Leadership Philosophy Of Captain Byron Black

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.

This paper on Leadership will compare the primary differences and characteristics between the tactical leader and the organizational leader. I will provide you with the basics for development, characteristics, and the fundamentals that help guide and influence each leader’s style and how they influence Soldiers to follow them. Leaders at all levels demonstrate their values, knowledge, skills, and abilities in many different means and methods in

As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several

The story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff and his command of USS Benfold has now become legendary inside and outside the Navy. Captain Abrashoff offers this tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today’s uncertain seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as the commander of USS Benfold, which is a ship that is completely armed with every cutting-edge system available, but unfortunately, the ship was like a business that has all the latest technology but it lacked in productivity and teamwork. Knowing that that the responsibility for improving performance rested with him as the new USS Benfold’s Captain, Abrashoff realized that he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve the crew aboard the ship. Within months, Abrashoff created a crew of confident and inspired problem solvers eager to take initiative and responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became “It’s your ship,” and the USS Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. (Abrashoff, 2002) From achieving amazing cost savings to winning the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, Captain Abrashoff’s extraordinary campaign sent shock waves throughout the entire U.S. Navy fleet. By reading this book, it can really help you change the course of your leadership skills, no matter where your battles are fought. As a society, we continue to invest in the latest

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.

Mission Command The purpose of this paper is to describe how I will utilize some of the principles of mission command to build leaders that act on disciplined initiative and can operate without the commander’s supervision to reach the desired end state. Today, mission command plays a vital role in our modern military force; it provides the subordinates with the ability to function on their own. This gives them the capacity to tackle particular problems and accept prudent risks to reach the commander’s desired end state. Some of the principles that I will be talking about in this paper are; build cohesive teams through mutual trust, create shared understanding, exercise disciplined initiative.

Our guest speaker, Colonel Thomas Clark, USMC (Ret.), gave a speech about leadership. Mr.Clark attended The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina for his undergraduate degree and master’s degree. Mr.Clark obtained his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, and his master’s degree in Project Management with a certification in Technical Project Management. He served 30 years in the Marine as a fighter pilot where he obtained a colossal amount of flight time hours. Mr.Clark served in Iraq and many other wars throughout his career. He also loves being a student, solving puzzles, and a christian. On the first day of class, he ran into Dr.Skipper downstairs before class had started; Dr.Skipper told him, “You are my challenge.”

According to well-respected Evangelical pastor and author, Richard Warren, “Great leaders inspire. They maintain a hopeful attitude, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, constant criticism and abundant opposition. People don’t follow discouraged leaders. They follow those who persist with hope.” In every situation, the ultimate purpose of leadership is to influence others to accomplish a shared goal. In order to be an effective leader, one must possess certain key traits. These traits include: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (trait approach). I am of the firm belief that some of these characteristics can be learned and developed through human interaction and experiences. This is contrary to trait theory which states that leaders are born with inherent characteristics which facilitate leadership (Northouse). In the military, there are specific personality leadership traits. As highlighted in “The Marines” documentary, these traits include tact, dependability, trust, enthusiasm, courage, and loyalty. This paper will discuss the traits of Marine Corps Drill Instructors and point out how these traits would apply in the civilian workplace.

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

Technical skill - As an experienced submariner, and the person directly responsible for training his entire crew, Ramius is obviously skilled in most of the facets of running a submarine.

Leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing guidance, purpose and motivation. This idea of the leadership has been shaped and molded throughout my career, being exposed to the transition of the post 9/11 Coast Guard, experiencing multi-national operations/exercises on forward deployed assets, fostering relationships with inter-agency partners to effectively support counter terrorism and counter narcotic missions and developing processes at one of five Geographic Combatant Commands; has set the foundation for my own personal philosophy.

The common definition of leadership that has been taught throughout the Coast Guard is “You influencing others to achieve a goal”. When boiling it down to the most simplistic form, that definition is sufficient. The problem with that definition is that it is very vague. It doesn’t quantify how well the goal was achieved, or what type of influence was used to achieve it. A leader can easily use negative motivation to achieve a goal, but the quality of the completed product may not be as high compared to times where positive motivation is used. If a leader were to threaten their subordinates with the potential of holding up their liberty until a job is complete, the subordinates may rush to get the job done, but the quality of their

In the beginning I felt stressed, overwhelmed, and inadequate. I struggled to find a balance of meeting my squadron’s demands while still ensuring the well being of my sailors. The intense pressure to perform while deployed in real-world operations taught me how to thrive in high-stress environments. I learned the importance of leading by example and the power of influence. Being a leader is not easy; it was the most difficult time of my naval career

Publilius Syrus wrote, “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm,” meaning any person can be a leader when operations are working correctly (Pozin, 2014). What type of leader stands out when complex problems arise? Two leadership approaches, collective and leader-member exchange, have opposing principles guiding the success of the methods. One approach foregoes a designated leader and enables team members to reach an objective collectively, whereas the differing approach bases its success on the dyadic relationship between the leader and follower. Leaders must recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and decide which method is more appropriate for the situation, as is the case for the United States Coast Guard.

As a Senior Leader it is essential that I continue to refine and develop a successful leadership style. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to serve numerous exceptional leaders off and on throughout my career. I have taken the opportunity to capture admirable traits from all of these leaders. I have used these traits to mold my leadership philosophy. I will continue to strengthen and refine the leadership behaviors noted in reference (a) utilizing the Coast Guard 's Leadership Competencies. The primary traits that form my definition of leadership include many components, but start with pride, passion, character, communication, dedication, integrity, optimism, honesty, and the component that ties them all together is accountability. These are all just traits that have to be tied together and used in all actions in order to be a successful leader. I think leadership should encourage the success of others through guidance, passion, praise and accountability to accomplish a common goal.