when he sees that the fuel tank of
his ship had been depleted. In all the adversities, he never lost his composure and had hope as
well as his calm rational mind at work to calculate a way out of the difficult situation his team
was in. This shows the composure of Spock as a leader.
Although it might seem difficult, sometimes following through the seemingly irrational
decision of the team mates is also a duty of the leader to keep their trust in themselves unaltered.
As is seen in the case of Gaetano’s death, although a proper burial was unnecessary and risky for
the crew, but upon being insisted forcefully by his team, Spock decided in favor of the burial.
This shows Spock knows when to let go of his personal decisions as a team leader and allow the
wishes of his teammates as well.
On rare occasions the most crucial decision a leader might have to take is to sacrifice
his/her own self for the benefit or rather survival of his team. This requires an immense sense of

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dedication and responsibility to the team to put their survival even before one’s own life, and
Spock exhibited such dedication, when he was injured by one of the locals of planet Taurus-II,
and ordered his team to leave him behind so that they may survive.
His radical act of suddenly engaging the jet thrusters in hope of sending a distress signal,
can also be judged as an act of heroism on part of the leader, when he successfully safe-zoned his
team out of danger (Franco 2016). An overall judgement of the character of Spock reveals that
leaders like him may not be too friendly to work with, but are uncompromising on the efficiency-
front. They are dedicated, work-oriented, self-less and responsible leaders, valued and respected
by the entire team (Halmburger, Baumert and Schmitt 2016; Duncan 2013). This is proven by
the fact that the team members chose to rescue Spock and not leave him alone in-spite of his
discreet orders to do so when he was injured.
Conclusion
In lieu of the above discussion, it may be said that Spock is a very rational and logical
person. He tries to work based on only logic which his team members may find heart less at
times Spock steps up boldly into every situation and helps his team reach new places and achieve
what they had thought of accomplishing. Thus considering all aspects of the character, it may be
said that Spock is a leader capable of guiding his team in the best possible manner.

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References
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Psychology for Managers (pp. 63-82). Springer New York.
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Franco, Z.E., 2016. Heroism in Times of Crisis. Handbook of Heroism and Heroic
Leadership, p.185.
Greenberger, R., 2012. Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History. Voyageur Press
(MN).
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Halmburger, A., Baumert, A. and Schmitt, M., 2016. Determinants of Moral
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May Favor and Respond to Charismatic Leaders. Working paper, UC Berkeley.
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Houllou, J.R.Z., 2016. A multidão nos seriados Star Trek e Heroes: dissensos do
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