The Leader Ship: A Lady's Tale

By Joe Pasqua

What do you and a ship have in common?

You were both designed for a unique purpose and built to sail toward your dreams.

Take an exciting journey with the Lady as she learns how to become a leader. Share her fears and doubts through uncharted waters and experience obstacles, storms, and pirates. Discover the help that lies throughout the voyage in unexpected places. Travel with her and find your success in both leadership and life as you combine your dreams with your purpose and abilities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449778255

Joe Pasqua

Joe Pasqua is a Master Chief in the Coast Guard Reserve with over twenty-four years service. He is also a Coast Guard Port Security Specialist with nine years of homeland security experience, working with other federal, state, and local agencies. He has learned firsthand the challenges of leading others in emergency response, disaster recovery, and committee meetings. He has served in leadership roles in volunteer organizations, including amateur theater, a basketball league, and church ministry. He’s also learned how to follow leaders, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. He lives in southern Louisiana with his wife and four children, enjoying Cajun food and sunshine.

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Copyright © 2012 Joe Pasqua

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-7825-5 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7824-8 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012922678

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/27/2012

Contents

Chapter 1

The Dream

Chapter 2

The Architect

Chapter 3

The Build

Chapter 4

The Dock

Chapter 5

The Captain

Chapter 6

The Crew

Chapter 7

The Plan

Chapter 8

The Voyage

Chapter 9

The Elements

Chapter 10

The Pirate

Chapter 11

The Destination

Chapter 12

The Legacy

Ship’s Particulars

What It All Means

For the leader in you

No other ship has been created to carry what you will carry and go where you will go. One day you will carry your personal, special cargo to your personal, special destination.

PREFACE

This story brought itself to my attention during a Unit Leadership Development Council meeting at Marine Safety Unit Morgan City on Tuesday, August 22, 2006. We were discussing how we could conduct effective leadership training and improve the leadership within our unit.

To me, as a Coast Guardsman, it just seemed natural that a leadership story lay somewhere amid the nautical world in which we live. During a moment of lucidity I recognized the metaphor within leadership – the leader ship.

Almost instantaneously, an idea began to unfold behind my eyes and floated out of the flotsam of information and experience I have collected during the course of my life. This story has literally written itself, and I have hung on as ably as pen and paper will allow.

Since the Lady first introduced herself to me, more bits and pieces of experiences and leadership lessons have surfaced over the course of the past six years to bring me where I am now, as of this writing. In truth, this story will never be finished.

I extend a deep, loving, thank you to my wife Jamie who kept our family moving forward and organized while I pursued my dream. I also extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Susan Roberts and my daughter Chandler for using their English talents to improve mine. A special thanks to Senior Chief James Armstrong for helping me clarify what I meant between magnetic and True North, and for ensuring my nautical terms were accurate and consistent. Finally, thanks to Lieutenant Commander Janet Espino-Young for helping me give the Architect his proper name.

We are all on a journey, and I hope this tale will help you as it has helped me. The question is: Have you set sail?

Joe Pasqua

October 4, 2012

CHAPTER 1

The Dream

Once there was a ship.

At least that was what she wanted to become. When she first realized she wanted to become a ship, she wasn’t sure. She only knew it was her heart’s desire. She wanted to sail, to cut through the crystal blue waters of the ocean, to hear the wind fill her sails, the spray upon her prow as gentle as a lover’s touch. She yearned to see the sun rise over the horizon, casting golden rays across the water, and watch the diamonds dancing across the surface like brilliant crystal fire. She longed to see the moon rise and cast a soft, gentle glow upon the dark surface of the waters. The stars would spread before her like a sparkling blanket, wrapping her in their promise of another tomorrow. She wanted to fulfill her destiny.

Only she didn’t know how. She was just a thought, an idea drifting at the edge of reality. She was merely a dream: whether her own or another’s she did not know. She wanted desperately to become her heart’s desire. But how? How could she become what she wanted to be? How could she become more than a thought? Who would help her? She cried for fear of never