Whatever the ups and downs of Starfleet Academy, I will die on the hill that actually some people needed to see a leader sitting weird in a chair. Our concept of who makes a "good leader" is actually way too skewed towards body language, how people dress, their vocabulary and other things that don't actually affect the quality of their decision-making. In 2026, we put too much emphasis on whether someone "looks like a leader" - polling companies regularly ask this about politicians - and not enough emphasis on what decisions people are making and why. And of course this bias ends up working against marginalised groups, like all biases eventually do. ("Why is she sitting like a little girl?" is something I've heard more than once)
Having a leader who rejects staunch formality is weirdly one of the most progressive things Trek has done in years. Think about how life changing it would be if you didn't have to worry about what impression your stance, your clothes and your appearance were giving off. Imagine people reacting purely to the value of what you are saying and doing, and absolutely nothing else.
