How do you turn the lights off on a "spotlight ranger"?

I like these types. They can be very entertaining. There are few ways to deal with them. It really depends on the severity of the issue. One way is putting them in charge of details that will draw little recognition but will draw attention if they don't do it right. In this case they will often fail to see the significance of such work and perform the task poorly. When they do show it will reflect on them.

The ones that are issues are the ones that are really good at everything they do and they know it. They seek out everything they can just to show you that they can do it best. Some of them just may been a throat punch. But putting them in situations where they have to work with peers and will be judged by peers may help that.

MSG (Join to see) first of all, are you over this NCO? I was going to go into a long explanation of what you could and couldn't do, but I didn't want to bore you with all that!

If you aren't over him in rank, that doesn't matter.

I always like to comfront them head on and ask them what they are up to and if they think that their behavior is conducive to the team, platoon, or section! Shine that light directly in their eyes and blind away their "shining spotlight ranger" syndrome!

In the end, your peers will start to see right through this "ranger"! These rangers never last in the "spotlight!" It will burn out eventually.

So you have someone who only performs when the spotlight is on them. Probably the greatest being spit & polished, quoting rules & regs, doing everything they can to get noticed and not one bit more. They seem the perfect soldier, but are as worthless as a wino at a wedding.

Which leads to not being a team player and of course not looking at the bigger picture of things. It 's not about them, it's about the person to the left or right of them, the needs of the organization, the co, the platoon, the squad etc.

Other's may see this as a negative. It leads to the belief this individual isn't going to be there when things get tough. "Inauthenticity has consequences; although attempt to manage the impressions of others may be productive in the short term, the long term impact to the leader's power and influence are disastrous." - Maj David Crandall

You will soon discover when faced with stress, crises or other moments of sheer chaos, many will find their leadership ability questionable, their ability to influence others diminished and the backlash further amplified because others feel duped by this leader and see this leader lacking morals and virtues. This is the difference of being an authentic leader from a pseudo-authentic leader.

Challenge them, give them levels of responsibility to perform to tasks outside their comfort zone, counsel them on your expectations and hold them accountable. Task them with duties they are not likely to expect. Every NCO/Soldier I knew had strengths & weaknesses, so highlight one of those weaknesses when assigning them tasks/duties.


Let me share this video, I felt it pertinent to this discussion: https://vimeo.com/108946036