When it comes to your leadership abilities, who influenced how you operate/think the most? Great leaders or awful leaders?

2013-12-08T08:22:06-05:00

We all pick up bits and pieces of how to be a leader from our vast experiences and prior leadership. I personally learned how to do things right more effectively from poor leadership; in other words, I will make sure to never do the things that person is doing. How do you feel about it and who has influenced you the most over the years?

Response by SFC Rocky Gannon made Dec 8 at 2013 8:53 AM

2013-12-08T08:53:26-05:00

SSG Krebsbach I have take some from both. I had good leaders teaching me what was right and I watched soup sandwich leader to ensure I never looked like that. I think if you get a good foundation from great leaders and watch the ones that should be at Ft Living room you will be molded into a good/great leader. You can learn from both, it is how you take what you learn from them and apply it that matters.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 9:00 AM

2013-12-08T09:00:19-05:00

The same for me SSG Krebsbach. I learned portions here and there from exceptional leaders. But the poor, and even toxic leadership sadly seems to be more abundant in certain units/sections. Those same leaders were eventually removed from their responsibilities. So I could either take the path they chose, or learn from their mistakes and take the alternative route.

Response by SFC Benjamin Parsons made Dec 8 at 2013 9:52 AM

2013-12-08T09:52:44-05:00

The majority of my leaders were at least adequate. Most actually more-so and a handful, exceptional.

The bad ones usually only slightly so and surrounded by enough good people to soften the impact.

The really bad ones quickly caught the attention of their own superiors as well as their suffering subordinates, and didn't last long.

As I think on it, I realize I tended to take good leadership for granted. My vivid personal leadership memories are of the bad ones.

I think good and bad traits come in all. And I learned, or tried to learn, from all of them.

I absolutely and certainly screwed up my-own-self at least once in a while.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 10:07 AM

2013-12-08T10:07:54-05:00

I think I learned more from the bad ones just because there were more of them. They were, for the most part, good men. They were just leaders who demotivated me in every way thru hypocrisy, intimidation, and arrogance. Their disinterest in their Soldiers also did the unit no favors. I've tried to let NCOs lead, not micromanage, take care of Soldiers, stand up for them and empower their success. So when my Soldiers are learning from my mistakes, they will not be the same ones.

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Dec 8 at 2013 10:22 AM

2013-12-08T10:22:24-05:00

"All Soldiers are entitled to outstanding leadership; I will provide that leadership."

I was fortunate not to have direct awful leadership, but I saw many leaders that seemed to care more about their careers than their Soldiers (again, not my direct leadership). This made me want to help more and more Soldiers.

This was the basis for me creating ArmyReenlistment.com. I can help as many Soldiers (and their families) that want to be helped.

Response by Lt Col Luis A. Rojas made Dec 8 at 2013 10:38 AM

2013-12-08T10:38:46-05:00

I've been blessed and had mostly good leaders so I would say I learned more from my good leaders. I agree with you, the few bad leaders I've had, I have learned from them on what not to do.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 10:53 AM

2013-12-08T10:53:20-05:00

While I have never had terrible leadership, I think both have influenced me. I have certainly tried to learn from other peoples mistakes since I am unable to make them all myself :). Whether the leadership is good or bad, you can take lessons from it.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 10:56 AM

2013-12-08T10:56:49-05:00

While I have never had direct terrible leaders, I have certainly met some as well as some outstanding leaders. I think you can learn from both. No one has time to make all the mistakes themselves so should learn from others. Take the positive you see in any leader and disregard the negative.

Response by SSG Laureano Pabon made Dec 8 at 2013 11:19 AM

2013-12-08T11:19:39-05:00

SSG K. I agree with you in the comments you posted here. I however will step back before the military, before my HS and Public School days and stepping into childhood.

Two leaders come to mind and perhaps to many people as well.

My Stepfather and my mother, these were the two most important leaders I have meet. They were the ones who taught me to be the way I am today. To many people their most important people in their lives taught them to "Don't do this", with abuse and what have you. So yes its the poor leaders as I seem and spoken to many people about that these two leaders did mode them into being as they are today. Excuse me for taking this subject out of content but I found that todays leaders were all with in the same range. Some had really bad lives with there parents and some had really great lives, but leadership seemed to have started from these two people that many have forgotten to mention them. My Mother made me what I am today, by being their for my subordinate's, by being strong physically and mentally, my step father taught me to be giving, kind, understanding, patience and most of all since he was an ex marine, to be respectful to every one. When I joined the Army, these two people paved the way to allow me to make life in the military rather easy.

With in the military I found many good leaders both NCO's and commissioned Officers, there are many names and many great examples that I took for my self, but most important, they opened the doors to letting me know what kind of leader I really am.

Response by CSM Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 11:53 AM

2013-12-08T11:53:48-05:00

Unfortunately over the course of the last 18 years of service I have had more bad leaders then good. I think that was what inspired me to be a better leader and work a little harder. In today's Army where there's an abundance of inexperienced leadership, and senior leaders that don't allow junior leaders to learn from the decisions they make it makes for a very tough work environment.

Response by SGT Aja Johnson made Dec 8 at 2013 9:19 PM

2013-12-08T21:19:23-05:00

I had AWFUL leadership coming into the Army. I wasn't a great Soldier either but I wasn't getting the guidance I needed. It wasn't until my deployment that an NCO I DESPISED actually gave me a chance when he shouldn't have. He could have taken my rank and everything but he didn't. When I got back from that deployment, he and I had a great relationship, and I went to him with a lot of my questions. He wasn't even my Squad leader or team leader. My Squad leader after deployment was great, he was an awesome leader and I haven't met anyone like him.

Now at my current station, I fall under an AWESOME SFC who taught me everything I know as far as my MOS goes. I am an NCO because of him.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 10:00 PM

2013-12-08T22:00:45-05:00

Marvin Olasky (economics), Henry Landswirth (Give Kids the World - Kissimmee), Everson Walls (Dallas Cowboys-gave a kidney to teammate Ron Springs), Jean Lynch PR-WoO 25 years (mother of Ed Lynch Jr, PA Posse) Dr Frank Marcilisi (ob/gyn) charity. Dr Cockburn, Tampa. Urologist. my nephew Joel Stephens(died at 22/cancer) Played with the Orioles organization.

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Rushing career yards

Joel Stephens, Elmira Notre Dame '91-'94 (4720)

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Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2013 11:05 AM

2013-12-09T11:05:31-05:00

I would have to say both. You take the positive form the good leaders and you set a point not to do things like a bad leader.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2013 11:11 AM

2013-12-09T11:11:03-05:00

I was fortunate to be around Outstanding Section Chiefs, Platoon Sergeants and First Sergeants early in my Army career that helped me want to push myself and always seek excellence. I also had the opportunity to be around those that did not care about nobody else but themselves. But KNOWLEDGE is POWER and I'm thankful for those so called Leaders that didn't portray what the good Leaders instilled in me. I still have contact with those that I consider my MENTORS and they have helped me to become the best Leader I can hope to be. Nobody is PERFECT; but thanks to OUTSTANDING Leadership, I hope to help Soldiers that I serve with by being part of the solution and not the problem, in order to give them a better experience while they serve in our profession.

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Dec 9 at 2013 1:27 PM

2013-12-09T13:27:59-05:00

I believe that we all are the product of ALL of our leadership influences. Yes, the "not-so-good" leaders provided me with a good sense of what does not work and things that I would not do as I moved up through the ranks. "Good" leaders provided me just the opposite. They provided the lessons, knowledge and confidence to understand what was right and to always strive for that. More importantly, "good" leaders provided that mentorship and one-on-one time needed for sanity checks, or an azimuth check, or just to talk. The "good" leaders are who influenced me the most.

Response by CMC Robert Young made Dec 9 at 2013 1:31 PM

2013-12-09T13:31:33-05:00

My observation is there are three kinds of people in positions of responsibility; great leaders; people who are adequate at their jobs, and those who are poor leaders. I have experienced all three during my career with the vast majority simply being adequate at their jobs; not great, but not horrible. They didn't fall apart at the first hint of adversity or make life miserable, but likewise they didn't create any great sense of vision or accomplish great things.

With that said, what I have learned is from a balance of the other two categories. I figured out quickly that I didn't want to be like the poor leaders under whom I served. Their failures were so egregious and their negative impact so pervasive that those units simply failed to function as they should and morale suffered. But I had to have great leaders show me how to motivate those around me, and how to create the relationships needed to carry the unit towards greater successes.

Bad leaders demonstrated what not to do, and great leaders just the opposite. Everybody has served as an example (or a warning), and as a result everybody has provided some leadership education opportunity.

Response by CH (CPT) Heather Davis made Jan 7 at 2014 1:33 AM

2014-01-07T01:33:54-05:00

In my thirty years of serving I have experienced toxic leadership, hazing, and being the first female in a predominately all male setting in the early 80's. Believe it or not it made me strive harder and prepared me.

I was a screaming eagle early in my career so needless to say I was not a fast tracker. I prepared by going to every school that was offered. I emerged myself into regulation and policies on how to request an open door policy to see the CSM.

I was able to brand myself early as a no nonsense, hardworking, professional. The hardships that I endured prepared me to understand due process. Early on it was not about making rank it was about doing my job. I ensured that I was proficient at my job, and eventually I poured myself into academics due to the lack of cohesion in my units.

I look back and it was the critical painful experiences that shaped me to endure, persevere and have personal courage to be a voice for others.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 7 at 2014 1:59 PM

2014-01-07T13:59:16-05:00

I would have to say both. The great leaders influenced me by showing me what to do and the Bad showing me what I didnt want to end up like. They both had an effect on who I became as a leader and both had an equal impact.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2018 6:12 AM

2018-03-19T06:12:07-04:00

I’ve had all types of leaders. Bad,good,awful,great,ok, and all the way down to toxic. I know the difference between all of them. The most influential on me were good leaders. But surpringly most of those good leaders were junior ncos. From my time as a Soldier all the way up to this point. Yes you can learn a lot from your peer leadership and your senior leadership. I don’t forget to learn from sergeant e-5s yet most of the time I’m mentoring them or developing them. I am noticing that the more up the ranks i go I notice a lot more people out for themselves as it pertains to next rank and position and could give a crap about the Soldiers. I know the importance of balance which is why I’ve decided to take on servent leadership as my style of leadership. I’ve made it to where I can make 6 figures on the outside. I stay to serve the Soldiers and Comrades in arms. I’d like to make sfc of course but what’s more important to me is service to the Soldiers. Servent leadership dictates that if it comes down to choosing a promotion or doing right by the Soldiers and mission I’ll take the second one. They’re supposed to go hand in hand but I’m just making an example. If it means making sfc at 17 years or w.e that’s fine. I don’t strive for power and don’t have any aspirations of becoming a SGM. I strive for when my time is up I can look myself in the mirror and say the way I served I wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. Don’t mistake servent leadership for would you like more cream in that coffee? I give Soldiers at all levels what they need not what they want. You counsel subordinates and advise superiors. They go hand in hand. It’s what everybody needs. It’s actually the slickest nco trick I’ve learned from a mentor of mine. It’s how you can hold superiors accountable and protect yourself. Leaders will make their decisions regardless if they follow your recommendation or not. I’ve seen some of my leaders get in huge trouble when they didn’t listen to what I was saying. 15-6 investigations, leaving with bad Evals, leaving the army and all. You just gotta take care of the Soldiers. And don’t believe the adage take care of your Soldiers and they will take care of you. The saying implies your doing it because you expect them to take care of you which I don’t agree with. Their “entitled” to outstanding leadership. They don’t have to give anything in return for my service for them. But if they show up and stop working I’ll put my boot in their ass don’t worry =]. Off my podium I go.