Captain Manu Mahajan
The notion that a ship's Captain is similar in
quality or character to a shore based CEO or
senior manager is hogwash that has been
promoted by the STCW 'management level'
certificate claptrap for far too long. Perhaps
this way of defining responsibilities at sea may
find some takers among sailors who have a
complex about their jobs being inferior to those
ashore, but as far as I am concerned, this narrow
profiling actually devalues what they do.
Because I believe that a Master's job is tougher
than a CEO's. In fact, the nuances in leadership,
strategic or tactical thinking, physical action
and mental agility required of a ship Captain- or,
indeed, of any rank of officer or crew at sea- are
unique. The 'management' or 'operational' level
labels are plainly inaccurate. This is not an
office, where a manager does no manual work.
This is a ship, whose senior most officers often
live in boiler suits these days.
A CEO ashore is probably responsible for larger amounts of money, but no CEO lives, works and
eats with his workforce. No CEO faces the same living conditions as the shop floor worker. No
CEO suffers acute fatigue and loss of sleep for prolonged periods while making major decisions
that affect directly the physical safety of everybody around, including himself. No CEO picks
up a screwdriver at work one minute and handles a multimillion-dollar floating behemoth the
next. No CEO makes huge decisions all on his own.
No CEO is required to be- within any 24 hour period- alternately a clerk, an operator of machinery
or equipment, a HR man, a security in charge, a factory manager, a data entry operator, a
communications officer, a cashier, an accountant, a payroll controller, a policeman and an
environmental mini-specialist.
No CEO is required to work while spending months away from his family at a stretch. No CEO
will be arrested for even a major disaster- leave alone a minor accident- in most parts of the
world: Bhopal, for example. Hell, a CEO does not even stand on his feet too much or too often;
he travels, works and lives in a soothing atmosphere with minions to take care of everything,
including his cup of coffee.
A Shipmaster, on the other hand, works in a hostile environment- physical and mental both- that
is magnified manifold by most of the people he encounters that are not part of his crew- the
antagonistic enemies at the gate.