Captain James T. Kirk: The Hero Who Treks the Stars

Oops!  We had to remove the hero profile you’re looking for because it appears in our book Heroic Leadership: An Influence Taxonomy of 100 Exceptional Individuals, published by Routledge in 2013.

Our contract at Routledge required us to remove many of our profiles on our blog.  But we do have other hero profiles and information about heroes on the menu bar located on the right side of this page.  Check it out!

In the mean time, please accept our apologies.

 

— Scott Allison and George Goethals

8 thoughts on “Captain James T. Kirk: The Hero Who Treks the Stars

  1. Absolutely fantastic .. Captain Kirk is one of my faves also. I watched those first episodes when I was a very young mother.
    I ordered Star Trek patches from their (then) catalog and made a Star Trek shirt for one of my sons .. it even had the V-in neck style; just like Captain Kirk’s.
    Thanks for this, Scott & George!

  2. Nice biography, Scotty. Captain Kirk was one of my most important heroes and role models as a young kid. Your example of “The City On The Edge Of Forever” sums up exactly why: He taught us that we must always do the right thing no matter how much it hurts. He has become an icon, an archetype, because he has the intelligence to think his way out of trouble and the courage to act. Like McCoy said, he turns death into a fighting chance to live. 🙂

  3. RJ, once again you have anticipated a much-discussed concept in our book: The Jungian concept of archetype. We are drawn to heroes who fit the archetypic heroic image, and as you point out, Kirk fits the bill to near perfection. Thanks for writing.

  4. Though I have never seen the earlier Star Treks, I have seen the one from 2009, and Captain Kirk’s choices to hopefully guide the ship to safety were very bold. It seemed as if death was inevitable either way, but Kirk expressed his heroic characteristics and made a daring attempt to risk his life and position for the good of his team. He is a morally string character that has earned his title as hero.

  5. I had never watched Star Trek before, but I did see the movie that came out recently. I don’t know much of the back story, but I loved Kirk’s heroic journey. He came from an unlikely place to become one of the most respected individuals of his time and is really inspirational!

  6. Nice post, and thanks for the follow on twitter Scott

    My son’s middle name is Kirk, in honour of this great fictional hero.

    It’s worth mentioning perhaps that in my opinion, as a useful role-model the original Kirk is only a complete archetype when you include the heartfelt sensibilities of Dr McCoy, the cold logic of Mr Spock and the technical understanding of Scotty. Together with Kirk’s spirit of adventure they make the complete role-model, but they do need each other to be complete.

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