Personal Leadership Philosophy

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Good morning Master Chief Marlatt and Senior Enlisted Leadership Class 66. My leadership philosophy has been heavily influenced by my career as a Surfman and some of the people I have served with. First, what is a good leader? Many of my peers would say a person who is a good lifeboat driver. Does that person have the guys to cross a rough bar at night? Those are things that I think a lot of Surfmen would say a good leader is.

I would differ with that. Those are characteristics of a leader, things we want a leader to do. My definition of a leader is a person who can form a group, unite a team and then lead them towards a goal no matter how unpopular, uncomfortable or unpleasant that task is. Leadership and leaders are not always positive. Some of my biggest influences came from people who showed me how not to act and how not to be. My first Officer in Charge(OIC) was a fantastic boat driver who taught me a lot about driving a lifeboat in heavy weather. He also had an incredibly bad temper and was a …show more content…

My values were mainly instilled in me by my parents. They insisted on honesty and integrity above all else. Following that was respect. My father taught me that unless I treated others with respect they would not do the same for me. I was lucky enough to attend a speech given by James H. Webb to a group of Naval Academy midshipmen. In addition to his thoughts on risk taking and courage he said something that I will never forget. He told those midshipman that they needed to put integrity and moral courage above all else, including their career. If faced with compromising their integrity or lacking the mental courage to do what is right even though it is the difficult decision, he said that that person should vote with their feet and leave the service. That stuck with me all these years and will till the day I

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