There is nothing in this world we can control except for our own reactions. While business leaders of organizations large and small know this to be true, it does not mean that all reactions must happen in a vacuum. In founding my consulting company, Starboard Consulting, my goal is to help leaders take stock of their environment and take control of the ways their organization responds.
I put myself in my clients’ shoes and I thought about what it means to take a step back, to put yourself in control as you set an intentional course forward.
I knew what this consulting work would look like, what it would feel like, and I began planning. Before too long I was at the point when it was time to name this new organization. Having led an eponymously named organization in the past, named after the founder who hired me and whom I would eventually come to replace, I knew I didn’t want to go in that direction. I put myself in my clients’ shoes and I thought about what it means to take a step back, to put yourself in control as you set an intentional course forward.
It was on a long solitary walk through a nature preserve near my home in Kingston, NY that the word starboard came to me. I had reached the apex of my loop, an outcropping of rocks which rise above the valley below and provide a view of the mighty Hudson River. I saw ships sailing in the distance, and my heart swelled as I played the role observer of the spiritual experience of sailing – a pleasure which I had reconnected with in recent years.
In the nautical world, the word starboard is used to describe the right side of the boat, opposite to the left port side of the vessel, but origin of the word comes from a different part of the boat – one which is no longer found on any modern craft. Before modern materials or even wooden timbers were used in ship building a steering oar would be used to steer the craft. The person helming the ship would dip this giant oar in the water to keep course against the wind and to change directions when needed. Because most sailors were right-handed this would happen on the right side of the ship, and thus the steering board side of the ship – becoming starboard through the centuries- came to be named.
Starboard derives from steering a ship, keeping its course (and changing course) just as a leader would in steering their organization forward.
Sailing is an experience which deeply connects a person with nature. The wind can come from all directions regardless of what course you may intend. All that we can control in life, be it sailing, personal life, or the business environment, is our own reactions. We benefit from challenges, as opposed to being overwhelmed by them, when we can take a step back and set an intentional course forward.
As I bring this new consulting practice into the world I am setting my course around the needs of my clients. They are the hero in this story, the person at the helm, the leader seizing opportunity to overcome challenge. Starboard Consulting will be the instrument through which a new course forward will be set, for my clients and for me.
Abe Uchitelle has worked extensively in the private sector, with extensive experience in the B2B space. In his work on the agency-side Uchitelle rose the ranks to become President of his firm while completely overhauling the agency’s management structure and client-base along the way. During his time at the helm the organization grew to include multiple fortune-500 clients through expanded service offerings all while improving the customer experience and the employee experience at every step of the way.