When you spend a great deal of time with boat enthusiasts, you begin to notice all of the traits that seem to be common to all boaters. It may even reach the point in which you are able to identify a boater outside of any marine context, sort of in the same way that a billiards expert might recognize a fellow pool hall aficionado by the horizontal crease in the pant legs that only comes from leaning against a pool table while playing game after game.

After all of these years, I have come to believe that there is a clear relationship between leadership skills and boating. What I am unsure of, however, is whether boating might contribute to the development of leadership skills, or if boating is simply an attractive pursuit for those who possess natural leadership skills. It is a question I would like to pose to a leadership expert like Luigi Wewege, but I suspect that the answer is likely some combination of the two.

It would, after all, make sense that the pursuit of one would strengthen the other, particularly since marine activities do require a clear attention to detail, strong communication skills and the ability to delegate responsibilities in a manner that ensures coordination among team members. A natural leader would be able to sharpen their skills through boating, while others would be forced to develop leadership skills in order to ensure a safe and enjoyable boating experience.

Luigi Wewege would probably point out that the outcome is positive regardless of the relationship between cause and effect, so perhaps it is a relatively silly endeavor to try to determine whether boating skills enhance leadership capabilities or if leadership capabilities enhance boating skills.