My daughter and I used to watch a lot of Octonauts.  A great series to learn about marine biology, exploration but also leadership, crisis management, and surprisingly being human.  Captain Barnacles is a model leader – decisive, introspective, adaptable, resilient, understanding of his crew (especially the failings of First Mate Kwazii and self-doubt of Medic Peso).

And kudos to the possible Asian crewmember Albachoy (half albacore, half bokchoy.

My last command’s insignia looked a lot like that of the Octonauts. Uncannily, very similar mission and mandate. Reality bites.

I often thought about which Octonaut I was – and it was probably the octopus who liked to read. He did have a special suit that made him super formidable due to his tentacles – like Dr. Octopus from the Spider-Man universe.

But back to the Captain. Isn’t it funny that some of the models for leadership come from cartoons. Optimus Prime, Professor X, Duke.

And to be honest, the bad guys aren’t all that horrible either – maybe just a little misguided. Megatron, Magneto, Serpentor but not Cobra Commander. At the least, they had some intelligence and even a sort of code.