Is The Common Definition Of Leadership?

The privilege to command units afloat and ashore provided me with intimate exposure to the challenges experienced by our workforce and their families. Often accompanied by a myriad of ethical dilemmas, these challenges provided a wealth of experience and a better understanding of the impact a leader has on the workforce and their families. Similarly, my experience as the Boatswain’s Mate “A” School Assistant School Chief afforded me vital insight into the Coast Guard’s formal training system, Human Performance Technology and the development of future enlisted leaders. These experiences provided invaluable opportunities for me to interact with our workforce and understand their views, perform thorough assessments of complex situations, and provide accurate, sound, and practical counsel in order to achieve the best outcome for the unit and our Coast

At the time that I saw chief as only a rank, I only wanted to achieve said rank to further my own personal status within NJROTC. Once I realized all the responsibility that comes with being a chief, I faltered. I questioned whether or not I

One thing I did not expect as a young man is that during my journey in the Coast Guard, whether 4 years or 30, that I would have the privilege to meet some great leaders. As though a higher power was at work, I usually had the proper leadership for the stage I was at in my career. BM2 Welch was rough around the edges and a stickler for detail. I was still new to the Coast Guard and needed a firm hand BM2 provided. He gave me direction. I learned from BM2 that working hard at every task thrown at someone is essential to be a good shipmate. As a brand new petty officer, BMC Jeff Reed showed me how to hold other people accountable. He never reprimanded me in public, and after every strict talking, he gave me a pathway to resolve the situation

Gaining confidence is key to being a leader. The first week of deployment, our satellite connection to shore that allows for internet access went down. Needless to say it was uncomfortable entering the mess. You should never feel comfortable in the Chief’s Mess if you or your equipment is messed up. However during this time, Steve supported me. He told me as long as you are making progress and always have an answer to what you are doing, you will be fine. It was true, as long I could answer smartly with what is going on and not blowing off an outage, everything was

In my time as a junior Marine I learned many things from my NCO’s, but one of the things that made the most impression on me was when I was venting to an NCO about a Staff NCO that was strict with us but was a messed up Marine

His style of being a supervisor was authoritarian and sometimes democratic leadership. If it was a high-value mission, I just had to listen and do what I was told without any question. Whenever it was a low-impact mission that needed to be accomplished, he would be a little more lenient on the level of importance and stress of the situation to let us work together to make a mission successful. Overall, Master Sergeant Cope was a great leader and he looked out for all of us, no matter if he was being super bossy or being a team leader on projects and missions. It really just depended on the level of importance of the mission to where his style of supervisory skills came

While reflecting on my time at the Chief Petty Officer’s Academy (CPOA), three elements of learning most impacted my persona and changed me as a leader. These elements of learning include both class room presentations and personal interactions with fellow attendees. The three elements of learning that will be discussed in this paper are 360 peer review report, understanding generational gaps, and recognition that everyone has different experiences within the mess. Each element has changed how I view the Coast Guard and will shape my future interactions with others.

Donovan Campbell, a New York Times Bestselling author as well as a former Captain of the United States Marine Corps offers unique insight on what it means and what it takes to become a remain a strong leader; in fact, he offers 8 chapters of insight, each one representing a different key concept on leadership. Each concept is different, however each one builds onto one another as the book progresses. While reading this book, I took careful notes on each concept as well as how I could incorporate each one into my own life.

Leadership influences: Throughout my Coast Guard career there have been numerous influences guiding my leadership direction. These leadership influences include family, friends, good and bad Coast Guard leaders, and most importantly my own self reflections. One can read, listen, and study every leadership principle from the most intelligent academic professionals, however I believe the best leadership teacher for me has been trial and error. The key is being able to learn from your leadership mistakes and move forward. Life for me is the best teacher over any book ever written about leadership.

When we tied up to the dock he let me as the executive petty officer and the engineering petty officer run the unit. He was there for guidance but let us make mistakes and learn from them while helping us set a course that was free of shoal water. He also took the time to talk to every crew member on a personal level and connected with them through his personal background and brought a feeling comrade throughout the cutter. I adopted his command philosophy while on the cutter and have carried it with me since: Honesty is the core of our core values. Don’t lie to me, if you are honest with the command in all situations we are able to help guide you, you may not always like the outcome but it will be fair and we will do what we can within the regulations. Don’t lie to your shipmates, if you are honest with your shipmates they will stand with you in all storms and help you through the good and bad. Don’t lie to yourself, if you build yourself around the truth then you will set a true course and will not have to defend yourself through ebbs and tides in your life.

The opportunity to positively affect the careers and lives of those I work alongside is one of the greatest privileges and responsibilities that I have. As a Boatswains Mate I’ve been fortunate to be in the presence of some great leaders; they defined leadership through their actions, not words. They epitomized the Core Values and expected the same from the crew. The bottom line was that they cared, respected, trusted us and empowered us to become the leader we wanted to be and more importantly the leader the service needs us to be so that we can continue our Service to Nation, Duty to People and Mission Excellence. As an Officer in Charge (OIC) I’m afforded a unique opportunity as an enlisted leader of a unit. Responsibility and accountability cannot be delegated and the repercussions of betraying those duties will have far lasting effects on not only the unit but also the members who were impacted by negative leadership and inconsistent alignment of values. My personal leadership philosophy, which has been drafted and revised numerous times throughout my career, now serves as my Command Philosophy: Family, Readiness and Mission Excellence.

He asked to see all the boatswains mates one at a time, we had no idea what was going on. When it was my turn, I was nervous because the navy showed me that nothing was ever certain or that things change in a blink of an eye. That is until he showed me an email he got from the secretary of the navy. The emailed stated that our rate was over manned and that they were looking for volunteers to end their contract early to open up the rate. I told my chief that I would think about, consult my wife and get back to him when I came to a decision. This was the beginning of the most dubious 4 months of my

Beginning in boot camp and continuing throughout my career, I’ve seen the Coast Guard promote the leadership model to be: “You” influencing “Others” to achieve a “Goal”. With all the different ways leadership can be defined, this simplistic model which has been permanently engrained in my thinking definition still rings true for me. As such, when defining my own personal definition of leadership, I align it to this same model. More specifically, while I support the fact that leadership involves influencing others to achieve a common end I propose that is not the whole story. Leaders must not be stagnant in their vision and must lend themselves to the possibility they may have to adjust their leadership styles depending on the goal. The best leaders are the ones that understand their own personality traits as well as those traits of the people they are trying to lead.

I define leadership as the ability to provide strength and coverage to support a Sailor, regardless of rank. The ability to instill Core Values, provide training and the tools a Sailor will need to excel in both their professional and personal life. A true leader will support a Sailor, any Sailor, during the high times of a career, but to be a solid force if there are any lows.

Leadership is a difficult word to define and according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary leadership is the “office or position of a leader” (Miriam-Webster, 2010). This definition is definitely not one that I would ascribe to when discussing leadership. My definition of leadership is “the ability someone has to motivate and empower others to achieve a goal.” Some may add to this definition, others may discard it altogether and have a completely different definition. In the end, leadership takes on many different forms depending on who is doing the defining and we end up asking ourselves, what is leadership and why do we care?