On Leadership, September 2013

Here I am as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marines shortly before my 8 1/2 year mark. Sergeant is the second noncommissioned officer rank in the Marines and signifies a position of leadership and authority among Marines.

There are a lot of views floating around out there about leadership. Some of them are correct views, and some seem to be a little misguided. The Marine Corps has volumes of literature about its official views on leadership and part of my beliefs about leadership come from my time in the U.S. Marines. My views have also been shaped by my Christian beliefs, education and experience. Here, I will make a list of some of the top traits I think a good leader should have:

1. To Be Able to Predict the Future

No, I'm not talking about dabbling in the occult. What I'm speaking about is a leader's ability to forecast what will happen if he or she deploys their manpower and/or resources in a certain manner. In other words, if I do A & B; then C will occur. If I offer a retention bonus and longevity pay to my software engineers, it will prevent them from jumping ship to Technosoft when it starts offering stock options to engineers in December. If I motivate my Marines by offering opportunities to advance their careers, they will enthusiastically work 14 hour days for me to complete the mission. In order to be able to predict the future as a leader, you must know the capabilities of both the resources at your disposal and the personnel who follow you.

2. Caring About the Well-being of Subordinates

If you sincerely care about your employees, they will care about doing a good job for you. It may not mean a lot to the leader that a lead worker's son has a baseball championship game during a heavy workday, but since it means a lot to the lead worker, the manager [leader] should care about letting the lead worker have that day off. It might require some sacrifice, but it might be better for the company in the long-run  if that lead worker gets the day off to see his son's baseball team win the championship. I espouse the view, to a certain extent, that a leader is a servant. The leader should ask themselves "How can I make the job easier/more rewarding/less stressful for my personnel?" An effective leader should have a symbiotic relationship with their subordinates: they take care of their subordinates and their subordinates take care of them. An exceptionally skilled leader will foster a feeling of the unit/corporation being a family where everyone takes care of one another in a concerted effort to accomplish them mission in a way that everyone benefits.

3. Lead by Example, Lead From the Front!

"Don't ask your subordinates to do anything you wouldn't do" seems to be one of the pillars of being a leader. Personnel tend to get fed up with a leader who doesn't want to share in the sacrifices, but who still wants to reap all of the reward. If you want your workers to put in a long, exhausting shift, it would be in your best interest to be working right alongside them for the duration of the shift. Show some zeal and enthusiasm while rolling up your sleeves and working with the persons under your employ. Don't cast the stereotype of the fat cat executive with a putting green in their corner office who leaves work early and lets their employees shoulder the load. If you ask your employees to take a cut in pay, you better be taking the biggest cut. In a military unit, if you want your troops to be in top physical condition, you should be one of the top performers and leading runs from the front. As a Corporal in Iraq, I was put in charge of leading several Marines in cleaning the head (restroom) in one of the wings of the barracks. When we were in there working, I was in there with the Marines scrubbing the urinals and directing what needed to be cleaned and in which order. It seemed like I got more respect for doing that, rather than just standing there with my arms crossed barking out orders.

4. Be Motivated and Stay Positive

"Well, you guys have been doing a terrible job and we're at the bottom of every product review and we'll probably stay there unless you guys magically become better employees," is something that a lousy leader would say to their employees. Instead at the monthly all employee meeting, the leader should say something like this: "The reviews are out and we have a lot of opportunity for improvement. I know you guys are capable of getting us to #1, and this is my plan to get us there: ....
Don't air your dirty laundry to your employees; don't ask them to take on your burdens. Save that for a close friend, consultant or mentor. In front of your employees, you want to be the guy or gal with the plan who has boundless energy and enthusiasm to confidently and surely lead the company to a better place. Be positive about the direction the company is headed and motivated to make it even better. Invite your employees to take ownership of your company's mission and create an understanding that the fates of them and the company are entwined: if the company does well, then they do well also.

5. Magnify Praise, Minimize the Negative

When a subordinate or group of subordinates do well, make sure every employee in the corporation knows about it. Announce it at the all employee meeting and be specific as to why those particular employees are being praised/rewarded. [It will give the other employees and employee sections to know what to aspire to]. If feasible, give the employee and their department a bonus, some time off, a discount coupon or fancy certificate; something to show your (and the company's) gratitude for a job well done. This tends to spur employees in the direction of further accomplishment and endearing the company (and you) to the employees.
Make expectations clear and if an employee is failing to maintain minimum standards, pull them aside and gently set them in the right direction. This is the wrong way to set the employee in the right direction: "%$#@! Shari, you can't seem to do anything right! You better learn how to do the accounting for the inventory profits and do it real quick before your butt gets canned!" Instead the leader might want to try something like this to correct an employee: "Shari, I appreciate the effort you put in on a daily basis. You wanna know how you can shine even more? Ask Tom to help you with the inventory profit software. He's an expert at it and I'm sure you'll be one in no time at all under his tutelage."
In the first, incorrect example, the leader had nothing good to say to the employee. In fact, it was completely negative. Instead of hearing anything constructive, the employee probably just heard "I don't like you, you're a worthless piece of garbage. I don't want you to work here." In the second example, the leader affirms the employee by telling her how much he appreciates her and that they have confidence she can do even better. That's true leadership.

Thanks for tuning in to this article on leadership.

Me in late 2005 as the MAG-16 Assistant Duty Noncommissioned Officer, Corporal, USMC