Some leadership style can even cause him to lose his ship.
In Thai we have a word spell like this “Shib-Hai” meaning everything went terribly wrong and disaster. Co-incidentally, there was on incident in a history that a Captain of the ship had been forced to step into a small boat. He was being released into the mid of Pacific Ocean. That is equal a death sentence.
The 1789 Mutiny on the Bounty is a classic case study in the failure of supervisory skills, particularly in accountability, friction management, and effective communication. While Captain William Bligh was technically brilliant and a masterful navigator, his inability to manage the human element led to the total collapse of his command.
Make the story short, The Captain of this ship is named Lieutenant William Bligh. Let’s look at the beneath reasons why his crews threw him out off his ship.
Bligh confused strict accountability with personal dominance. In a high-accountability culture, corrections are professional adjustments; Bligh, however, issued them as public condemnations and insults. This one Thai people call- “Pra-Jan”. (Thai dose not have the J sound anyway)
The “Coconuts” Incident: Bligh publicly berated his officers, calling them “thieves” and “scoundrels” over a trivial matter of missing coconuts. This was not professional accountability—it was public humiliation that destroyed his relational credibility.
Supervisory Lesson: Real accountability builds resilience; shaming your team breeds distance and rebellion.
Failed Friction Management
Bligh failed to recognize or address the growing resentment among his crew after their five-month stay in Tahiti.
Rigid Re-entry: Upon leaving the ease of island life, Bligh attempted a heavy-handed crackdown to re-assert authority instead of using a gradual “feedback loop” to transition back to sea rigors.
The Breaking Point: He ignored the “red flags” of withdrawal and passive resistance from his second-in-command, Fletcher Christian. By failing to nip conflict in the bud early, he allowed it to fester into open mutiny.
Before Christian punched onto the face of Captain, he had been suppressing the friction came up to his mind by unfair treatment from Bligh.
He was trying to rescue a sailor who was dehydrated and drank sea water. Without fresh water, he will die soon.
Now there are so many managers, supervisors out there that still behaving exactly what Bligh was doing.
Be very careful, when Team turns against you. It will be “Shib-Hai”.
Have you ever been working with some leader like Bligh? Next time, break his nose.
