My First Chief Right Out Of Boot Camp

The term leadership invokes a deeper meaning than the simple Merriam-Webster dictionary definition as “the office or position of a leader” (Merriam-Webster, 2015). Candidates seeking management positions are frequently asked about their leadership styles during interviews. It is a derivative of the “what is the purpose of my leadership” question asked by William George discussed in his article, “Note on why leaders lose their way” (2004, p.2). My leadership style is best illustrated by the following quote by Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (US Navy, retired): “you manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership” (Schieber, 1987).

Leadership is a facet of management. It is just one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this managers must undertake the four functions of management: planning, organization, leading and controlling. In some cases leadership is just one important component of the leading function. Predpall (1994) said, "Leaders must let vision, strategies, goals, and values be the guide-post for action and behavior rather than attempting to control others". In some circumstances, leadership is not required. For example, self-motivated groups may not require a single leader and may find leaders dominating. The fact that a leader is not always required proves that leadership is just an asset and is not essential.

Leadership is all about having the right amount of heart and determination to help make a difference in someone’s life. It takes certain qualities to be considered a good leader. A leader should want to help inspire others to make a change and to be the best that they can be. A true leader does not need to feel powerful, instead they empower those around them. Throughout my life I have come across various leaders who have made an impact on my life. It takes a very special person to inspire and touch people’s lives. Leadership is so much deeper than having power and bossing people around.

Leaders are look upon as role models as they guide us with their motivating, influence to accomplish tasks. There are a lot of leadership styles; when leading, it is based on the situation. When I was in the military, I encountered with many different styles of leadership. A leadership that I considered meaningful is a Transformational Leader. The transformational Leader in the military with their inspiring charisma of motivating, influence creates a visualized path that produces energetic characteristics that inhere to new changes, developments, and possibilities.; by demonstrating authority, the Transformational Leader in the military utilizes their power to inspire and motivate people into trusting and following their example; this as

Ability to manage is another way a leader manifests and influence it subordinates. A leader must be a person that possess the following characteristics.

My personal experiences of leadership started when I was younger, roughly 7 years old, I was elected the captain of my travel soccer team. At the time I didn’t think much of it, nor did I have any extra duties that I was explicitly told that I needed to perform. Later throughout the season, I started to notice my teammates mimicking my styles and techniques and I highly enjoyed this feeling of being looked up to. I didn 't realize until years after that the recognition and pride I felt was leadership. This privilege of being captain was the first time I had realized that people weren 't necessarily following my actions because I was extraordinarily skilled, but because I provided this role model status with my confidence and encouragement. Some of the most valuable leaderships traits that I acquired and fortified are:

"Leaders are people who are able to express themselves fully…they know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to fully deploy their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. They also know what they want, why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others in order to gain their cooperation and support. Finally they know how to achieve their goals" (Ingram, 2004).

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

I had just completed Chief Induction a couple months prior to my arrival to the USS MILIUS. This was to be my first tour as a Leading Chief Petty Officer. To say I was both excited and terrified would be the understatement of the century. I report to the ship and start deployment to the Persian Gulf a couple of weeks later. Within days of my arrival, another Chief reported for duty. When I first met Steve, I had no idea that I had met the person who would be instrumental in my development as a leader as well as make that tour easily my most successful. I have had numerous mentors while I have been in the Navy, many who have helped me reach my dream of making Chief, however it was Steve that helped made me be the Chief I am today.

Leadership is not only the ability to manage others and accomplish tasks, but also the ability to inspire others to gain the desire to do their best. I often help, and share knowledge with subordinates and peers alike in their pursuit of higher responsibilities. Because I lead by example, I have been able to help multiple Airmen become more mature, skillful, and motivated to take initiative to achieve higher responsibilities in their careers.

Leadership is a personal skill that has to be developed and improved upon daily, just like an athlete works on his craft. We all come from different walks of life and that is often a factor in the way our leadership styles are shaped. Our differences of race, gender, religion, home environment, and lifestyle all have an effect on the way we are led growing up. It is a skill that is mastered over time, while never being perfected. Like anything else in life, leadership skills are often developed from who we are, where we come from and the people in our life who have taught us their knowledge.

Leadership is something that people are born with. It is an inherent charm and it doesn’t hide even if you want to hide it. There is a leader amongst us and he or she is the one that leads other people to great things by inspiring and motivating people to do good deeds. Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. This way a leader can decide what work goes in and goes out. Good leaders in history have left a mark in walks of life. But great leaders, they’re different. Great leaders have the ability to make each and every individual re-think their life decisions and choices by

“You are the new Leading Petty Officer”, a phrase uttered to me by a volunteer adult leader as a 15 year old Naval Sea Cadet following the division’s tragic loss of two petty officers, in what the media dubbed as the “Hail Mary Murder” (reference a). A year into my experience as a Sea Cadet, when the senior youth leader died at the hands of another cadet petty officer. A third senior cadet, who’s relationship was close to the other two, dropped out of the program as he couldn’t bear the trauma of coming back to the division. That left me next in the cadet chain of command. At 15 years old, this unfortunate event put me in charge of about 20 other teenagers, all reeling from the loss of our friends and youth leaders. To say nothing of the fact that getting a new role in this manner is terrible, it happened, and together we needed to help the unit recover and move on with our teenaged lives.

My idea of leadership is being able to inspire others, motivate, set a vision, communicate, respect others, and of course, lead by example. A leader must have an honest understanding of who they are, what they know, and what they are capable of. To be a successful leader, you have to be able to convince your followers, not just yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed. In my opinion, this can build confidence in their followers to have faith in you, in order to be able to lead. I strongly believe that good leaders are made rather, and not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders are developed through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and

The Sailor who embodies leadership in all ways and I try to emulate is Master Chief Logistics Specialists Diego. He is a leader and an example even when nobody is looking. He holds all his Sailors accountable, regardless of paygrade and will not do what is popular, but he does what is right. There is no one that I respect more than him in our Naval Service. His devotion to duty the Navy and to his