1. Leadership is the art of inspiring in others, a desire to perform to their highest abilities. I’ve had many influences on my personal leadership style throughout my career with began with recruit training in 1984 at RTC San Diego. The Company Commanders were both GMCs and I knew from my experience – all I wanted was to be a Chief. While in the Navy Reserves for 7 1/2 years, I had a BMC as my mentor. He was a great example of what a Chief should be to the people he was charged with supervising, developing and training. Unfortunately, after joining the CG on active duty, it was 7 years before I met a Chief who demonstrated leadership qualities that I connected with. My first unit after A and C school was a cutter. I was a 26 year old Third
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If it wasn’t for a very strong Second Class Petty Officer (former Navy 1st Class) I’m not certain I would have been successful at that unit. That Petty Officer and I formed a friendship which has lasted through today. He recently retired as one of the strongest CWO4s in my rating. My second unit had only two Chiefs. The OIC was a Master Chief and the XPO was a Chief. It wasn’t until the second XPO got to the unit when I got to see a Chief demonstrate those traits that truly make a person a leader. He demonstrated traits of fairness and firmness mixed with a genuine caring for the crew and the climate of the workplace. When I left the unit and was awarded a CGAM, the XPO had personally taken the medal to an engraver and had my name and the date engraved on the back. I knew at the time exactly how special an act of kindness he performed. I had arrived as a 3rd Class and left as a 1st Class Petty Officer. That XPO ended up being my sponsor for CCTI at the conclusion of my next cutter assignment. People who influence me the most have been people who overcome obstacles as they rise to the top. The ability to stick to it when things are not perfect is inspiring to …show more content…
I find myself drawn to the leadership behaviors in the category of “Encourage the Heart.” As I reflect on how my career has progressed and using self-reflection regarding my current practices and behaviors, it becomes apparent that I need to improve my personal commitment to this category. I’m really good at formal recognition in the form of recognizing individuals at Quarters. However, I need to improve the way I praise people for a job well done. My tendency has been to give the Chiefs a lot of one-on-one face time. According to one comment on my LPI feedback form, I don’t give enough praise. To me, this means that I have not correctly identified the needs of a couple Chiefs on my staff. Additionally, I certainly have not gotten around the classrooms enough to thank instructors on an individual level in order to personalize the way I feel about the great job they do. The fix to this is straightforward. After identifying the issue, execution of solving the problem involves med getting into the classrooms and giving sincere thanks to the instructors. Hand in hand with giving praise, my instructors need to know personally and individually about the confidence I have in their abilities to perform as consummate professionals. At every graduation I communicate this to the audience, I can understand how it may seem disingenuous if the only time they hear that from me, it’s in a public setting. An easy way to fix myself is for me to sit in the classroom and actually observe my
If it wasn’t for a very strong Second Class Petty Officer (former Navy 1st Class) I’m not certain I would have been successful at that unit. That Petty Officer and I formed a friendship which has lasted through today. He recently retired as one of the strongest CWO4s in my rating. My second unit had only two Chiefs. The OIC was a Master Chief and the XPO was a Chief. It wasn’t until the second XPO got to the unit when I got to see a Chief demonstrate those traits that truly make a person a leader. He demonstrated traits of fairness and firmness mixed with a genuine caring for the crew and the climate of the workplace. When I left the unit and was awarded a CGAM, the XPO had personally taken the medal to an engraver and had my name and the date engraved on the back. I knew at the time exactly how special an act of kindness he performed. I had arrived as a 3rd Class and left as a 1st Class Petty Officer. That XPO ended up being my sponsor for CCTI at the conclusion of my next cutter assignment. People who influence me the most have been people who overcome obstacles as they rise to the top. The ability to stick to it when things are not perfect is inspiring to …show more content…
I find myself drawn to the leadership behaviors in the category of “Encourage the Heart.” As I reflect on how my career has progressed and using self-reflection regarding my current practices and behaviors, it becomes apparent that I need to improve my personal commitment to this category. I’m really good at formal recognition in the form of recognizing individuals at Quarters. However, I need to improve the way I praise people for a job well done. My tendency has been to give the Chiefs a lot of one-on-one face time. According to one comment on my LPI feedback form, I don’t give enough praise. To me, this means that I have not correctly identified the needs of a couple Chiefs on my staff. Additionally, I certainly have not gotten around the classrooms enough to thank instructors on an individual level in order to personalize the way I feel about the great job they do. The fix to this is straightforward. After identifying the issue, execution of solving the problem involves med getting into the classrooms and giving sincere thanks to the instructors. Hand in hand with giving praise, my instructors need to know personally and individually about the confidence I have in their abilities to perform as consummate professionals. At every graduation I communicate this to the audience, I can understand how it may seem disingenuous if the only time they hear that from me, it’s in a public setting. An easy way to fix myself is for me to sit in the classroom and actually observe my