After nearly nine days at sea, traveling 3342 nautical miles, 15 sailors, most of them amateurs, broke the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers course record. Rick Bomer was among the sailors who completed the extreme journey from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia. Rick’s experience stays with him during his day job as Coalesse’s sales director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa because what he learned at sea can be applied to leadership.
Rick identified six leadership lessons he took away from his intense experience on the water. They all revolve around creating trust in the workplace. The emotional sail created a bond between teammates that will stay with them for life. Rick still hears from his teammates — some even do business together. He says business is easy now because they already trust one another. These men stayed calm, overcoming storms and broken equipment all while running on four hour sleep shifts. If they didn’t work together, the ship could capsize.
Scroll through Rick’s photos below to read about his six lessons.
When you turn your attention toward the team, the instinct to avoid stress will go away. You’ll be able to face the source of that stress and turn it into an extremely powerful, positive energy flow.
With more than 600 nautical miles to go, the team was forced to problem solve when their main sail broke. Despite the setback, they still broke the course record.
In a race of this length, it is essential that team members stay refreshed and rejuvenated because they all share responsibility for keeping the boat moving at full speed.
Lesson 5: Anticipate risk and the consequences of your response
At sea, and often in business, you don’t have control over external factors. Effectiveness depends on being able to anticipate the consequences of all the factors and make decisions accordingly.
Lesson 5: Anticipate risk and the consequences of your response
Rick says after you’ve been at sea for a week, you may wonder, “Why on earth did I do this?” That’s when you have to reconnect with your own strengths and values to reinvigorate yourself.
The lessons learned at sea translate to people striving to be their best at work. “Only when we are willing to lose sight of our established habits, instincts and social conventions can we fully trust each other and truly, deeply connect as human beings,” says Rick.
Rick says people continue to reach out to him after he first shared his story. He’s grateful so many people find what he learned valuable. He says this race taught him what it feels like to be on the edge of what’s possible and what is not. Sports creates an informal atmosphere that allows people to be themselves and creates stronger relationships — relationships that last. Rick says he will sail in the race again, but this time, he may not go to such extremes.
Insights from the pandemic to create a better work experience. We surveyed 32,000 people across 10 countries to reveal the blueprint for creating a better work experience. Discover how the workplace must change. Start by reading the introduction Learning from What People Have Been Through.