Personal Narrative: The Five Levels Of Leadership

As leaders, we must maintain a clear separation between ourselves and those we lead, both, on and off duty. I’m not saying that you and I are better than anyone else; however, as leaders we are charged with tremendous responsibilities and are held to higher standards. To put in bluntly, “we cannot lead soldiers and act like the soldiers”. Do not be a soldier’s buddy! We cannot get away with the indiscretions that out soldiers may because we must lead by example.

Independent of the Army and country you serve, leadership is always an important subject. There are many civilian books and military manuals talking about leadership. The United States Army divides the subject leadership in three levels. These levels are Direct Leadership, Organizational Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In this paper, the focus will be only about the first two levels. According with you rank, you will work more in one of these levels. Because of that, most part of time there is not much interaction between higher-level leaders and lower level leaders. Despite the limited interaction between higher level leaders like Brigade commanders with the lower level leader like company commander it’s not affect a satisfactory mission accomplishment.

The military is comprised of leaders and followers: this concept of leadership is the foundation of the military, leaders are the decision makers, and followers carry out their decisions. These decision makers are the role models the followers have a great deal of respect for and should admire. A good leader is decisive, has integrity, and leads by example. Being entrusted to lead, to mold the individuals around you into a cohesive unit is a special opportunity and only a few in respects to the total population are commissioned. General Colin L. Powell stated, “The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will

At the end of the day, a true leader “in the army will do these three things live by the army core values, know the warrior ethos, and lead by example”-MSI textbook. Leaders both in and out of the army are held to a higher standard holding themselves in a professional manner at all times. The success of the group is attributed to the leadership styles and core values instilled in the solider to do his job effectively. General Eisenhower once

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

Being any type of leader is never easy. The job comes with endless responsibilities including, but not limited to, taking care of your subordinates, getting the job accomplished, maintaining unit cohesion, all while keeping your superior leadership happy. Because of these reasons, we find both good and bad leaders everywhere. While Simon Sinek’s book Leaders Eat Last is not completely centered on the military, everything he says about leadership all relates directly to something in the Army Leadership Requirements Model.

In order to be an effective leader, you have to be able to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. You have to be able to lead by example and never require a Soldier to attempt any task you would not do yourself. You have to possess traits that you would like to see in others; such as, respect, discipline, honesty, commitment, trust, and understanding. I try to carry out my responsibilities by always placing my Soldiers needs above my own. I not only take care of my Soldiers administratively, but I discipline and reward when applicable. I am sensitive to the needs of my Soldiers as well as that of their families. Families play a vital role in the success of the mission. If a Soldier is not happy at home then he/she will not be able to focus and train to standard in garrison or the battlefield. I provide support systems and resources to all Soldiers who feel that they may need some extra assistance, or even a listening ear. The Army has many protocols in place to assist Soldiers when in need. I work relentlessly to ensure that Soldiers are well developed, effectively trained, and properly

Leadership can be defined in many different ways. In the military leadership is one of the most important traits used by noncommissioned officers, officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel. The Army relies on Non-Commission Officers to be able to prepare, and perform no matter what the situation is. NCOs are the backbone of the army and in order to be able to lead we must be able to gain trust, loyalty, communication, and personal courage.

Leadership is showing loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity,and personal courage. For example Dr. Martin Luther king jr is all of these things. He had a direction for the people he wanted to make a change with. Honor could be an important factor in leadership. Showing honor to the people ahead of you or ranks above you. You also need to have respect for the ranks above or below you. When you're a leader respect is what you expect to get out of your troops. You also need to realize that you need to show respect as well. More cadets will appreciate you giving them the same respect they give you. Loyalty as well is important, your team depends on you to lead them. If your loyalty is not with them then chances are they will

When I was in basic training we were taught that you must respect all ranks, especially those that outrank you. While advancing in the Army I saw that it all the depended on the person that wore the rank. Some Sergeants did not know where to draw the line when it came to being a leader or a friend to Soldiers. As I saw this I had to learn from those Non Commissioned Officers both right and wrong, this shaped the way I would become as leader, as a Sergeant, and beyond. My leadership style has changed from rank to rank, increased responsibility and by Non Commissioned Officers that have influenced my leadership style for the better.

Leadership is crucial part of today’s army and leaders play a huge role in the accomplishment of the mission. I believe this is true, because leaders are the guys who are in close contact with the younger soldiers. They are the ones who counsel the soldiers and make them better and make a plan for that soldier to improve and become a better soldier. Leaders play a major role in the accomplishment of the mission, because officers and higher leaders cannot be everywhere at once, so they need a person they can trust to lead the charge and tackle the mission the right way

Small squadrons have limited personnel and this means that they are normally going to come to the ranking member with their issues. Taking on these roles made me reassess how I was passing down my commanders objectives and how I wanted those objectives to be completed. The “Leader Influence” chapter identifies this under the five areas essential for personal and professional leadership development as self-awareness. As a leader it is my job to ensure that I am supporting my leaders decisions while passing the information down the chain and also being a good follower and understanding my leaders intent prior to passing the

One of the critical components that I believe differentiates the Military Leadership theory from other models is the subordinate’s understanding and agreement to their specific role within the model which is key to it’s success. For example, within the military it is understood that being a subordinate implies supporting the chain of command and making sure that the team supports the larger organization and it’s purpose[5]. This is critical to the model’s success. This is not to say that there is no communication or feedback from the field level personnel back up the chain of command however, implied orders received from a Direct leader is viewed the same as if it came from The President of the United States himself. Within that single piece of understanding, each subordinate (regardless of rank) sees himself or herself as a leader and is bound by all of the previously discussed leadership requirements.

Soldiers interact with leaders daily, regardless of that leader’s rank. They find the leader they like and teach themselves to act the same way. This method has its ups and downs, however, as some Soldiers can tend to become lazy rather easily. They see the non commissioned officer that lets them relax and do little work, and decide that’s the leader they want to serve versus the leader that requires them to stay vigilant and active 24/7.

Your key challenge in a leadership position is taking care of the Soldiers entrusted to your care. Soldiers are our nation’s most important military asset. The Leader who sends the message that Soldiers don’t really matter will generally not be as successful in the long-run as the Leader who is genuinely serious about taking care of his/her Soldiers.