Know Yourself and Seek Self-Improvement
John Griffin
My vocation is to live a life serving others. Currently, I work at DIU, Autonomy Portfolio, and the DIU Boston Office Lead.
Of the eleven leadership principles I was taught in the Marine Corps, I find this one the most aspirational. It is timeless. And in today’s day and age, it is counter-culture.
It is not a popularized top ten list. It is not a falsely empowering statement of how to lead a team. It is not idolizing the psychopathic leadership traits we see in some recent multi-billionaire technologists. No, at its core, it is a humanizing virtue.
Know yourself. And seek self-improvement.
I love the message it sends to all leaders. You can only be you. You can get better and improve, but in the end, an inspiring leader has to be authentic.
I love the message that it tells you it is okay to be humble and accept that you have imperfections. Seeking self-improvement means having the moral courage to ask for help from others. It is a sign of strength, not weakness. Where do you find the help? Most literature will tell you to find a senior mentor. I recommend asking the people you are honored to lead.
If someone on your team has a skill or talent greater than yours, I recommend you go, sit down at their desk and ask:
“Tell me, how do you. . . ?” or say,
“I really liked the work you did on Project X, how did you. . . ?”
You will be amazed at how empowering those simple little conversations can be to your team mates, the level of loyalty you will engender, and you have made an incremental change in your own body of knowledge and understanding.
And I am a big believer in the power of incremental growth. But that is a story for another time.
Know yourself. And seek self-improvement.
See through the storm and let us know if we can help.
I like your way of thinking about leadership. The leader is responsible for those under her/his wing, and rides on their shoulders. Treat them well, BE WITH them.
Tenderheart Carebear / Adaptive Leader / Teacher / Community Psychologist
5 年Well put, John. The key to authentic leadership I feel is trust. Trusting yourself and your team. If you dont have either it breaks the transparency necessary. I learned that as a young Marine seeing these principles modeled not spoken in our leadership team at 3/1. Trusting people to be specialists and learning more about how they conduct their process to continue building trust is essential. I especially liked your note on humility. It is something I lacked when I was younger. It is a key. As I have reflected on recently the saying, "what got you here, won't get you there" it reminds me no matter how talented or intelligent someone might be leadership requires constant reflection and improvement to meet your team where they are at then motivate them to improve.
Military Transition Readiness Program Supervisor (MCAS New River) | Marine | Veteran | Men’s Small Group (Ministry/Discipleship) Leader | Adjunct Professor for UNCW's CSB (Management, Leadership, and Org. Change)
5 年Great read, Sir!
Lead Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton
5 年Always well written and no extra BS - nice job John!