Being a creative marketing professional who actually gets to create is harder than you think, especially when it comes to moving your career forward. Not all of us want to be managers or executives, but we all want to thrive in our chosen field. Throughout this series, “Career Advancement Lessons from Star Trek: Lower Decks,” I want to help writers, designers, developers, and other practitioners learn how to speak up for themselves and their craft. Our goal? To do remarkable work worthy of respect and recognition in the workplace.

The Character:

“Yeah, no, we’re not really elite. We’re more like the cool, scrappy underdogs of the ship.” (“Second Contact” – Lower Decks Season 1, Episode 1)

What a rebel. From the very first episode, Ensign Mariner told us exactly who she was and how she viewed her role in Starfleet. She’s the literal antithesis of Boimler, right down to how they view the rules. Outside of Ensign Ro on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek fans had never seen a lower-ranking character defy regulations and protocols so flagrantly. Only captains get to do that, and they never get reprimanded!

Mariner didn’t care about such everyday concepts like following processes and procedures. While she believed in the overarching ethos of Starfleet – exploring the galaxy and helping people – she didn’t like how stodgy everyone was. Just like Boimler, she is fully versed in history, but she took the opposite tack: Rules are inconveniences that deserve the merest of lip service because doing the right thing was always more important.

I’ve seen my fair share of creatives attempt their best Mariner impression, only to get described as “smart but difficult,” “talented but hard to work with,” and other such terms on year-end reviews. You are the writer, designer, or developer! You know what this asset should look like better than some generic middle manager with a marketing degree. You will do what needs to be done to make the piece of content the best it can be, no matter the unhelpful feedback you get. The only problem? You probably bounce from job-to-job every couple of years because you get tired of being told “No” (and your managers got tired of telling you “No” all the time).

The Challenge:

Throughout the first three seasons of Lower Decks, we see Mariner buck up against senior leadership in nearly every episode. She never shirks her duties, but she often looks for ways to get things done outside of the recommended method. Which really aggravates Boimler. He’s lived his life by the book, and now he’s suddenly friends with someone who barely acknowledges the book’s existence. She shrugs off his reactions with a winking nonchalance, telling him that doing good work is more important than following the rules.

Here’s the thing: Mariner is very good at her job. She has been promoted for exemplary work and demoted for insubordination more times than she can remember. Not only does she have significant experience, but she also has supreme capabilities. Thus, her commanding officers find it hard to reprimand her all the time when she simply gets things done.

Her problem? She gets in trouble often, to the point that everyone is tired of her shenanigans. Her work is tremendous, but no one likes working with someone who intentionally flaunts the rules so flagrantly. And that’s where many brilliant but obnoxious creatives find themselves when they disregard the culture at their workplace and criticize management for being too boring or rigid in their thinking.

The Choice:

Mariner ultimately had to choose. She could either work within the rules just a bit or get kicked out of Starfleet because she flaunted all the rules. It wasn’t that her bosses doubted the quality of her work – results matter – but no one trusted her to do what she was asked, and many of the crew didn’t like working with her. You can only reject the rules of an organization or business for so long before it seems like you’re rejecting the institution itself.

By focusing on the friends she did have, Mariner realized that she did care about Starfleet and the work it did across the galaxy. She recognized that, while she didn’t love depending on the rules for everything, some processes mattered – because people mattered. If she truly wanted to help people (and she exemplified that throughout the show), she could do the most good by working within an organization that was able to do the best good.

Mariner would be the first to tell you that you shouldn’t follow the rules just because the rules have always been there. She would interrogate those rules to the best of her ability. If the rules hinder good work, then maybe it’s time for new rules that improve the working conditions and the outcomes. And it also helps to be a team player instead of going solo (much less rogue) all the time.

The Change:

If you have ever found yourself reacting like Mariner, I totally get it. The people in charge gave you rules and feedback that are wildly unhelpful, so you push back against them in hopes of retaining some creative freedom.

Creatives want to create. But they also like clearly defined boundaries, especially if they make sense. They also don’t like being told “no,” especially if the answer to “Why?” is – “That’s how we’ve always done it.” It’s not that they hate the rules or can’t be a team player, but their penchant for out-of-the-box thinking that helps them be creative also means the processes need to make sense. They want leaders and policies that help the creative process, not stifle it through outdated thinking.

Which means, my dear rebels, that you need to speak up for yourself in productive language and forward-thinking solutions. It’s not about complaining. It’s about showing up with a positive attitude about doing good work. Your coworkers generally want to get along and have a good day, so maybe they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Most people at your job are not actively trying to hinder your creativity. In fact, they probably want to see you be your most creative – as long as the project gets done.

And that means you might need to change your perspective about why and where you work. Unless your goal is to be a solo entrepreneur, then you have to accept the fact that you will work with other people, and that means following the rules (at least the most important ones) when doing your work. Can you point out times when the procedures aren’t helpful? Absolutely! But you should give suggestions on how they can be improved for the greater team, not just complain that they’re bad. Besides – you have plenty of wonderful ideas about how to make things better, and you deserve to have those ideas heard, acknowledged, and appreciated.