Leadership in Strange Dimensions
- realityskimming
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
by Joe Mahoney
About Things About Governance (2025) - 02
---------------
"Things About Governance" is a thematic series of articles, sponsored by Reality Skimming Press. Pieces in the series run from Jan-June 2026. Query us about contributing for $25 CAD a post at https://facebook.com/relskim or by email at info@realityskimming.com
---------------
Like most of us, my first direct exposure to governance was as a child, when I was governed by my parents. Then, part of each day, I was governed by my teachers, and when I started getting jobs, by my managers. My parents did a pretty good job. And I had some great teachers. I’ve had both excellent and lousy managers.
Lurking behind all that, felt but largely unseen, was the presence of government. Municipal, provincial, federal. Growing up I never really thought about that level of governance much. As a teenager, I remember deciding, probably after reading Plato’s thoughts on philosopher-kings, that benevolent dictators were the way to go (my thinking on that has since evolved). When seatbelt legislation came into effect on Prince Edward Island on July 1st, 1987 (with Alberta, one of the last two provinces to introduce such legislation), I wondered if it might not be government overreach. The notion that a government could tell us what to do in the privacy of our own cars seemed a stretch to me. But I’ve worn a seatbelt ever since and do not doubt that it has saved many lives and ultimately was a good idea: an example of good governance.
When I think of governance, I think of leadership. I know governance per se is a broader concept, but leadership is the part that really interests me. That I try to practice, that I think about and sometimes write about. The concept of leadership became especially important to me when I became a manager at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1987. There is much to learn about being an effective manager, that I didn’t know right away, or even for a long time afterward. Basic notions, such as modelling behaviour. Basic tasks, such as how to run a meeting properly. More complex functions, such as, well, how to run the place. How to implement systems, maintain those systems, and be organized.
Effective managers are critical. And they can be effective leaders. But there is a distinction between the two. Becoming a manager does not automatically make you a leader. And you don’t have be a manager or be in a position of authority to be a leader.
But what makes someone an effective leader? Here’s one example. It happened the day the radio show Q first aired. I was the recording engineer on the show. I had been begging for a theme package for the show, by which I mean a suite of music specially crafted for the show. We did not get clearance to create the theme package until shortly before our launch. (This is an example of bad governance.) As a result, incredibly, the original theme for the CBC Radio show Q was not recorded until three days before the show launched. It was recorded on the Friday prior by Luke Doucet. Luke recorded the various elements of the theme, consisting largely of several guitar parts and drums, but nobody mixed it into a finished version.
I was not present at the recording because even though I was the recording engineer for the show, they recorded the theme at a private studio somewhere without telling me anything about it. On Saturday, they gave me the raw tracks for the show and said, “Mix this.”
It just so happened that, even though I was permanently assigned to the show Q, I had been booked on other shows that weekend. So, I literally had no time to mix the new theme until the Sunday evening before the launch.
I began mixing the theme around 6pm Sunday evening. By ten pm that night, I had done as much as I could. After having worked all weekend, my ears were fried. I could mix no more. I sent what I had to the host of the show and the executive producer, Mark.
The next day, three hours before the launch of the show, I walked into the CBC Broadcast Centre. Mark greeted me. “We have some mixing to do,” he said.
It was three hours until the very first episode of Q aired. In that time I had to get the show ready to go, which included setting up our first ever musical guest, Loreena McKennitt, who would be performing live. Setting up musical guests takes a bit of doing. “We don’t have time,” I told Mark.
“Sure we do,” he insisted.
The problem was I hadn’t left any space for the host to be able to talk over the theme. The guitars were too up front. I needed to mix it so the host could talk over it without fighting the guitars. And if we didn’t use that version on our first episode, we’d have to use a different piece of music, and THAT would become our theme, which none of us wanted.
The executive producer Mark was likeable and friendly. He had always treated me well. I trusted him. So, I followed him into the mixing studio, and, as the clock counted down, we remixed the theme until it worked. At the last possible second, I ran to the Q studio to set up Loreena McKennitt (another great leader as well as a brilliant musician; she was warm and friendly on a day I really appreciated those qualities) and we did our first ever episode of Q (which is a whole other story).
To me, Mark’s behaviour that day is a terrific example of leadership. He had a vision of what he wanted, and how to accomplish it, and he inspired me to be able to do it. He wasn’t mean or stressed and never raised his voice; he remained his friendly self throughout the session, and we accomplished something together that I had not thought possible. It left quite an impression on me.
Later, when I became a manager myself, I remembered Mark’s positivity and cheerful disposition and did my best to emulate that. I tried to make his style of leadership a part of my own leadership DNA. I became a student of leadership, trying to understand what made some people good leaders and others, well, not so much.
These days I’m retired from the CBC. I no longer operate in a chain of command where I report to someone, and people report to me. I spend my days running a small publishing company, Donovan Street Press Inc. I’m the boss but I have no direct employees. Still, to accomplish all the crazy amount of stuff that must get done, I have to be a leader. I’m a leader with no direct authority so I must employ what’s called “leadership by influence.” I can’t just order someone to do something. I have to make them want to do it. This is entirely possible by getting people excited by possibilities and maybe a little quid pro quo.
Because I’m fascinated by leadership, it has made its way into my fiction. I just finished writing a novel called Captain’s Away, a major theme for which just happens to be leadership. It’s about an Akkadian family of four who get separated when the Akkadian space station they live on is destroyed in the opening volley of an interstellar war. They must find their way back to one another while contributing, each in their own way, to the Akkadian war effort. I examine different aspects of leadership via the various characters, each of whom exhibit different leadership styles.
For example, seventeen-year-old Marie-Josée Doucette finds herself the captain of a military starship called the Beausoleil. This despite having no leadership experience. Her initial leadership leaves much to be desired. But she has good instincts and, over time, comes to embody what I consider to be key ingredients of effective leadership.
The first, most important rule of leadership, is to show up. To be there for those you’re leading. Initially, Marie-Josée is frightened of her responsibilities. Still, she shows up. She’s there for her crew when they need her, offering them hope. She reassures them that they’ll survive what’s coming (and what’s coming isn’t anything good). The crew of the Beausoleil follow her because she cares about them, and they know it.
But she’s not the only leader on board the Beausoleil. With her is Commander Choki Saito. Initially, Commander Saito embodies a more hard-line, authoritarian style of leadership. He has all the information Marie-Josée needs but has a hard time connecting with the crew. They don’t like him, and he knows it. Marie-Josée needs Commander Saito for his knowledge, and he needs her for her connection to the crew. Between the two of them they make an effective leadership team. They are up against a true totalitarian leader in the person of Padishah Samudragupta, leader of the Realm. Samudragupta is out to conquer the Akkadian people, plunder their resources, and avenge the death of his wife, Padishah-Consort Alexeievna. Meanwhile, Marie-Josée’s mother Yolande Doucette is a natural leader who steps up when called upon, and Marie-Josee’s brother, Alain, will come to play an essential supporting role as the faithful follower of another natural leader, the Padishah’s daughter, Navi, who starts out with an authoritarian mindset, but becomes more enlightened as time goes on. I explore that all in the sequel to Captain’s Away, Alain and the Robots.
In my view leadership, and its role in governance, is at the heart of many of the gravest challenges facing us today. Too many of our so-called leaders—you know who I’m talking about—don’t know the meaning of the word leader. How do people like that get into power? Why do the rest of us allow them to be boss? It’s helpful (and cathartic) to explore such questions in a science fictional context, in stories set one thousand years in the future.
Imagine if our leaders today, those occupying the positions of greatest power, were true leaders dedicated to making the world a better place, instead of enriching themselves or dominating others. Imagine how well this world could be governed, for the benefit of us all.
Joe Mahoney
-------
Prior to launching Donovan Street Press Inc., Joe Mahoney spent 35 years as, primarily, a producer of programming at the CBC, retiring in 2023 from a management position. He launched Donovan Street Press in the same year, as publisher. He is the author of Adventures in the Radio Trade: a Memoir, and SF title A Time and A Place.
---------------
References
Donovan Street Press. (n.d.). https://www.donovanstreetpress.com/
Hudson, A. (2024, Jun 2). The Story Behind the Story with author Joe Mahoney of Riverview, NB, Canada.
South Branch Scribbler. https://allanhudson.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-story-behind-story-with-author-joe.html
Mahoney, J. (2023, Jun 10). Adventures in the Radio Trade: a Memoir. Donovan Street Press. https://www.amazon.ca/Adventures-Radio-Trade-Joe-Mahoney/dp/1999431162
Comments