Module 5: The Adaptable Leader

I am Joseph Maruska, I am currently a Major in the United States Air Force. This essay will introduce you to my personal command philosophy. It will also summarize and analyze a brief interview recently conducted with a current squadron commander using my own leadership philosophy as a

This concise paper addresses a lifetime of learning on part of the author and the gracious graduated squadron commander interviewee who leant his time and wisdom. In the next few paragraphs the three key elements that will be addressed include: the author’s leadership philosophy, elicited in the hot seat from

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

Abstract 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.

The intention of this paper is to introduce my leadership philosophy. I will start off defining leadership as well as explaining my leadership philosophy. I will then share a summary of an interview with a Squadron Commander about a difficult situation that he needed to use his philosophy to work through and analyze how my philosophy applies to the same situation followed by a brief summary.

In addition, this document will highlight the importance of an effective leadership style, focusing on the proper use of intelligence assets and the welfare of soldiers in order to accomplish the mission during war.

Professional Leadership Assessment (or Strategic Leadership for Introverts) Seminar 7/PJ Yuson, Lt Col, USAF The Right to Lead Assessment Model (RLAM) is a useful construct for analyzing one’s own ability to lead at the strategic level in a Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental and Multinational (JIIM) environment. I will briefly describe key RLAM components, assess my personal strengths and weaknesses (in each component), and then prescribe a strategy to improve weakness while attending the Air War College (AWC). My overall objective is to have people follow me because I earned their commitment and confidence (also RLAM components) as opposed to automated, unearned respect associated with my rank or job title. The RLAM, which I use as a reflective self-assessment, consists of roughly 12 components. However, I focus on five of these components, which are most critical for strategic leadership: character, competence, personality, drive, and relevance. Character is the most important RLAM component.

Being a leader in today’s United States Air Force is more than supervising subordinates or leading a project or program. A leader is someone who influences others to achieve a goal, they are typically men and women, though not perfect, strive to display ethical behavior, virtues, and character strengths in their actions as they battle their own vices and idiosyncrasies (crse 15). Not only must all Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) posses these abilities, they must be able to articulate them and pass them on to their subordinates, mentoring future generations of Airmen to strive to be better than they are today. Today, I believe I am on the right path as a leader; ensuring tasks are completed on time and encouraging, and utilizing my subordinate’s

In my five years of service I often talk with fellow Airmen about the different states of the Airforce. After many discussions I noticed a common theme was captured in a single saying “I love being an Airman, But I hate being in the Airforce”. From Basic Military Training we

What it means to be a Profession In An Army White Paper: The profession of arms (2010), a profession is described It is important for a leader to understand that completing essential tasks to meet mission goals, personal development, and providing future leaders the tools to procure success are all equally important and should be balanced. Times may call for one responsibility to be a higher priority that the other, so it is imperative that leaders are able to differentiate what skills apply to certain situations. “Strategic leaders, for example, must control personnel development, evaluation and certification, and assignment and utilization processes in ways that motivate aspiring professionals as they progress through a career of service,” (TRADOC, 2010). The cycle of learning, training, and accomplishing goals creates a culture of duty-oriented Soldiers with dedicated character and leadership

Field Manual (FM) 6-22 defines leadership as “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization”. The objective of this paper is to communicate my leadership philosophy of how I hope to lead the Soldiers within this organization. To fully understand my leadership, I will provide you some background on who I am and how my leadership styles have developed:

The Army’s definition of leadership is influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (Army, 2012). As a young Sergeant in the United States Army, I thought I was being a good leader by being an effective manager. I was determined to lead Soldiers and accomplish my organizations’ mission. As I gained more experience and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant, I realized that I was managing instead of leading. Leadership is not synonymous with management. Leadership goes beyond the allocation of personnel and resources to accomplish the organization’s goals. Leadership involves change, from being an individual performer to being an influencer. An effective leader has the ability to unite personnel behind the organization’s mission by examining individual motivations to promote success. Providing purpose and direction instills ownership in the success of the organization. A leader is also effective in building team culture. Yet, a leader cannot accomplish the above with establishing her/her own leadership philosophy grounded their individual values,

This attitude not only affects me but also everyone around me. I need to start this goal by increasing my positive outlook to every situation by be more vocal about what is great about the new change and/or situation. I will continue to meet change with the same cognitive and emotional flexibility that I currently possess. I know that I always have the ability to control my emotions and to have multiple plans in place which make me a good adaptable leader. By continuously adjusting my outlook it will eventually become second nature and I will be a more complete adaptable leader. Some potential barriers that I could encounter would be my personal attitude and the attitudes of the people around me. Another barrier would be that people would not see me as genuine and they would think that my attitude is forced. To overcome these barriers I must understand that people will have their options and their personal biases. I must surround myself with people that naturally display a positive disposition and share in their enthusiasm about the oncoming changes. I could also work on myself on the physical, spiritual, and emotional level. By grounding myself with my spiritual belief and working on improving my physical and emotional wellness this will help me maintain a positive disposition. The strengths that I currently possess that will help me with my goal would be the support system of my friends and family and faith. By drawing on these strengths I know that I can overcome anything and make this change. This will take a very long time for a complete change but I should expect about a 2 week turnaround in habit pattern and at least 3 months before this attitude change will become more effortless and will not be perceived as a forced response. I would like total change to be re-evaluated at the year

I am ready to transition from direct and organizational leadership to the strategic level. Successful strategic leaders attain a high level of self-awareness to ensure their relevance and effectiveness in addressing adaptive problems. As an Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) senior leader I

Over the course of my thirty-eight months at West Point thus far, character development played a prominent role in my successes and failures alike. The Periodic Developmental Review (PDR) system helped me realize which areas needed focus and careful attention to capitalize on my potential as a future officer. The