Leadership Requires No Title or Rank

Influence comes in many forms. One of those forms is making a positive impact by getting things done. Influence does not require a rank or a title.

For this story, remember that my wife, Candy, was in and out of the commanding general’s office at least weekly to get the most recent list of Marine officers and families coming aboard the base at Twentynine Palms, CA.

She would get that list of arrivals from the general’s secretary however General Glasgow came to know her and who she was as did the Chief of Staff, Colonel Bolden.

Candy personally welcomed every Marine officer’s wife and family that came aboard. She especially oriented those that were there for the first time. She introduced them to other wives that could also be of assistance. She ensured, regardless of rank, they knew where all base services were located and who to call if they needed anything.

That was how Marines and Marine families took care of each other. I presume this is still so today as it was an important part of Marine Corps culture for us.

It was now time for the big CAX or Combined Arms Exercise. Time to show what we had learned about desert warfare and using everything in the Marine Corps arsenal from Marines on the ground with rifles, to tanks, to artillery, to the helicopters and fast fliers in the air. Everything from bullets to rockets to bombs and everything in between.

All kinds of high-ranking Marine officers came to Twentynine Palms for the big show. Sometimes, these high-ranking officers were colonels that had been selected for promotion to the rank of general and were “frocked”. That means they could go ahead and wear the rank insignia for a brigadier general, a star.

I was assigned to escort and assist one of the frocked generals coming in to observe this CAX. I do not recall his name. He was staying in a guest house by the commanding general’s quarters.

My job for a couple of days was to get him from point A to point B and get him there on time for meetings, presentations, etc., plus continue to do my regular duties as battalion adjutant.

While I do not recall his name, I do recall his request late one afternoon to go to the Officers Club for a drink. He liked gin martinis, straight up, with three cocktail onions. (The things I remember!?)

The next morning after some meetings with other units as to their roles and missions in the CAX, everyone converged upon the officers’ club for lunch. It was crowded.

Sometime before being seated, my general asked me a question. I do not remember his question at all.

I do remember answering that his question was a good question and that I would ask General Glasgow’s aide who was standing very close by with General Glasgow.

I ask the question and his aide responded to me like I responded to my general in that it was a good question and that he would ask General Glasgow.

I am standing only a few feet away and can hear everything said despite the general noise of other conversations going on around us in the crowded room.

The aide asks General Glasgow my question:

Aide: “General, Lt. Norris wants to know when….?”

General Glasgow: “Who?”

Aide: “Candy’s husband.”

General Glasgow: “Oh! OK! What’s the question again?”

Shows you where I ranked in the USMC. Candy “outranked” me and I loved it!

General Glasgow looked up and acknowledged me and answered the question.

General Glasgow knew her not only because she was in his secretary's office every week but by the positive reports of people sharing their positive experience of coming on board the base in the middle of the Mojave Desert for the first time. Candy knew that one never has a second chance to make a first impression.

Candy was then and is to this day, an influencer. She makes an impact everywhere she goes in everything she does and makes a very positive impact. Leaders do not have to have a rank or a title to lead.

More people stepping up into leadership without the benefit of a rank or title that are not afraid to make a positive impact and ask bigger and better questions help any organization and move people forward. Then we all get better. We can truly solve problems at the deepest level, not just the surface symptoms.

Candy did not then, nor does she now have to have a rank or title to lead because she knows that her leadership matters.

So does yours. As the old saying goes…Lead. Follow. Or get the hell outta the way!