Leadership isn’t revealed in big moments. It shows up in small ones. I was reminded of this by my own mistake. I had just concluded a session on guest sensitivity and being present in the moment with the gift shop team. The energy was light, the conversations were open, and the session landed well. Later that same evening, a crew member from the same team came to my office. He had missed signing the attendance sheet. I was deeply engrossed in administrative work, distracted a

The decision to launch an Employee Assistance Program didn’t start in a meeting room. It started with listening. This was that strange phase when COVID was fading, but life hadn’t quite returned. Work was resuming because it had to. Humanity didn’t really have a choice. Before deciding what to launch, I began sitting down with crew—one on one, unstructured, no checklist in hand. I wasn’t trying to diagnose learning gaps. I just wanted to hear them. What I heard stayed with me

Whenever I join a new vessel, I look at the LMS early on. Not to draw conclusions. Just to understand what learning has looked like before I arrived. On my last contract, the completion figures were low. That alone didn’t tell me much. There hadn’t been a dedicated L&D presence for some time, so the numbers needed to be read in context, not isolation. That’s how I’ve learned to work. My way of operating is consistent. First, I experience the learning myself. I practice the mo