Leading Across Generations: Captain Dundas on Redefining Leadership at Sea

With Karine Rayson and Captain Dundas

Beyond the Helm

Leadership in yachting has long been associated with rank and authority. Captain Dundas—18 years in the industry, 12 as captain—argues the real work is subtler: adaptability, values, and the skill of communication.

“Generation is also a culture. If you overlay your expectations on someone who grew up differently, it won’t align—and that’s where frustration and turnover begin.”

Recognizing leadership as a learnable skill, not an innate trait, reframed his command—and revived his enjoyment of the job.

The Generational Reality

Across fleets, captains are navigating mixed-generation crews with distinct motivations and measures of success. Dundas cautions against blanket judgments and favors clarity about expectations, growth, and respect.

“The way I communicate with older crew versus younger crew has to adapt significantly. It’s not just experience—it’s outlook.”

Adaptation is not capitulation; it’s precision—adjusting message, medium, and timing so standards land and are lived.

Values as a Compass

Technical competence gets you on board. Values alignment keeps the culture intact. Dundas emphasizes hiring and development that surface what people truly hold important—privacy, growth, teamwork, autonomy—and building around it.

“We live and work together. This isn’t an eight-hour job where people go home. If values don’t align, the friction shows.”

Structured interviews that probe beyond CV bullet points, plus a crew values workshop, create a shared language for decisions and behavior.

Feedback That Flows Both Ways

Hierarchies often block upward feedback. Dundas made it standard—formal reviews with prompts that elicit candor and commitments on both sides.

“How am I going to get better if I don’t get feedback from the people I’m trying to lead? They’re the ones experiencing my style in real time.”

The effect: higher trust, clearer expectations, fewer small resentments calcifying into departures.

Leadership Is a Skillset

Treating leadership like navigation—study, practice, refinement—changed Dundas’s view of scale and complexity.

“I used to think the bigger the boat, the bigger the problems. Now it’s the bigger the opportunity—once you understand the skillset.”

That mindset cascades: stronger HODs, clearer progression paths, and a tighter, calmer operation—even in yard-period chaos.

Growth, Tenure, and Healthy Transitions

Not every crew member aims for the bridge. Some save for a business; others will start families or pivot ashore. A captain’s role is to develop people for where they’re going—while they’re fully engaged where they are.

“We don’t need to fear that people will move on. Help them grow while they’re here—and they’ll give you their best.”

Retention improves when progression is visible and honest; departures, when they happen, are planned—not disruptive.

The Human Dividend

The cultural shift followed Dundas home: lower stress, better health habits, more energy to bring back on board.

“These days I feel lighter. Happier at work—and that follows me home. It makes me want to come back, keep learning, lead better.”

Redefining Leadership at Sea

Authority alone won’t carry a team through an intense season. Adaptability, values clarity, and two-way feedback will. Dundas’s message to the industry is simple: rethink leadership, and the results—performance, retention, and wellbeing—follow.