Running head: LEADERS ON THE SMALL OR BIG SCREEN: JON SILVER 1

Intro to show and character

Black Sails has leadership themes throughout the show, with most characters struggling

with their own leadership styles and challenges. Many unlikely leaders emerge through their

own volition. The show mostly follows one ship’s captain, Captain Flint, but as the show

progresses another unlikely leader emerges by the name of Jon Silver or Long Jon Silver as he

comes to be known. Silver rises from being a nobody to a trusted leader on the ship and one of

the foremost leaders of all the pirates on the show through his charisma and the trust the crew

have in him. Silver himself explains his rise to someone by telling the person that he is very

difficult to not like. It is the fact that he is generally a likable person that explains why and how

he was able to become a leader in the first place. His leadership ability is recognized by the

ship’s crew to the point that he is voted to be the ship’s Quarter Master which makes Silver the

voice of the crew to the captain. All of the Captain’s decisions are made through consultation

with the Quarter Master to ensure that the crew will be amenable to the outcome. Although there

are many leaders and leadership styles presented in the show, Jon Silver will be the focus of this

paper.

Two main leadership characteristics are demonstrated by Silver throughout the show.

These characteristics are charisma and trust. Silver is able to start off as the lowest member of

the pirate crew and become a powerful leader, first by being a likable person, and then once he is

liked he proves that he can be trusted more so than the other leader Captain Flint. In other

words, his charisma got him noticed and started as a leader and the level of trust that the crew

were able to have in him helped to propel him even further. These two characteristics could be

said to be the most important leadership traits, specifically when considering the situation like
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Silver was in where he was not labelled a leader, nor was he appointed either by himself or

another person. The way that he became a formal leader was to be voted in by the crew. This

would not be possible without both charisma and trust. It would be a rare thing that people

would vote for someone to lead them that they either do not like or do not trust.

Trust

Several scholars have written about the importance of trust when discussing leadership.

Yukl (2013) States that “trust appears to be an important component of charisma, and followers

have more trust in a leader who seems less motivated by self-interest than by concern for

followers” (p.311). This sentiment is also expressed by Mineo (2014) who states that “trust is

the glue which binds the leader to her/his followers and provides the capacity for organizational

and leadership success” (p.1). Silver built a high level of trust with the crew over time through

several gestures both big and small. The most notable act that allowed Silver to become trusted

was when he didn’t give his crew’s names when tortured to do so, but this is not the only way

that Silver was able to have the full trust of the crew. On several occasions, Silver is seen in

front of the crew standing up to Captain Flint. The times when Silver stood up to Captain Flint

are mostly when Silver thinks that either the crew will not like the decision or when he thinks

that Captain Flint does not have the crew’s best interests in mind. This combination of larger

and smaller acts all build up to a point that the crew completely trusts Silver in every way.

Silver, being an intelligent social person is able to see that trust is an elusive quality that can be

easily destroyed but the importance of understanding trust’s contribution to cooperative efforts

and stronger relationships makes it paramount that leaders not only understand the elements of

trust but develop the skills, character, and insights required to build trust and sustain it (Caldwell

& Anderson, 2019). A final example of the immense power that Silver is able to have over the
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crew comes from a time when he makes a difficult choice to have a crew member punished to

avoid dissension between two groups. Shortly after this punishment, Silver tasks the man that he

punished with a key mission that will determine the fate of a pivotal battle. When Captain Flint

hears about the punishment and the fact that Silver tasked the punished man with this important

task, Captain Flint questions Silver’s choice. Silver explains to Captain Flint that he is not

worried about the man’s allegiance at all. The reason Silver is so confident that the man who

was punished is the best choice for the task is that as Silver states “the man feels shame in having

disappointed me and a great need to redeem himself in my eyes” (Steinberg & Levine, 2016,

24:57). Silver is so confident that the man will not feel resentment but an even greater need to

complete the mission since he did do something wrong in Silver’s eyes that he tells Captain Flint

that he has made this choice without consulting him and why it will succeed. This conversation

is the moment when Silver demonstrates to Captain Flint that he is the true leader of the crew

and that Captain Flint needs him to maintain control. It is also during this conversation that

Silver explains to Captain Flint that if it was he who had punished the man that the man would

feel resentment, but since it was Silver and the crew has so much trust and respect for Silver that

the opposite will result. This level of control and confidence that Silver has is achieved through

the great trust that all crew members have in him.

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