Founder connections
- Jim SimonsLeadership reading recalledSimons recalls a naval-command novel, tentatively called Captain, and the lesson of making decisions without prolonged delay. Keating’s official study guide identifies The Captain by Jan de Hartog. The title-and-author bridge comes from the guide; Simons’s exact reading edition is unknown.Source
Summary
Jan de Hartog’s wartime sea novel follows Harinxma as he takes command in the dangerous world of ocean tugboats and convoy service. The story moves into the Arctic route to Murmansk, where responsibility for a ship and crew brings practical decisions into conflict with fear, duty and moral doubt. A young liaison officer’s troubled response to war adds another test to the captain’s role. De Hartog places command within the working life of seamen and the demands of rescue and salvage. The novel studies the burden of making choices for other people when their safety depends on the person in charge.
Why read it Our view
Use with Simons’s specific leadership account: he recalled learning to make a decision rather than let a team wait indefinitely. The novel supplies a sustained command-and-crew setting for examining that responsibility under pressure.