A ship as an innovation tool
During the SOS Ocean Voyage, Malin Haara (Maritime Bergen) co-led a workshop with Johan Brand (We Are Human) exploring how maritime principles, language, and navigation can serve as powerful tools for leadership and innovation on land.
Drawing on their deep expertise in maritime culture, they invited participants to reflect on personal values, adaptive strategy, and the practical realities of collaboration at sea.
In the blog below, Malin shares her reflections from the workshop — and how the ship itself became an innovation lab, revealing what purposeful leadership and true teamwork look like when theory meets the ocean.
A ship as an innovation tool
Being at sea during the SOS Voyage created a unique environment where leadership, collaboration, and strategy became tangible and unavoidable. The workshop – “A ship as an innovation tool «explored how maritime principles, language, roles, and navigation, translate directly into how we work on land. Many of the expressions we use in business today, such as ‘all hands-on deck,’ ‘steady course,’ or ‘navigate uncertainty,’ are not just metaphors, they originate from seamanship and reflect a culture built on trust, coordination, and shared responsibility. Participants mapped expressions used in their own fields and recognized how deeply maritime heritage still shapes how we talk about teamwork and innovation.
Personal compass
Participants were also invited to reflect on their personal compass, the values and inner logic that guide decision-making when goals are uncertain. This closely aligned with the work explored during the Transformative Leadership session at the SOS Summit, reinforcing that purposeful leadership is rooted not in rigid plans but in clarity of values. It was inspiring to see such deep and thoughtful personal reflections on this theme. Many participants began to explore their own purpose and values more intentionally, and how these align with their professional work and their organizations’ values.
A core theme in the workshop was the difference between clear and fuzzy goals. On a ship, the destination may be fixed, but the route is constantly adjusted based on wind, weather, and conditions. The same applies to organizational strategy: progress requires handling space, room to manoeuvre, and continuous adaptation. Teams that hold their goals lightly but navigate intentionally are better equipped to exploit changing conditions and opportunities rather than resisting them.
Shared purpose
Life onboard reminded us that collaboration is not symbolic; it is practical. Seasickness, shared cabins, and the demands of sailing stripped away hierarchy and formal roles, replacing them with mutual accountability and a sense of collective responsibility. The ship became a living example of an ecosystem where each role matters, and where alignment comes not from structure but from shared purpose.
Guide for innovation and teamwork
The experience demonstrated that adaptive strategy, value-driven leadership, understanding of roles, care for each other, and clear shared language are not abstract principles, they are navigational tools. We left the voyage with renewed confidence in fuzzy goals, greater clarity in our personal and collective direction, and a deeper appreciation for maritime wisdom as a guide for innovation and teamwork.
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