My Leadership Philosophy
Everyone has their own idea on what leadership is and what makes a good leader. I have been fortunate enough to have worked for several great leaders throughout my career and I can only hope to be half the leader that they are. As I strive to become an effective leader, I have had to reflect on my past experiences with both bad leaders and good leaders to figure out what leadership means to me. My definition of leadership is: the ability to inspire others to seek and affect change, show pride in their work no matter how big or small, and challenge themselves to be their personal best. Captain Benjamin Hawkins immediately comes to mind as a great leader who profoundly influenced me during my career. As a Lieutenant …show more content…
From that survey, I have found at least three leadership behaviors I want to improve.
The first behavior that I want to improve is the way I challenge people to try new and innovative ways to do their work. I need to improve this behavior because even though my managers, coworkers, and others rated me the same or higher than I rated myself in this area, my direct reports rated this behavior very low. I can’t inspire someone to excel and be their personal best if they do not feel that I challenge them to be innovative in the way they do their work. As a stakeholder in the development of our future force I need to improve this behavior by drawing suggestions from my subordinates and allowing them to try things their way even if I think that it’s not the direction we should be heading. Even though I have extensive knowledge and experience at my type of unit, if I don’t allow members to try out new ways to do work then they will never be able to have the reward of small wins and truly challenge the …show more content…
My top five personal values are family, integrity, communication, and security.
Family is very important to me. They have always been there to support me and they encourage me to follow my dreams. I have met many people in the Coast Guard who have become family to me and my kids as well who do the same. It is important to build these relationships at home and at work. As a family, we lift each other up and help each other achieve goals and dreams.
Integrity is a value that I hold just as high as family. Just knowing that someone is doing the right thing even when they are not being watched instills a trust and respect in me unparalleled by anything else. Integrity is critical in communication as well. I value communication and if someone has integrity issues, we can’t effectively communicate. I must be able to trust that people are telling me the truth. When integrity is compromised there is no trust and we cannot build or maintain the relationship that needs to exist in leading
Everyone has their own idea on what leadership is and what makes a good leader. I have been fortunate enough to have worked for several great leaders throughout my career and I can only hope to be half the leader that they are. As I strive to become an effective leader, I have had to reflect on my past experiences with both bad leaders and good leaders to figure out what leadership means to me. My definition of leadership is: the ability to inspire others to seek and affect change, show pride in their work no matter how big or small, and challenge themselves to be their personal best. Captain Benjamin Hawkins immediately comes to mind as a great leader who profoundly influenced me during my career. As a Lieutenant …show more content…
From that survey, I have found at least three leadership behaviors I want to improve.
The first behavior that I want to improve is the way I challenge people to try new and innovative ways to do their work. I need to improve this behavior because even though my managers, coworkers, and others rated me the same or higher than I rated myself in this area, my direct reports rated this behavior very low. I can’t inspire someone to excel and be their personal best if they do not feel that I challenge them to be innovative in the way they do their work. As a stakeholder in the development of our future force I need to improve this behavior by drawing suggestions from my subordinates and allowing them to try things their way even if I think that it’s not the direction we should be heading. Even though I have extensive knowledge and experience at my type of unit, if I don’t allow members to try out new ways to do work then they will never be able to have the reward of small wins and truly challenge the …show more content…
My top five personal values are family, integrity, communication, and security.
Family is very important to me. They have always been there to support me and they encourage me to follow my dreams. I have met many people in the Coast Guard who have become family to me and my kids as well who do the same. It is important to build these relationships at home and at work. As a family, we lift each other up and help each other achieve goals and dreams.
Integrity is a value that I hold just as high as family. Just knowing that someone is doing the right thing even when they are not being watched instills a trust and respect in me unparalleled by anything else. Integrity is critical in communication as well. I value communication and if someone has integrity issues, we can’t effectively communicate. I must be able to trust that people are telling me the truth. When integrity is compromised there is no trust and we cannot build or maintain the relationship that needs to exist in leading