Leadership Beyond the Helm: What Captain Sandy Yawn Taught Me

One of the most powerful ways to stay sharp as a leader is to step completely outside your domain...

In leadership, it’s easy to become comfortable inside the boundaries of your own field. Educators read about education, business leaders read business books, and coaches study sports strategy. One of the most powerful ways to stay sharp as a leader is to step completely outside your domain and learn how leadership looks somewhere unfamiliar. When you do, you start to see something important: leadership is not a job title or a set of tactics. It is a human practice that changes shape depending on the environment, pressure, and people involved.

A coach leading a team on the brink of defeat is not so different from a captain steering a ship through rough waters or a politician navigating public crisis. The contexts change, but the core remains the same: clarity under pressure, communication in uncertainty, and the ability to influence the emotional temperature of a room, or a ship, or a nation.

I read (highlighted and underlined) the book, "Be the Calm or Be the Storm" by Captain Sandy Yawn, and it reinforced this idea in a powerful way. Through her experiences at sea, she demonstrates that leadership is never neutral. Every decision, every tone of voice, every reaction either stabilizes or destabilizes the environment around you. On a ship, where conditions can shift quickly and stakes are high, the leader’s emotional presence becomes the anchor for the entire crew.

What stood out most was her emphasis on influence. We are always influencing something, either toward calm or toward chaos. Even when we think we are staying out of the way, our silence, hesitation, or inconsistency sends a message. It's a lesson that translates beyond maritime leadership. In classrooms, boardrooms, hospitals, or homes, leaders constantly shape the emotional and operational reality around them, often more than they realize.

Reading about leadership in such a different context forced me to reflect on my own habits. Am I creating calm when things get tense, or am I unintentionally adding to the storm? Am I reacting, or am I leading? This is why leaders should regularly read outside their field. A football coach can teach you about discipline and trust. A ship captain can teach you about decisiveness and emotional control. A politician’s journey can reveal the weight of communication under scrutiny. Each story adds a new lens, expanding your understanding of what leadership can look like.

The more diverse the stories you consume, the more flexible your leadership becomes. You stop assuming there is only one “right way” to lead and start recognizing patterns that transcend industries.

Nugget of truth: 

The strongest leaders are not the ones who have all the answers within their field. They are the ones willing to remain students of leadership wherever it is found.