What's the best advice on leadership you ever received from a leader?

You learn more from bad leaders than you do from good leaders.

You are never as good as you think or as bad as others believe

Never let the sun set on an unpaid or unfed Soldier.

The best advice that was given to me was, "Take care of your people and they will take care of you," and, "Never ask them to do something that you wouldn't do yourself." Yeah, it's Old School, but it works. It worked well for me in military life and civilian life. Respect is earned; only respect for the rank is a given.

I had a old school 1sgt that told me to be a good leader you have to be a good soldier first

"Inspect what you expect". Give the young Marines a mission then follow up and check their work. If they screw it up show them how to do it right. Make sure they understand. And always lead by your own example.

I was in the Navy for about 10 years and was one drawn into a conversation by a command level master chief (CMC/E-9) who once gave me the best advice I have ever had. He told me, simply, that "a good leader struggles with you." I didn't understand what that meant until my chain of command changed. Until then the only "leaders" I had met were the "do as I say, not as I do" sort. After the turn over was complete I found myself surrounded by people who truly card about me, about my ability to be successful and obtain rank, who challenged me and supported me, and who showed me every day that I was someone worth their time and effort. That is the kind of leader I have always made the effort to be and the kind of leaders I challenge others to be.

I was wha used to be called a "fast tracking NCO" E-5 in 2 1/2 years, E-6 in 4 1/2 and E-7 list at 10. I took great pride in taking care of soldiers and have them follow me but I was under the wrong impression that I had to make a scene and yell in front of everyone to validate my "toughness" and my leadership until one day at around 2002 when I was an E-5(P), I was stationed in Bamberg Germany , I went to the thrift shop and was going through the books being sold and ran into a book called "Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell" I bought it and read it and from that point it changed my life. One of the biggest things the book said was not to belittle my soldiers or make "scenes" in front of people and instead use the principle of "Praise in public, punish in private" immediately I applied it because I kew it was my biggest issue as well as applying many of the principles in the book and quickly I noticed that my soldiers respected me more, did more for me and had my back much better than before and would follow me anywhere I asked to and I quickly learnedI was on my way to a much better career. I told you this long boring story to tell you that if you can find that book on Amazon or anywhere, get it. I will absolutely help you in all phases of your civilian and military leadership.

Always remember where you started. Lead by example, never expect those under you to do something you can't do yourself. Always listen before making assumptions. Know your job.

If I were to only allowed one piece of advice to pass on, it would be to never forget what it is like to be a lower enlisted soldier. As in, uninformed, talked down to, looked at and treated like you are incapable of accomplishing things based on the rank you wear. Remember how it feels to be you, right now, and do your best to improve the lives of those that fall into your charge when you get there. If you can make it so your soldiers actually want to put their boots on in the morning, you're doing very good. If they dread tightening the laces, you've entered a portion of leadership that you don't want to be in and is very hard to get out of.