Posted on May 24, 2014
Does rank translate directly to leadership? Can a PFC be a leader?
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Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 25
Being a leader and being in a leadership position are not necessarily the same thing. One can be a poor leader in a leadership position, and one can also be a great leader in a non-leadership position. Some people follow others because they have positional authority, while some follow others because they have referent power and influence, which is not related to the title.
Being a true leader is more about the person, and less about the title... in my opinion.
You might find it an interesting read about the theory of the "5 types of power"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(sociology)#Five_bases_of_power
Being a true leader is more about the person, and less about the title... in my opinion.
You might find it an interesting read about the theory of the "5 types of power"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(sociology)#Five_bases_of_power
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CPT (Join to see)
I wish the Army would focus on this more. The concept that everyone is a leader is a fallacy. You may make a soldier feel good by calling him a leader but in fact he is a manager that lacks the proper understanding of the position of a leader and the expectations.
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A PFC can be a leader and for that matter a PV1 can too. Being a leader is more than having a tittle, it's stepping up taking charge when needed...or doing what you are told while everyone else is complaining. A leader inspires and anyone of any rank is capable of doing just that. Rank doesn't always equal leadership, but actions certainly can!
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SFC Kevin Doody
I feel rank has less to do with leadership ability especially nowadays when we are seeing folks joining the military later in life after they have been exposed to more real life experiences and may have actually been leaders in other fields. When I got out of the Army (the first time) in 1993 I became a Police Officer in Knoxville, TN; For 7 years I was the guy going into situations and making decisions that truly impacted others lives. Not to mention walking in on suicide and murder scenes, domestic violence, rapes, DUI's etc etc.. So I KNOW I have a hell of a lot more experience dealing with extreme situations where it is imperative that decisions are made immediately based on what information you have at that moment; and can do this quite well. It is frustrating having come back into the Military to find many of our "leaders" have never had to deal with this kind of necessity and can't or won't make a decision unless they have a meeting, or a roundtable, or a townhall or, or, or... I feel our leaderships nowadays rely to much on groupthink and not enough on just plain old "make a damn decision and deal with it"... I have always said; "you can tell how screwed up a command is by the number of meetings they have" cause what that says is "nobody make an independent decision, wait and see what the group thinks" or worse it shows that the senior leadership doesn't trust its junior officers, senior NCO's or Soldiers to make ANY leadership decisions that they haven't vetted first; which is just plain wrong.
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1SG Michael Blount
SPC (Join to see) - you NEED to read SGT Tinoyan's post just above mine. First mistake is free. After that...well, you just don't want to know.
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The key to the science of leadership is mastering the art of influencing followers. Anyone can be a leader regardless of rank if they know how to influence people. I've seen great junior leaders both O & E denied opportunities due to technicalities and politics and I've seen horrible individuals make rank by only worrying about their career who couldn't lead water from the faucet to the bottom of a glass.
Case in point - a young WWI German private, in just over a decade, led the entire world to the eve of destruction simply by influencing enough followers.
Case in point - a young WWI German private, in just over a decade, led the entire world to the eve of destruction simply by influencing enough followers.
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