Captain Phillips meets Admiral Howard

Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors - he is simply amazing at what does!  Just look at his list of awards - he's been nominated for an Academy Award six times, winning two times in a row for his lead roles in the movies Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.  You probably knew about that already, but did you know that he's been nominated for a Tony Award (for the play Lucky Guy) and twelve Prime Time Emmy Awards (winning seven times)?  He's won a number of Screen Actor's Guild Awards, Golden Globes, and People's Choice Awards, and President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.  Most recently, he served as the television host for President Joe Biden's Inauguration Celebration.

Hanks stayed busy during the COVID-19 pandemic (despite being hospitalized briefly for COVID-19 for a few days this past March).  So without question, my wife and I recently sat down to watch a Tom Hanks movie that we've never heard of before (maybe that should have been our first warning).  The 2016 movie was called A Hologram for the King.  Let's just say that you can take a pass on this one - the movie proves that not every Tom Hanks touches turns to gold!  

If you are looking for a good Tom Hanks movie, check out the 2013 movie, Captain Phillips.  Based on a true story, this movie tells about the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking by Somali pirates.  The film was a box office success and earned six Academy Award nominations, though Tom Hanks wasn't nominated for his role in this film (he was, however, nominated for a BAFTA).  What is disappointing about this movie is that it fails to highlight the role played by Admiral Michelle Howard.  Admiral Howard retired on December 1, 2017 after serving for 36 years in the United States Navy.  

If you are looking for heroes, please look no further.  Here are just a few of now retired Admiral Howard's accomplishments:

1. United States Naval Academy graduate (she was actually the first in her class to reach flag rank)

2. First African American female to serve as commanding officer of a Navy ship (USS Rushmore)

3. First African American female to reach a three star rank in the military 

4. First four-star female Admiral in the U.S. Navy

5. First African American and first female to serve as Vice Chief of Naval Operations, the second highest-ranking commissioned United States Navy officer in the Department of the Navy

During the events depicted in the movie, Captain Phillips, Admiral Howard served as Task Force Commander aboard the USS Boxer.  She had actually just taken over command of the Task Force for a week.  

I recently came across an article in Forbes magazine entitled "Leadership Lessons from the Navy's Top Female Commander".  These lessons are quite good, so I will refer you to the original article and highlight them here below:

1. "Diverse teams generate better ideas" - this concept is generally very well known and well accepted, but unfortunately easily forgotten.  As Admiral Howard states, "I often quote Dr. Linus Pauling who talks about how it's not a matter of having a good idea, it's a matter of generating a lot of ideas and then picking the best one.  If you have homogeneous teams, you end up with very similar solutions."  In other words, if you have diverse teams, you will have many more ideas to choose from!

2. "You need to preach the diversity gospel" - unfortunately, Admiral Howard's first point is often forgotten.  In order for us to generate diverse teams, all of us need to educate ourselves on the issues of integration, diversity, equity, and inclusion, so that we can "speak about those issues with authority".

3. "To lead, you need to let go" - Admiral Howard explains, "You have to let go of your own biases and negative experiences you've already had and continue to try to be the successful person you want to be."  I think "learning from failures" goes hand in hand with "letting go."  If you fail, move on.  Learn from the past and don't repeat it.

4. "Mentors don't need to look just like you" - unfortunately, there is not a lot of diversity at the leadership level in most industries, especially health care.  You can serve as a mentor even if you are not the same gender or race.  

5. "Meet resistance head on" - don't be afraid to face resistance and tackle it, especially when it comes to issues involving diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Admiral Howard says, "I came to the conclusion that if I couldn't get the courage to speak to someone about what was a difficult situation, I was probably never going to get the courage to lead people into combat."  I would say that courage is needed to be a leader - you are probably (thankfully) in a situation where you will never be required to lead people into combat.  That's good.  But you will also encounter difficult situations that require courage.