Rhumb Lines & Great Circles

Navigating Your Leadership Journey

In navigation, a great circle is the shortest path between two points along the surface of a sphere. Thus, great circles always bisect the sphere. Although a great circle is the shortest path, it is difficult to navigate because the bearing continuously changes as you proceed. In contrast, a rhumb line is an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle, a path with constant bearing as measured relative to true or magnetic north. Following a rhumb line covers more distance than following a great circle, but it is far easier to navigate. In layman’s terms, the quickest way is difficult and the simple way is long. (Global Navigation is a key concept that I learned in flight school.)

Leadership is a lot like navigation. Not only is it a journey, but also there are multiple ways to reach the destination. Some people are basically handed leadership roles via nepotism, previous professional relationships, or a common experience or condition. (In the military, we refer to this concept as being “in the club” which is tantamount to the good ole boy network.)? In essence, these people shoot straight to the top, but sometimes these individuals find leadership quite difficult because they lack experience and/or technical expertise. For them, their ascension to leadership becomes a baptism by fire, a very difficult first experience of something. For others of us who are not so fortunate, we are forced to start at the bottom of an organization and work our way to the top over a period of time. But when we finally do reach the pinnacle, we have years or even decades of training and experience to draw upon. Like navigation, the quickest way is difficult and the simple way is long.

My Journey

I come from a long lineage of military men. Even as a small child, I knew that the military would be my chosen way of life. I learned many things during my service, but the one thing that I learned far more than anything was leadership, the hallmark of the American military. Military leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. (Military leadership qualities are formed in a progressive and sequential series of carefully planned training, educational, and experiential events—far more time- consuming and expansive than similar training in industry or government.). From training day one, servicemen are taught the fundamental responsibilities of a leader: accomplish the mission and welfare of troops.

Servicemen are also taught the four actions that should be taken when assuming a new leadership position:

1. Determine what is expected of your unit
2. Determine what is expected of you
3. Determine the strengths and weaknesses of your subordinates
4. Determine what other key people whose willing support is necessary to accomplish your job

And lastly, servicemen come to realize that EVERYTHING in the military is screened and evaluated. Ergo, we are taught that the four indicators of unit effectiveness are:

1. Morale: A subordinate's state of mind
2. Esprit de Corps: Pride in, enthusiasm for, and loyalty to the organization
3. Discipline: Prompt obedience to orders and initiation of action in the absence of orders
4. Proficiency: The organization’s ability to accomplish the mission

During my years of service, I realized that I had a passion for training, coaching, and mentoring people. Although I had a myriad of jobs during my career; regardless of the content area, the jobs that I most enjoyed were the ones requiring team building and strategic goal setting. As a visionary, I’m at my best when leading groups to large long-term goals. After 24 years of active duty Naval Service, I retired and made the decision to become a “career transitioner”, a person changing roles or changing orientation to the role already held. The military afforded me the opportunity to hone my leadership skills under some pretty arduous conditions at times, namely four tours in combat.

After 24 years of “practice”, I consider myself a leader. Although there is always room for improvement, I think that I’m near the end of my journey. Without question, mine was a rhumb line. I travelled a greater distance, took a little more time, but it was pretty easy to navigate. Additionally, I’ve done it for so long that leadership is now a part of my very nature. I can’t ever see me not being a leader. It’s simply what I’ve been trained to do. Also, with experience in “train the trainer”, I developed a fascination with executive coaching and mentoring, helping others to become better leaders, as a future career. Now that I’ve travelled the journey, perhaps I can show a few people the way.

Principles of Leadership

After 24 years of active duty Naval Service, I made the decision to retire. During my days in the military, leadership was the number one virtue. It was vigorously reinforced at every opportunity. In time, I came to realize that all organizational issues can be explained by two things: poor leadership and/or a lack of communication. Because of my days in the Navy, I am an absolute stickler for leadership. Organizations take on the persona of their leader. Furthermore, leaders are responsible for everything their organizations do or fail to do. When I think of the consummate corporate professional, I think of someone who is a leader.

My mantra is: People First, Mission Always. My philosophy is: “Leadership is the art of inspiring others to deliberately create a result that wouldn’t have happened otherwise." Leadership IS NOT management. Managers are focused on bottom lines, leaders focus on people. A manager does things right; a leader does the right thing.

Great leaders inspire. They maintain a hopeful attitude, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, constant criticism, and abundant opposition. People don’t follow discouraged leaders. They follow those who persist with hope. Norman Schwarzkopf, the great Iraq War general said, “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy.” There are certain key characteristics that I believe all leaders have: Integrity, technical competence, leadership by example, self-awareness, people oriented, makes new leaders, delivers the commander’s intent, as well as instills culture and values.

*Note: Norman Schwarzkopf, known popularly as "Stormin' Norman" for his notoriously explosive temper, died on December 27, 2012 in Tampa from complications from pneumonia.

Eight Compelling Principles of Leadership

1. Integrity:?A leader must not only be willing to make unpopular decisions, but must make them without pride, passion, nor prejudice. A leaders’ moral compass must always seek north. His actions should be fair, unbiased, and capable of withstanding the utmost scrutiny.
2. Technical Competence:?The only way to know a job is to do a job. A leader must be technically proficient. If a leader does not understand what his subordinates do, he cannot make good decisions.
3. Set the Example:?A leader must never expect anything of his subordinates that he is not willing or capable of doing himself. He must himself set the standard of excellence required of his group.
4. Self-awareness:?One cannot lead anything until he first learns how to lead himself. Effective leadership requires introspection. A leader must know himself and constantly seek self-improvement.
5. Take Care of People:?Mission first, people always. People are the most valuable asset of any organization. Yes, a leader must make the mission happen, but a leader is also responsible for the health and welfare of his subordinates. It is his responsibility to ensure that his subordinates work, life, and home are in balance.
6. Make New Leaders:?Success is making other people successful. A leader must groom new leadership in order to sustain the organization and develop his subordinates. A leader must ultimately prepare for the day when he is no longer a part of the organization. Leadership must not be a single point of failure.
7. Commander’s Intent:?In order to ensure the proper final result desired, a leader must have the ability to give clear instructions. Guidance must be clear, measurable, and achievable.
8. Culture and Values:?Culture and values are an organization’s celestial bearing – a constant fixture that guides in the absence of leadership. As long as a subordinate can see the North Star, they can navigate through any circumstance and land at the intended destination in the absence of guidance.

What Is Leadership?

“What is leadership?” It is seemingly a simple and innocuous question, but it continues to vex professionals, academics, public officials, and lay people alike. You can ask a thousand people to define leadership and you will get a thousand different answers. Furthermore, if you take notice, most people define leadership by what it?is not?vice what it actually?is.

In?The 360° Leader?by John C. Maxwell, he states that leaders are initiators. Even more, the number one characteristic of a leader is the ability to make things happen. I whole- heartedly agree. A leader’s job is to move out and get it done. The hardest step to take is the very first one. Initiative is the readiness to overcome the fear of the unknown. Fear is the mind killer. It is the little evil that disintegrates good men from the inside out. Overcoming that fear is the most important thing that a leader can do for an organization.

In the Nike commercial, “Failure”, Michael Jordan teaches us that the key to success is overcoming failure. In the video, he states, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.”? In the commercial, he gives statistics about the situations and the number of times that he failed during his career. For example, he missed 26 game-winning shots during his NBA career. At first glance, most would call those misses 26 failures. In contrast, I view them as 26 instances where Michael Jordan seized the initiative to take the game- winning shot because he was the leader of his team. For me, the fact that he missed is not nearly as important as the fact that he had the courage to seize the stage, taking upon himself the responsibility for the outcome, an outcome that was uncertain.

Further corroborating this, In?The Courageous Follower,?Ira Chaleff states that initiative is the “willingness to initiate action without being instructed to do so” which is a distinguishing characteristic of the courageous follower. Furthermore, courageous followers assume responsibility for events in their vicinity. Chaleff states that “it is a failure of responsibility not to act when the risks are acceptable and the purpose and values of the group would have us act.” Conversely, Chaleff also states ”it is a failure of responsibility to act when the risks are unacceptable and acting endangers the organization’s purpose or violates its values.” Micheal Jordan’s career is a great example of risk versus reward with respect to individual initiative and leadership.

*Note: Business Insider says that “Failure” was one of the Top 25 commercials that shaped Nike’s brand history.

In My Own Life

Leadership is not what I do. Leadership is who I am. Everything that I do, even in my daily activities, is seen through the prism of leadership. I’m also a proponent that great leaders are born and not made. Truly great leaders have that “it”. No one can ever say what “it” is, but you know “it” when you see “it”. I think I have “it”. And over the course of my journey, I’ve had the opportunity to hone “it”. I spent 15 months in Iraq on my last combat tour. I accomplished a lot of things while I was there, but my big accomplishment is the fact that I got every single one of my guys there and back safely. None of them ever gave up hope. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I really feel like if I could lead in combat, then I can lead anything anywhere.

As previously stated, I’m a career transitioner. In less than a year’s time, I will get the opportunity to put this all to the test at some company. I’m anxious for the challenge. The thing about combat is that you don’t know how good you really are until you get there. Leadership is the same way. Is this stuff for real? Or is it a bunch of hokus pokus? We will most certainly see in time.

To all emerging leaders, the most important advice I can give is this: Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong. In turn, you have to practice leadership. A leader understands and delivers to his organization that in order to get it right the first time, the first time can’t be the first time. Know your stuff. Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse.

#leadership #militaryveterans #navigation #failuretosuccess

Bibliography

1. Maxwell,JohnC.The360Leader:DevelopingYourInfluencefromAnywhere in the Organization. Nashville: Nelson Business, 2005. Print.

2.?"Failure".Perf.MichaelJordan.Nike,1997.Commercial.Taube,Aaron."25 Nike Ads That Shaped The Brand's History."

3. Chaleff,Ira.TheCourageousFollower:StandinguptoandforOurLeaders. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1995. Print.

4.?TheFaithofLeadershipInsightsfromHawaiisLeaders.(2014).Watermark Pub.