Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation: Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation

by Wess Roberts, Bill Ross

The fast-changing business world of today is far different from just a few years ago. Success in today's marketplace requires new leadership techniques, new thinking, and an eye on the future . . . .

In Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation® Wess Roberts and coauthor Bill Ross take their inspiration from today's most striking and most popular vision of the future—Star Trek—an unprecedented television, feature film and publishing phenomenon. From the top-rated television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roberts and Ross find a new symbol for successful leadership: Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

As entertaining as it is useful, Make It So captures the mythos of Star Trek: The Next Generation as it delivers dramatically rich lessons on leadership, including the importance of the ability to focus on a single "mission," effective communication, teamwork, honor . . . and other important concepts. The examples are taken from the on-screen adventures of Captain Picard and the Starship EnterpriseTM, but the lessons and the benefits are real—and can be applied to everyday situations where the goal is the kind of high-performance organization embodied by the crew of the U.S.S. EnterpriseTM 1701-D.

Sure to appeal to Star Trek enthusiasts and serious students of leadership alike, Make It So is the most exciting business book on the shelves—the one book that shows the future of modern leadership while giving managers the tools they need for success today!

Genres: Star Trek, Nonfiction, Leadership, Business, Management, Self Help, Reference

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Wess Roberts is The New York Times bestselling author of Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, Straight A’s Never Made Anybody Rich, Victory Secrets of Attila the Hun, co-author of Make It So, Protect Your Achilles Heel, It Takes More Than a Carrot and a Stick, The Best Advice Ever for Leaders, and collaborated with Brigadier General John C. “Doc” Bahnsen, Jr. in the penning of American Warrior. His books have been published in 24 languages.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coolest Business Book that you’ll ever going to read!


WHY SO SPECIAL?

This book, Make It So, about the leadership lessons that you can learn from Captain Jean-Luc Picard, is easily one of the coolest ideas to write a business book ever...

...certainly it's something totally out of the box, of your usual picks in books about business!

Nowadays, there are many books analyzing the philosophy, psychology, etc... about certain fictional character and/or a TV series or Film saga, BUT back then in the “good ol’ days” of 1996, you hardly can see anything like it in the shelves of any bookstore. When I found it (back then in 1997), I didn’t hesitate to buy it.

That’s why, this book, written by Wess Roberts, PhD (who besides author, held several senior management positions in companies such like American Express), and Bill Ross (Vice-President and General Manager of WGNO-TV), is so special, since certainly it opened the road to all those similar books to come in the new millenium.

If you want to learn about leadership techniques, why not from a character (fictional or not) that commands a space vessel, with more than 1000 crew and passengers, boldly going where no one has gone before.

And don’t underestimate it, while it’s true that it’s a Star Trek merchandise related item, this book is also a real business book as good as any other in the market...

...and without question WAY COOLER!


CAPTAIN’S LOG

This book, Make It So, engages into the business subjects of Focus, Urgency, Initiative, Competence, Communication, Politics, Intellectual Honesty, Interdependence and Resilience, where all of them are crucial for a good leader in any company (or starship!).

The book takes examples from many episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation where the character of Captain Jean-Luc Picard showed his wisdom and experience as the Commanding Officer of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D. Some of those episodes are such like: “Chain of Command”, “Coming of Age”, “Darmok”, “Encounter at Farpoint”, “Lower Decks”, “Peak Perfomance”, “Relics”, “Starship Mine”, “Tapestry”, “The Best of Both Worlds”, “The Drumhead”, “The First Duty” and “The Wounded”.


CAPTAINS AREN’T ISLANDS

Also, the book clearly states that Captain Jean-Luc Picard couldn’t be as good as leader without the support of an excellent crew under his command.

There aren’t any company boss able to reach success, without having the right personnel sharing trust, loyalty and commitment.


ENGAGE!

So, not matter your reason to read the book, if you are a Trekker looking to read something different in the sci-fi franchise of Star Trek, or if you’re looking to read a really good business book with an unique approach, definitely Make It So is a sterling option.

[Bookbabble · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly picked this up as a bit of a lark- I just thought it was such a zany concept for a book. But once I got over that and dove into the book I was glad I embarked on this mission.

Business books can sometimes be a little dry and hard to get into, so this was a really fun approach to learning.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty much what it sounds like, a book on leadership that takes its examples not from a CEO or a coach, but from Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D. The character traits for which they advocate are pretty standard for business books: integrity, trust, focus, initiative, and so forth.

Using fictional examples has its drawbacks, namely that the ending is always set up so that the Enterprise prevails, and that's not always the case in reality. However, I think it also provides transparency that we don't get from, say, a businessman's memoir. We have to take it on faith that Jack Welch or Peter Thiel is retelling his experiences accurately, but Captain Picard we can watch as the story unfolds. Like a football player watching game footage, we can study each moment and think about what we could have done differently.

I'd recommend this book to Trek fans who want some advice on being a good leader. It's a solid but unremarkable leadership book on its own, but I find that the Star Trek angle makes it more interesting and more relatable.

[Ricky McConnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with most of the other reviews on this book. It is interesting if you are a hard core Star Trek fan. If you are looking for a good book on leadership, I would look for something better. I did enjoy many of the leadership characteristics that the book ties to the episodes. It makes a good contribution to your sci-fi section of your bookshelves.

[j · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I got it for free. It's a pretty entertaining way of learning Management concepts because the authors do a good job of interweaving stories from the TV show into the book.

It's better if you've watched star trek the next generation before.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Make it so-so.

[Jonathan Lee B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Make It So is a bag of fun size candy bars.

[Andreas Aris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boss lent me this book because he knew I liked reading (I do!) I like Star Trex. I read the book as well as watched the movie series. I just enjoyed the stories until I read this book. I was amazed that the writer could squeezed the series to become a valuable lessons. This book is interesting, yet, only those who'd ever watched movies or read the novels can enjoy and learn leadership from the book.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books I've had to read for work.

[Shorewalker]

Most read for anyone in a leadership position.

[Lori Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read biograpy on leadership for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.

[David Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far my favorite management book. . . fun read for the Trek fan!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of TNG and you want to read a detailed account of nine episodes from the series then this book is for you. The use of Picard as a role model and a mentor for how to be an effective leader is indeed clever, but the organization of this book is rather odd. The chapters are divided into nine basic leadership principles and each one uses the events of a single episode to explain the principle. The majority of each chapter is a detailed, scene by scene account of the episode. As fun as it is to revisit these episodes it becomes tedious and is only loosely connected with the leadership principle. The concept is quite clever but is clumsy and cumbersome. As a fan of Trek I was really excited about reading this, but in the end it left me a bit bewildered and overall disappointed.

[Wesley C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is 85% recapping episodes of TNG. The other 15% is a mix of random babble/"thoughts" from the perspective of Picard (5%) and mediocre ideas on leadership (10%). It may be one of the worst books on leadership I have read but because of the nostalgic value and fun of the episode recaps I gave it two stars. as others have said, just skip to the bulleted list at the end of each section and watch the corresponding episodes. You will be far better off and it will be more enjoyable. If you are looking for actual leadership development strongly recommend you look elsewhere.

Also maybe it's just me but it was very irritating that the author continually refers to "the Starfleet". It's Starfleet. Just Starfleet. Not "the Starfleet".

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter of the book is focused on a particular leadership lesson. The chapter starts with a lengthy description of the episode that exemplifies the leadership lesson. Then it does an analysis of the lesson itself and ends with a bullet list of takeaways. The bullet lists were really good and really the only valuable thing I got out of the book since I’ve been watching the episodes of Star Trek recently and don’t need to read the beginning parts.

TLDR skip to the end of the chapters and read the bullet list

[Dan Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book won't make much sense to those who are not fans of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" but for those who are, it's an enjoyable read. I give it only four stars because the business leadership advice given is pretty common sense and has been covered in many leadership publications. In short, the concept is original but the content really isn't. Trekkies will enjoy mining leadership skills out of specific episodes.

[Fabrizio Poli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly a summary of a series of episodes of Star Trek Next Generation and written like it is Captain Jean-Luc Picard's journal. I enjoyed the leadership lessons taken from the various episodes quoted in the book. I only gave the book four stars, as it summarized the story a bit too much. I would have appreciated more leadership lessons, than episode summaries. I thought this book was going to be like Dave Marinaccio's, "All I need to know I learned from Watching Star Trek".

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book almost 16 years ago and am really glad I recently read it again!

As a Star Trek fan, I believe this book does an excellent job of imparting Leadership Wisdom via the imagined thoughts of a very wise, lovable, and fictional character, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, as played by Patrick Stewart.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

[Megan Farve · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy Star Trek and are looking for leadership knowledge, look no further. I love Star Trek: Next Generation and Captain Picard is my favorite captain. These takeaway lessons are the same you would find in any leadership book but are illustrated in a way that all Trekkies can enjoy.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you like your leadership lessons delivered in stream-of-consciousness fan fiction, you will like this book.

[Love of Hopeless Causes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written in the derptastic style of teenage essays plus clumsy Star Trek excerpts.

[Neyda Gilman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Star Trek so was excited when I learned about this book. It ended up being somewhat difficult to get through due to the writing.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in German
Was nice
Few weird translations

[Jay Cucchiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for basic leadership skills. I would recommend this book to anyone who ever wished they could be a bit more like Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a much more fun read than most books about leadership, but there's nothing revolutionary in the skills themselves.

[Leighton Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun look at business & leadership through the lens of Captain JLP

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leadership lessons through the lens of TNG episodes. Felt dry to me to be honest.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is divided into 9 chapters - each focussing on a different aspect of leadership. Each chapter begins with a runthrough of an episode of Star Trek TNG from the perspective of Captain Picard and then ends with a list of related leadership lessons. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book as I was able to reminisce about some of the best TV that I have ever watched (though this compliment may be more a testament to the writers of Star Trek than the book's author) and relating this passion to some key principles of leadership. One thing I will say is that the chapters could have been enhanced had the leadership lessons been interwoven into the recounting of each episode rather than listing them all at once at the end.

[intrepideddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a short collection of common (you might say "obvious") leadership traits and practices. What the author does to add interest and sell the book is provide examples from the TV show "Star Trek: the Next Generation."

The book is a success in that it makes fairly dry material actually readable... if you're a fan of Star Trek, anyway.

But that's all the book has going for it. Again, the "lessons" aren't going to rock your management world and make you a bald, sexy, space-faring Frenchman with a British accent. (And if it does, I really need to re-read this thing.)

Not a bad read, but I wouldn't display it in my office...

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book may be required reading at the academy but like most required reading it isn't really all that interesting.

The book is written as if Captain Picard were writing a book on leadership for use at Starfleet academy. It is essentially a recapping of several Next Generation episodes that show exemplary leadership in action.

But here's the thing if you don't already watch Star Trek this book will not interest you. If you do watch Star Trek then you have probably seen these episodes already and so have nothing new to learn.