Sacred Ground by Jeff Appelquist
Author:Jeff Appelquist
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59298-376-6
Publisher: Beaver's Pond
Published: 2011-04-25T04:00:00+00:00
Leadership Lesson Seven:
LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND BE HONEST
ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE
I had the opportunity and high honor to serve America as a Marine Corps infantry officer for three years after college. It was by far the most important developmental experience of my lifetime, but as with many growth journeys, it was painful in some ways. One of the most important lessons I took away was that as a leader, I needed to work to understand my own strengths and weaknesses. And in the end, given that understanding, the best course of action was to simply be myself.
When I entered the military I was a novice as a leader. I had been a varsity athletic captain and member of the student council in both high school and college, but I was still woefully green from a leadership perspective. All of a sudden, at age twenty-two, I was handed life and death responsibility for a Marine rifle platoon. More than forty young men looked to me as an example—or not—of what a good leader should be.
I remember struggling mightily to determine what kind of leader I would become. Should I be a nice guy? Should I be a strict disciplinarian? Should I land somewhere in between—in the realm of the “firm but fair” commander? I must admit, I didn’t have a clue. I proceeded to imitate other officers whom I admired, but in the end that did not feel comfortable nor did it work very well. Finally, after about a year’s worth of stumbling around, I arrived at an epiphany: How about just be myself?
I felt as if an enormous burden had been lifted from my shoulders. To be sure, I still made many mistakes and had a lot to learn, but things became much easier as I simply made my way being regular old me. I even arrived at a point, probably two years into my service, where when I looked into the mirror to shave every morning, I felt like a pretty good Marine officer was looking back at me. Or at least one who was doing his level best to be himself and to lead his men in the most effective way he knew how.
No leader is perfect. We all have our strengths and shortcomings. What separates good leaders from poor ones, among many other things, is the willingness to examine one’s own life and leadership in a realistic way, and to make positive changes accordingly.
We all know leaders like Dan Sickles, who learned everything they think they will ever need to know long ago. There is nothing new under the sun for them. They have little self-knowledge and refuse to assess their own strengths and weaknesses. They proceed with absolute certainty that whatever they do represents the best, truest, and most righteous path. They will work hard after the fact to distort the record in their favor. Those leaders are really a pain in the rear end. Their leadership and life, over time, become nothing but a lie.
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