The United States Navy and strong leadership are synonymous. I have been raised in a family that emphasized leadership and integrity. These qualities are demonstrated through distinct and profound attitudes, behaviors, and core moral values. I want to be part of something that matters and gives me the opportunity to succeed while helping people. Being a Naval Officer offers the fulfillment I am looking for.
I strive to take on roles to improve my leadership skills. I learned about and made it my goal to attend Badger Girls State. I inquired with my high school’s guidance counselor about applying for Badger Girls State. She informed me, even though the school sponsored a student for Badger Boys State, they no longer sponsored a student for
As a Naval Officer I had the opportunity to experience both leadership and management. Today's Navy operates with fewer people and resources than before. Therefore, leadership and management are more important than ever. Very early in my career I was taught leadership and as I advanced through the ranks I experienced management.
Leadership development in the military is critical to its mission and objectives. Understanding and embracing leadership will foster an agile culture and facilitate attainment of strategic goals. People desire quality leadership to assist with achieving their goals, albeit personal or professional development. Having a clear vision and the motivation to perform at high-levels influences others to work synergistically together to achieve organizational goals. Insomuch, employees value being treated respectfully, fairly, and ethically. Leaders serve people best when they help them develop their own initiative and good judgment, enable them to grow, and help them become better contributors.
Selfishness, overblown sense of worth, and indecisiveness are certain traits that seem to appear more frequently in today’s leadership due to an ineffectual advancement process. The Navy’s advancement process consist of a standardized test, Navy wide rating quotas, and evaluations which may or may not accurately reflect the person’s being. Certain aspects of these rolls and processes need to be changed to more accurately reflect those qualities that are required to be an effective leader in today’s Navy.
A person cannot achieve excellence leadership skills and abilities overnight; it is something you develop over time and continue to define and shape for yourself. An officer is someone who can transform their thoughts into someone else’s undertaking -- a skill hard to learn but even more difficult to master-- and be able to delegate responsibilities. I want to become an officer for that very reason: to continue expanding and progressing my leadership skills and develop valuable skills that will help me in the workforce and beyond. Rosalynn Carter once said, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." I also want to be an officer to help others reach their full potential, to showcase their skills and knowledge, and lead them to a path of success. For me to become said officer, I will need to complete MS
As Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert once stated, one of the U. S. Navy’s guiding principles is “People are the Navy’s foundation”. The United States Navy has long since recognized that command at sea is an honor and a unique privilege, one that demands confidence, self-reliance, sound judgment, and complete dedication to the wellbeing of shipmates. At every level of Naval operations, leadership, integrity and character have always been vitally important dimensions of who we are and what we do.
I have gained leadership skills from my time as an officer, along with knowledge of what it takes to be in a position of leadership.
As I have progressed in my career, I have increasingly realized the need for, and importance of, effective leaders in an ever changing, modern, technical Navy. Obtaining a commission as a Limited Duty Officer is a goal that I have sought since entering the Navy. There would be no greater leadership challenge or personal honor than to serve my country in this capacity.
As a junior enlisted Soldier I was lucky to have good NCO’s teaching and mentoring my peers and me. This gave me the motivation to become a strong leader. What does a strong leader look like? I believe it to be someone who is competent, confident, and trustworthy to name a few attributes. I learned as a junior NCO that if you don’t have the trust of your subordinates, you won’t be able to lead. This proved to be a valuable lesson which I still apply as a Warrant Officer.
Life changing experiences through extracurricular activities have given me the opportunity to discover my passion for leadership and service. Prominently my initial experiences while volunteering for Civil Air Patrol have shown me a life dedicated to service is unmeasurably rewarding especially when given the opportunity to lead your peers. Mentoring my followers and learning from their experiences have been so remarkable and rewarding. Deciding to pursue opportunities to lead and serve, the possibility of serving the United States of America as a commissioned officer was perfect. The idea of becoming a professional leader and warrior defending the nation and the ideals behind it would be a dream come true. Seeing the path of an officer fit my goals flawlessly, an education provided by service academy was severely
Leadership can be defined in many different facets. To me the definition of leadership is, “Displaying the ability to inspire and empower others through the example of one’s own self actions”. Too many times we hear, “Do what I say”, instead of, “Do what I do.” A successful leader’s actions speak louder than words ever will. My first day in the Coast Guard following boot camp graduation, I experienced firsthand on how a leader should not act nor conduct themselves. Though alcohol was the main contributing factor on what occurred that evening, looking back, it was more of the lack of maintaining our core values that ultimately resulted in that Chief losing the title as Chief of the boat and being forced to retire.. That moment left a negative impression on me and it took a horrific car accident that landed me in the office of whom I consider as my most influential leader I have had in my career. Master Chief Richard Wolfe was someone that led by example. He helped broaden my vision and let me see my own potential. He always inspired me to not only better myself, but ensured that I challenged myself to learn something new each day. He would often say, “Challenges are just opportunities in disguise”, and it wasn’t until I advanced to Chief Petty Officer to truly understand what he meant. Far too often we get caught up in the present instead of focusing what is on the horizon and that is how complacency becomes the new norm.
Students often do not take advantage of the opportunities available to them in the wider community because of a wide variety of engagement and extra-curricular opportunities offered on college campuses.
In today’s day and age the United States of America has the most powerful military in the world this is because of the hard work our servicemen provide to the military. To have an effective military excellent leaders are needed, leaders who are able to lead and follow in the same manner. The U.S. Army is the largest and most important service branch in the United States military containing a total of 98,126 active officers in its force. The U.S. Army breeds officers who distinguish themselves by having traits such as drive, great physical fitness, long term and short term goals, even the ability to lead and be led by others, and learn from others and their mistakes. A good and effective Army officer needs to have ambition and intent, enough
Leadership in the Coast Guard is the process of guiding and inspiring others toward closer adherence to the core values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. Leadership is a set of behaviors rather than just a set of ideals. Ideals are good, but ideals without the corresponding behaviors are useless. The best way to guide others is to show by example; a true leader not only speaks out in favor of the core values, but also exhibits them in their daily life.
Leadership is not over at the end of the day when you sign off of your computer and head home. Taking care of our shipmates is a 24x7 responsibility that occurs at all hours, day and night, whether in person, phone calls, emails and text messages. The heart of leadership focuses on different levels of personal and professional wellbeing. Critical action at the right time to take care of our personnel so they can focus on the mission they are in place to execute. Leaders have differing views of what leadership is to them, however my personal definition is: “Capability to lead junior personnel, peers and seniors towards a common goal, whether it is a personal achievement, unit or Coast Guard objective while propelling individuals to
My leadership shown through my activities, such as varsity sports, KAYS, and FCCLA, proved that I was a qualified candidate to go to Girls State. Once I arrived at Girls State, I was assigned to a hallway which was called County. Within that County we were split into two cities, “sister cities.” My city name was Cherokee. Throughout the week our cities were competing for “City of the Week,” which was based on which city followed the rules, had members in office, and had members win awards. Also throughout the week, we had to do a city project. Our project was to make a dog park in our city.