The Beauty of Pirate Ships
If I had to distill a strategy for navigating the permanent whitewater experience of the coming months and the foreseeable 2009 time frame, I’d say plan on the “means to an end” way that pirates used their vessels. You see, they weren’t as worried about the details of the operation and maintenance of their existing infrastructure. Instead, they had a fierce passion for their goal of acquiring a living from other vessels on the seas. How does this apply to what we/you do? This game is going to get crazy (has already become crazy). We need to focus harder on the goals than we do the infrastructure, the excuses, the labels, and everything else that gets between us and a goal.
We can reframe this any way you want, but the point is this: get hungry. Figure out the goal, that thing you’re going to claw your way towards, and set that goal on FIRE. Make it a blazing beacon that guides you in all decisions. And now, for the hard part.
Throw away all the excuses. Here’s where we tie in the pirate ships. Pirates didn’t give a rat’s ass what their ship looked like, or even whether it was their ship in the first place. They took whatever floated and could carry cannons and men, and they lobbed themselves at targets. It was messy. It was ugly. It was warfare, but they weren’t ones to fret or struggle with their infrastructure. What defined a pirate ship? That the pirates were aboard it. That’s about it.
Can an enterprise do that? Can they lob themselves at targets without worrying about their infrastructure? Not sure. Look at all the burning debris in the “water” of the last few months’ financial turmoil. Big companies are in the wreckage.
In the coming months, there are strategies one can follow to try and survive. Some companies are hunkering down, cutting their spending, tightening their expenditures. Some are laying off, getting lean. Others are slashing their projects and sticking with what they’d been doing for the next year, shifting their efforts into preserving what they have instead of pushing forward.
I think that’s the worst plan in the world. Forget the ship. Don’t preserve the ship. Go after the prize. Take on the far more dangerous-but-rewarding stance of seeking the treasure. If you’re a company, set the targets and launch your ships. If you’re one of the pirates, look for the reward, not the larger story.
Should there be loyalty? Hell, yes. This isn’t about abandoning ship or throwing a mutiny. This is about breaking your perspective open and pointing it towards the REAL goals.
If you’re in marketing, maybe that means going after some big companies while your competitors retrench to support the existing companies. If you’re a software company, this is your call to see where the real goal is, and set course. If you’re a realtor, especially commercial, find the leverage, find the people seriously navigating, and make the deals. If you’re a freelancer out there, do you need an alliance? Do you need a floating armada? Make for the brightest goal, and let all the “rethinkers and re-trenchers” behind you.
This isn’t about chaos. It’s not about throwing everything away. It’s about knowing which parts are vital to moving through the waters, versus the pieces we keep around because that’s what we always did. I wouldn’t always advise something of this nature, and it’s not the right plan for everyone. But me? I’ve got the Jolly Rogers heading up the flag pole soon, and will fire all the guns as soon as my target is in sight.
A lot more fun than moaning about the economy at least. And you, Dread Pirates?
Quick disclaimer: historically, pirates were quite savage, quite brutal, and their “treasure” was often nothing more sexy than things like soap, food, and alcohol. If you’re going to crap on my analogy, it’s okay not to include the history lesson. I know.
Photo credit, earcos
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Comments
I loved the analogy and the passion of the post. I think you nailed it when you said, “figure out the goal and then set the goal on fire.”
I’m not a fan of pirates - probably because @ Disney we got stuck in the pirate ride for an hour and had to hear the “a priate’s life for me” song over and over.
It has come full cirlce ;)
I like the mindset of the Pirate in todays market - heck ya go for it! Eye on the prize so to speak.. but per your history lesson of what Pirates coveted - how would that translate into today’s market. What is the treasure today?
That was just a great article. Entertaining as hell, but still a great call to arms.
And as to your disclaimer, soup can be sexy!
I am in!!
LOVE this!
It’s about knowing which parts are vital to moving through the waters, versus the pieces we keep around because that’s what we always did.
Chris,
Thank you so much for this post! I have been scouring my feed reader for the past couple of weeks looking for exactly this post. This is the battle cry visualization my company needs.
My sentiments exactly, Chris. As business professionals, we need to get more aggressive with how we do business especially in times of financial uncertainty. While your competitor is letting go workers, slowing down on advertising, and cutting back in general, there are businesses looking for new vendors for your product or service. Put your goal on the refrigerator or your monitor, but get your goal in sight and actively move toward it.
As always, love your blog.
Chris - this is the second post in less than 24 hours that has really hit me. I just made a “huge” decision a day or so ago that is aimed at the end, not at the vessel. An opportunity, I would have never thought to accept, jumped in my lap and instead of second guessing the whole thing, followed the gut feeling, and just went for it. Holding on….
Thanks for the first volley of responses, gang. I’m thrilled that you didn’t find it immediately out of spec.
Maybe I’ll even figure out a few ways to help equip you with some tools or at least point you in some new directions along the way.
OR, you could blog about the ways to implement this, and we could have an even larger conversation across the web.
Just about the best thing you’ve ever written, Chris. I’m making this required reading for my network. Thank you for the inspiration.
So often, we excuse our lack of progress because we don’t have our new business cards, brochure, web site, presentation or [insert your favorite excuse here]. “I can’t call on that new prospect until I have _____”
It’s all bulls#!t.
No more excuses. We need to sail with what we’ve got. To quote Mark Twain, “So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Here there be pirates.
So do we all get pirate names when we all join the ship Captain Chris? Was also wondering what being helpful means in pirate talk? haha
Chris:
Great analogy! Love the “breaking your perspective open” and taking action.
P.S. if you like sea analogies, check out Peter Mello’s blog at http://sea-fever.org (I met him in Seth’s Triiibe) Besides being a nice family guy, he’s a sailor who inspires youth with deep sea adventures. Cool guy and blog is full of insightful sea metaphors.
I certainly agreed with this, I used this to build up my blog over the past months, my infrastructure was not the best, but I focused on writing posts and developing my infrastructure over time. Ironically people loved it. Lesson learnt!
I agree, and I’m a fan of streamlining operations, bouncy economy or not. The goal’s the thing, and only you can define your own goal.
I’m a huge believer in goal-setting, and I think infrastructure generally makes operations clear (the janitor cleans things, the secretary takes calls, etc.), therefore I’m for keeping infrastructure, even if it might need a drastic makeover.
Also, details. I think details are generally (though not always) important to an operation, never moreso than in the planning stage (so you can get a razor-sharp vision to go after).
But I practically cheered when I read, “It’s about knowing which parts are vital to moving through the waters, versus the pieces we keep around because that’s what we always did.”
Great, fun post.
agreed. thanks to @charliecurve for tweeting this. I needed this read right about now on a sunday evening.
Just a little refinement … mebbe just a quibble. Non-linear dynamics, yaa? When a dynamically balanced system is perturbed beyond it limits it goes through changes that are unpredictable. I mean literally so … how it’s going to reconfigure itself can’t be gauged by the initial conditions. Yaa, I mean fractals. So: “This isn’t about chaos. It’s not about throwing everything away. It’s about knowing which parts are vital to moving through the waters, versus the pieces we keep around because that’s what we always did.” To be strict, that’s precisely about chaos. The situation is information rich, not entropic … so there are chunks and bits and pieces that are very much worth grappling on to in order to “move through the water”. Thing that makes it tricky is that big slabs may be relatively worthless while small pieces may play key roles as out-liers.
It’s all about feed-back/feed-forward! *grin*
–bentrem
Great look at what we should be doing now. I’m getting tired of hearing all of these people complain about how the economy is falling, and using it as an excuse not to move forward.
Me? I am definitely seizing the moment. And when it’s all said and done, I’ll be the one on top, looking down at all of the people sinking into the waters.
Sailing for adventure on the big blue wet thing. :)
One ship sails east and another sails west with the selfsame winds that blow.
‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
Which determine the way they go.
Like the winds of the seas are the ways of fate, As we voyage along through life;
‘Tis the set of the soul
That determines the goal,
and not the calm or the strife.”
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Avast! This be a fine piece of writin’!
Okay, okay… maybe that was a bit much. Seriously, though - this was brilliant, sir. Inspiring, challenging, and daring all at once. I like it. You’ve just opened my eyes to some new possibilities. It’s time for a new approach!
Having soap, food, and alcohol is about to get really sexy. Love the pirate analogy. This is not a time for hand-wringing but a time for doing. There is some brilliant quote about commitment and how that moves heaven and earth (which I can’t remember off the top of my head) - apparently pirates knew that. Go for the prize - if the ship doesn’t hold together, swim. It’s an exciting (if scary, which so often is really the same thing) time to be alive. Thanks for a great post.
Hi Chris
Great fresh perspective. The truth is that there are huge opportunities in these perilous times, if you only open your eyes to the future and not lament what has happened in the past.
Many people I know have lost tons of money, and have had 20% or more shaved off their net worth. Its easy to mope around and get lost in the mental anguish of this financial loss: “If only I cashed in earlier like I said I should”; “How could I not see the signs”; “Why did I listen to my broker?”; “How could I have bought Google at their high?” etc etc.
This won’t help any. Your message is a constructive, strong call to positive action in times when melancholy can become destructive.
By the way, one heck of an analogy - out of left field - how did you get the inspiration for that one? Great, very entertaining.
Thanks Chris.
Regards
Kevin
I think we can beg the question of when/is/should it be acceptable to jump ship off the “larger vessel” and become a pirate? Bigger companies, err… vessels, can take on more turbulence, but the pirate ships have streamlined their processes to get done the tasks that truly matter.
Dare I say pirates are micromanaged less, and they do work that matters?
By the way, I also wanted to mention that I love the Ella Wheeler Wilcox quote from Teddy Towncrier.
It sums it all up brilliantly.
I agree with what Heather Rankin said - this is the second blog post of yours that I’ve read lately that has really blown me away. I am still trying to digest the small boxes / big plans idea and was sharing it with my partner in crime. The pirate ship analogy reminds me of what the folks at http://www.1000wattblog.com call “striking while the iron is cold”. The media is calling for a depression - some of us are looking at the opportunities.
Cool way to think about it Chris. Besides, pirates are awesome.
Seriously though, I think you have found an interesting angle. People worry too much about maintaining rather than risk taking and goal seeking. I have my eyes on the prize, but that’s just because I had to steal a dingy to get started. Some people moving around in these yachts are too worried about keeping the pain shiny rather than getting somewhere new. Being reckless is in my nature, so maybe I can use it to my advantage.
Ahoy!
Superb article and analogy Chris. As has been said many times, “there are not problems, only opportunities”. This epitomises the approach and mindset needed right now to build and grow a business on the most important asset any business can have - its reputation and clients. Unfortunately, many businesses are so tied up in themselves that the customer is actually a by-product of what they do!
This is the time for the mavericks, and the lithe and incredibly adaptable way of the pirates is not only a great comparison, but brings a sense of fun into the process, too. Fantastic!
Excellent analogy full of common (which is never) sense!
It’s a shame it takes a “crisis” for these messages to hit home.
Top work fella.
Speed has always been on of the advantages that small businesses have over the big guys. Less administration, few people in the approval-chain. It all adds up to greater agility - just like pirates. They had agility and they were not afraid to break the rules.
Oh yes, we definitely need more of that kind of thinking in these turbulent times, and the pirate analogy sums up the characteristics we need for success very well.
One small thing though - pirates also had an autocratic leadership structure which included the cat-o-nine-tails. Think we may have to hold off on that a bit. Its not great for motivation. ;-)
Interesting take. Opportunity does present itself differently in times like these. In some areas, the credit crunch is EXTREMELY real and infrastructure will take a beating in a storm like this because of some uncontrollable factors. I suspect more than a few hell-bent pirates got taken out by a Cat 4 or 5 storm despite their best efforts.
Having said that there is no excuse though for a lack of effort in this “new economy”. Fighting through this will certainly separate the men from the boys. It will also be a defining point in many people’s lives as to what they truly hold dear and to what lengths they will go to preserve it.
“Quitcher bellyachin’ and get to work or ye’ll walk the plank!”
Ditto to all the positives, Chris. I posted about “Reliance” late last night and repeated it in Triibes this morning, inviting a discussion of ideas and strategies to deal with things the way they ARE, not the way we wish or the way they were. Get up, get revved, and get movin’. Or as my partner’s dad used to say, “Press on.” Rough seas can provide exhilarating journeys.
Today I have to make a decision about whether to continue with my current marketing - or up it effectively doubling the costs. I was wavering on the idea of keeping it going as is, but now I’ve read the above my timbers have been shivered and I think go ahead and I will double it.
In for a penny in for a whole piece of eight!
Chris,
I am thoroughly entertained by your last paragraph requesting people give up their need for such a literal and perfect analogy.
Pirate Ships and the Economy surely is a unique read and Kudos to you for walking the plank to share it.
Otherwise, the greatest thing about a weak economy is lots of people are packing up their bags and giving up. I am looking forward to an awesome year of people renegotiating contracts. This will be my foot in the door.
Once my foot is in the door, I am sure its there for a long time.
Maybe we should all take on Pirate names in honor of the recession. By the way aren’t the guys running our ships essentially Pirates any way.
My Pirate name would be Rough Waters.
Brian Monahan, Expert in the Rough
I’m hearing yee Captain Chris,
When you find your life is in pieces, don’t get out the super glue. Find the shard that matters the most to you, the one element that you are the most passionate about and build something great out of that.
…And the structure doesn’t have to be to be all polished and shinny, just sea worthy.
Rachel
Ok i did a text search on this page and found out that you missed something very very important. Eye patches. No eye patches.
You need the clear vision of what you are going after. It may well be that you hunker down with current clients to preserve that revenue stream because new clients are few an far between, even then in a competitive market those dollars will be smaller.
Maybe it is true that you need to align with others because you’ll need to do more work for less cash. Hey don’t forget those getting laid off are likely to be consultants for salary - x and benefits.
The eye patch thing is this, the future is on the horizon, sunk work new ideas cheaply, if they work redirect, if not, it’s OK.
Or you can be like one of my favorite comics Steven Wright and be a peripheral visionary. I can’t write it as good as Wright can tell it http://culld.us/l2315939 around the 1:45 mark
I feel like giving myself a swift kick in the booty (pun sadly intended). I seriously wasted so much time procrastinating on the net yesterday when I could have been laying the foundation for my site. Perhaps I could help spread the conversation across the web if I could throw away my laziness!
Cool metaphor with the pirates, maybe it’s just because it’s close to Halloween, but I liked that one. I agree, sometimes its all about the risk/reward factor. Making necessary adjustments and just going for it. Not always the easiest mindset to take in a time like theses, but can be worth it.
The future is for those that have courage and, um, ….
HAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!
I love this post. I have a thing about pirates thought. The actual description of my blog even references them:
“Take Me To Your Leader” focuses on trend watching in consumer behaviors, marketing, technology, and social media, but is often led astray by its eccentric authors and their love of music, traveling, random thoughts, and pirates.
See you tomorrow Chris!
Arrrrhhh Matey, we’re light, we’re maneuverable, and we will find a way to find opportunities and make them work in the roughest of times. This is a time when being the little guy may be an advantage.
Thanks for this post Chris, we all need to hear this or we’ll be lemmings instead of pirates. Pirates have WAY more fun.
Oh this is too rich a topic, I must comment again.
I just can’t resist such a perfect metaphor opportunity..So here it goes, it’s something I say a lot…
…Here is yet another reason why it’s smart to build relationSHIPS not little relation-dingies. RelationSHIPS are well designed to withstand troubled waters, dingies will capsize easily.
Thanks matey for such a great topic,
Rachel
Arrr matey that’s a good blog post! :-)
On the same theme, I offer a quote:
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Andre Gide
In a time when everyone is cautioning safety - be a risk taker.
I still think the Pirate’s Dilemma by Matt Mason does a great job at extending this analogy- don’t miss it.
Considering that the pirate flag is called the Jolly Roger, I’ve always had a soft spot for pirates!
One caveat is that pirates rarely came out ahead in the big scheme of things. Most of them ended up at the end of a rope or in Davy Jones’ Locker. Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, most pirates did not beat the big guys. So I think the analogy is fair, up to a point. If you’re going to be a pirate in these particular seas, a good mix of strategy is needed.
Every now and then it might be appropriate to go in disguise and do business with the establishment (as pirates often did; a pirate in one country could be a bona fide “merchant-adventurer” in another).
I love the way you use imagery to describe motivational concepts, business ideas, etc. As always, keep up the great work and good luck at the New Marketing Summit over the next couple days!
Chris,
Once again you hit the nail on the head. Our ‘media infrastructure’ loves to fabricate news, “warning high fire danger today”, how iresponsible they are! Shame on them for spreading the calamity of the financial meltdown farther than it needed to go.
What connection do I have to any of them? Zero, Zilch, Nada! Why should I care, because a few greedy people have brought our economy to a new record low? Bah Humbug!
The stock market is full of emotional wrecks, selling value where there is none, and a soon as the cost of a barrel of oil increases, these weenies say “Sell Sell SELL!”
An investment of money in a company should not entail any emotions at all, it is a business transaction.
The unsophisticated investors out there don’t grok this at all. The savvy stockbroker gets paid commission on a buy or a sell, who is smarter?
Thank for a great post, now where is that eye-patch of mine…? I’m thinking “pirates” are the new business model, at least until the lawyers get wind of it!
Arrrgghh! Respectfully, Nicholas Chase
[…] of course couldn’t let the pirates win out over at Chris Brogan’s blog, so without further ado, a followup commentary on the beauty of pirate ships: one […]
[…] found this little gem from Rachel Cornell in the comments to my pirate ship post: …Here is yet another reason why it’s smart to build relationSHIPS not little […]
I love this post! I also happen to be fond of pirates, so yeah, you got me from the title.
Too many people complaining about the problem and not enough people pushing forward and preparing for whats next.
We are a rare company in Santa Fe, we are pushing forward, investing in our web site, marketing online, learning social media marketing and educating our Realtors on what they can do to create business for themselves in this down market.
Start the ship on fire, and ram-em, full speed ahead!
“Arrrr, Arrr, Arrr… A Pirate Says “Arrrr!” (As a mommy, I hear the Backyardigans Pirate song in my head as a soundtrack to this!). Alas, what an inspiring, direct post. Great advice, especially when you feel like jumping overboard. Thanks, Chris!
[…] day or two later Chris Brogan wrote his Pirate Ship post. I loved it and after reading it, sent him a tweet about the “Lions and Tigers and […]
Wow - great!
Entrepreneurial types would likely start with as streamlined a business as possible so they wouldn’t have to constantly monitor their infrastructure - it should just run smoothly and be updated as needed. Could this be the reason for the larger firms going under? Sloppy infrastructure and business practices?
+1 on the pirates…It’s OK to use myth in analogy and not feel culturally guilty.
It’s a great post. It also made me feel good about the prospects for the economy, because a lot of people are going to take these kinds of efforts and kick start something kick a**.
I wrote about Creative Destruction when this all started but I didn’t appreciate the vast impact that Americans have for just getting things done. Your post brought all that back (that, and a 900+ point up day for the Dow)…
Well done
[…] - See lovely quotes above. Chris Brogan, in a post entitled The Beauty of Pirate Ships - another ocean-based allegory, tells us to always seek the treasure. Brett Legree powerfully […]
[…] Brogan has hopped aboard the good ship of maritime metaphors in business with his recent post, The Beauty of Pirate Ships. This sighting was reported by lookout and Triiibe.com friend, Dawn Carter, who blogs over at […]
[…] think that this takes what Chris was saying about pirates out of the business setting and into the rest of life. Forget the ship. Don’t preserve the ship. […]
Beautifully written and inspiring (I sound like some kind of praising critic, but it’s true). This line of thinking goes far beyond the business world– it’s a life mantra as well.
[…] The Beauty of Pirate Ships pirate ship If I had to distill a strategy for navigating the permanent whitewater experience of the coming months and the foreseeable 2009 time frame, I’d say plan on the “means to an end” way that pirates used their vessels. (Tags: leadership) […]
[…] few weeks ago, I wrote about the beauty of pirate ships. Essentially, the premise was that pirates attack the goal for the goal’s sake, and […]
Your passion and hunger tore through my monitor…
Reminds me of an incident I had with my cute little eight year old niece. She was studying about pirates in school. I was helping her with a home work assignment. She was suppose to write (5) things that best described a pirate’s life. I went into a long 20 minute explanation about the history, dress, habits and lives of pirates. At the end of my little pirate lesson, my niece looked at me with her huge brown eyes and simply said, “Arrrrrrgh Matey, Pirates like to eat spaghetti. (she was hungry)
Point being you can talk a blue streak and most people will just grab what is meaningful and what pertains to them….Most people!!
I am a new follower of yours, because I am relatively new to Twitter and Social Media. While considering myself fairly bright, it is not easy to break thorough the “tribes” already established in the medium. But will follow you and Scrobier for a bit to see if I can pick up quickly.
Good luck in your new pirate ventures. :)
be Blessed!
Hi Chris!
I love the Pirate’s theme and I’m also a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean triology!
I’ve realized that the Pirates in the movie managed their ships and crews just like a CEO of a startup and I’ve taken many cool tips and advices by watching and learning from the movies and all the other pirate’s resources avaiable.
However, your view gave me a new fresh prespective on how we should stop thinking about how to do it and DO IT!
Set sail!
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Another spot-on post from Chris Brogan. If you're buried in depression about the coming year, this is the kick in the pants you needed.
Great article! In the next few years there are going to be amazing opportunities and many more successful people. But it starts NOW!
-Andrew