Captain’s List — Captain Flint #1881
Corsair’s Profiles in Leadership Series
The captains of fiction and history have much to teach us. They are leaders who often serve in times of great challenge and turmoil. Articles in this series focus on an individual captain and utilizes their quotes, their writings, and their actions to inspire core leadership elements in all of us.
Captain Flint
Many now know Flint as the popular character from Starz series Blacksails. He is the fictional Captain of a variety of pirate crews and vessels in this prequel to Treasure Island created by Levine & Steinberg. But Flint himself is the original creation of Robert Louis Stevenson. Flint is vital to the Treasure Island plot, but he appears posthumously and with considerable later life baggage.
Flint has appeared or been referenced in many works inspired by Stevenson’s opus. He even gets a cameo reference in Peter Pan. But Blacksails provides us with a view of this fictional pirate in his prime and as its primary (or shared) focus. And it delivers a character that is larger than… death.
Fear
Fear and leadership may seem like opposing forces, but the military has made use of the two for centuries… millennia. There is nothing wrong with a leader who strikes fear in the hearts of your adversaries. It is actually a source of hope and confidence.
Fear, of course, is a double edged sword. One that Flint is often cutting himself upon. Fearsome leaders rarely strike fear in only the hearts of their enemies and fear within an organization is never a good thing for long. In times of war and moments of hardship, it can serve an important role.
In this context, Flint serves as a model. He is not a model of how to use fear appropriately, but one of what fear as a tool can mean. Where his techniques and actions should perhaps be copied is the other great attribute he embraces and that offsets some of the negatives of fear:
Commitment
Flint has an unworldly commitment to his cause. He has a strong commitment to his allies. And he applies great discretion on when to consider someone an ally and when not.
On the TV series, we see Flint sacrifice an incredible amount in the name of freedom and liberty. We see him risk all for his earliest friends (and lovers). We see him, with great early caution, even build tremendous commitment to John Silver. An ally who becomes critical to balancing the fear created by Captain and who matures into a incredibly committed leader himself.
It is a relationship that has made Blacksails an incredible success. A relationship that has inspired books and movies for decades. A relationship built on Fear and Commitment. One that forged leaders of two men from considerable different origins and with otherwise different talents.
Flints leadership style is not for everyone. It is more a model built from circumstance and hardship than a model one adopts freely… at least it should be. But as a leader, often circumstance becomes beyond our control. In these troubled times, Flint portrays a means and a path that can work. Done well, they can provide hope and courage in the darkest of times. For that, there may be no better role model than Captain Flint.
For more on Blacksails consider:
