What is your leadership philosophy? What are some examples of your leadership philosophy in action?

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 May 2016 16:52:24 -0400

Think in 4 dimensions: How will your decisions impact your superiors, peers, subordinates, and successor.

If you cannot change the people, change the people.

Own failure and share success. (Teams succeed, leaders lose)

Demand best effort, not maximum effort. (Maximum effort cannot be sustained without trade offs)

Hold true to your own values and the organizations values. (they may differ but as a leader you must deal with both)

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2016 5:13 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 May 2016 17:13:21 -0400

I start with leading by example, staying humble, sharing knowledge, and always seeking valuable input and info.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2016 5:25 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 May 2016 17:25:01 -0400

Remember that having higher rank does not make you better than your subordinates.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2016 5:50 PM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 May 2016 17:50:57 -0400

Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member A good leader is a mentor that trains his subordinates for success.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2016 8:04 PM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 May 2016 20:04:35 -0400

You have to be trustworthy, fair, genuinley care for those below you, empower them and show them you will do what you are asking of them. Lower enlisted get some real shitty jobs. It comes with the rank, but if they think they are doing it bc you are avoiding it yourself, you'll never get their respect which means you'll never get the most out of them. If you dont empower them, you cant teach them how to be a leader and they wont ever feel like they matter
I needed a ditch cleaned the other day. Its about a foot deep, barely shoulder width and covered by a steel grate thats a real pain to move. So the best bet is to low crawl with a broom head and push the dust and trash ahead to the next open grate as you crawl. I explained the process then did the first 20 or 30 feet (of about 200 feet) myself while my lcpl watched. Then i put him in charge of the project and told him he could use all the help he could get as long as it got done in a week

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made May 7 at 2016 8:29 PM

CPT Joseph K Murdock — Sat, 07 May 2016 20:29:03 -0400

The Army Values are a given, but I wanted to help the soldiers professionally or personally. I wanted us to break bread together, run with the runners on the APFT, and mentorship was big. If you care about caring for the soldiers but can't show it, maybe one needs to try harder like helicopter rides and BBQs after SGT's time. Have fun!

Response by CPO Amb. Terry Earthwind Nichols made May 7 at 2016 9:22 PM

CPO Amb. Terry Earthwind Nichols — Sat, 07 May 2016 21:22:49 -0400

Unquestionable ethics of the leader. Know the regs better than any in your unit and know to be human when needed. I DID NOT say political - I said human. Make you bosses geniuses and teach you people how to do the same. EVERYBODY get promoted and out of the way. You read between the lines.

Response by Cpl Rc Layne made May 7 at 2016 9:44 PM

Cpl Rc Layne — Sat, 07 May 2016 21:44:27 -0400

As Sunday Tzu said, "Treat your soldiers as your children and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Treat them as your own beloved sons and they will follow you unto death." I read after my time in Corps, when I was young and dumb. I applied it as an emergency response team leader in the prison I worked at. I received some high compliments from some senior enlisted military personnel on their teamwork and esprit de corps.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2016 10:13 PM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 May 2016 22:13:22 -0400

Give subordinates a chance to succeed. Teach them how to accomplish the task at hand and make the call to give them a chance to do it themselves. If their ability comes under scrutiny, own it by affirming you believe in their ability to accomplish the task (and therefore your ability to lead them). Recognise their success through praise, and their shortcomings through Motivation.

Response by MSG Scott McBride made May 8 at 2016 12:35 AM

MSG Scott McBride — Sun, 08 May 2016 00:35:50 -0400

Leadership is an art. Some have it immediately, some have to work towards it and some couldnt lead their way out of wet toilet paper. in my 21 years of service, 17 of those years as an NCO, i have used all 5 styles: (Direct, indirect, participative, transformational and transactional) I found that using a participative style worked in many cases. Troopers felt they had "buy in" to decisions - when appropriate - to execute certain tasks. Feeling that their opinion mattered was motivational and most certainly invoked thinking and instilled team work and pride. I was proud have successfully lead so many, I certainly had some leadership blunders along the way, but you wipe the dust off and continue to lead from the front. It is paramount that leaders train, coach, and mentor those leaders of the future. Those who desire, will succeed and you are the catalyst of that success.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2016 3:58 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 May 2016 03:58:56 -0400

Be the leader that you would follow into Hell, and be the follower that any leader would want beside them when they go.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made May 8 at 2016 8:20 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Sun, 08 May 2016 20:20:19 -0400

Reluctant, Very Reluctant that would be my style but being 6'4" when stuff goes South, People look at the Tall Guy and assume he knows something more than they do and I improvise like hell.

Response by CPL Ricky Vasquez made May 9 at 2016 12:33 AM

CPL Ricky Vasquez — Mon, 09 May 2016 00:33:39 -0400

Lead by example.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2016 8:05 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 May 2016 08:05:46 -0400

Take care of your Soldiers and they'll take care of the mission. Empower them by providing purpose, direction and motivation. Tell them what needs to be done and leave the "how" to them and they'll surprise you every time with all they can accomplish!

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2016 9:21 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 May 2016 09:21:54 -0400

Never delegate something because you can't/won't do it.
Be consistent...think about your policy in depth, then commit to it.
Mission first-regs second.
Make your people accountable to you...be accountable to your superiors for your people.
Listen.
Nothing is "unimportant"...always be planning.
Earn respect before demanding discipline.
Value individuals but foster a sense of unity in the team.
ALWAYS be the first one to show up...the last to leave.
NEVER eat or sleep until your people have been seen to.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2016 9:35 AM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 May 2016 09:35:57 -0400

This is too narrow of a forum to discuss this topic in the necessary detail. A leadership philosophy must enable leader development. Leader development requires a detailed plan. What are your requirements for leaders, what do you expect them to become and how are you going to enable that process? Step one is defining what you expect from yourself and other leaders. A good place to start is your service requirements or definitions. The Army has a Leader Development Strategy which defines multiple required characteristics. From there, you have to take "bumper stickers," like the ones you have above and turn them into something a little more concrete. "Hold true to your own values and the organizations values." That can be contradictory. Did you mean it to be? Have you identified your own values and made your subordinated identify theirs? If you have not, you have immediately set your organization up for failure. You have set a goal that cannot be achieved and if it can, may result in someone doing the wrong thing for the right reasons...every time. The Army says it's values are "LDRSHIP:" Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. As a Squadron Commander, every Friday I held a new-comers' orientation. I asked them what the most valuable thing in their life was. Invariably, everyone said Family. There is no "F" in LDRSHIP. Thus, you immediately have a conflict. Everyone says that the most important thing in their life is Family. Not Loyalty. Not Selfless Service. My argument was that an organization can't have values. An organization has ethics. If you violate those ethics, you get punished. Reconcile your values with the ethics and understand the differences and where you will chose to slide the scale between them. Without this knowledge, you are acting on impulse...which is dangerous. Expand the bumper stickers with concrete examples of how these things present themselves on a daily basis to provide someone with the ability to understand them better. I asked that my leaders be comfortable in ambiguous situations. That's a requirement. I didn't leave it at that though. I gave concrete examples of how you see that characteristic play out in military business. I then set up training which would provide ambiguous situations, leaving gaps in information and training and then assessing how the leaders performed during these actions. Identify, define, design, train, assess. I created my entire training plan for 2 years based around leader development using my philosophy. Nested it with the Army, FORSCOM, Corps and Division leader development and training plans. We wrote entire orders about how this would happen. Once again, too narrow here for anything but bumper stickers and platitudes.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 15 at 2020 7:00 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 19:00:25 -0400

Always improve your foxhole. This is more than just in the literal sense (add more camouflage). Your "foxhole" can be your office, your team room, your unit, your readiness, your training, your PT, your skills, your education, and ESPECIALLY those who you lead. Make them better every day. Learn something new. Get stronger. Instill your knowledge and experience in those who follow you and those who lead you. Come up with solutions. Find a way do something better, faster, with less resources. Improve your foxhole.