Coast Guard Core Values

According to the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Standing Order Two, leaders are inspired, dedicated, approachable, responsive, and connected to the needs and future of our workforce. The Encarta dictionary defines leadership as the ability to guide, direct, or influence people. My definition of leadership is a combination of these two references—leaders should be able to motivate others to accomplish a goal or mission. In order to do this, leaders need to be involved in their people’s work and personal life, and realize how to correlate their personnel’s goals with the mission’s goals. Some people require minimal leader involvement, while other people require their leader to get more personally involved to show them the way.

Some leadership influences throughout my career were experienced at an early age with my father,

Loyalty is a sense of belonging and can be expressed in our Coast Guard Core Values of: Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. When you belong to something or show affinity to a person, place, or thing, it resonates with me to be loyal. Dependability is the two-way trust that is earned between people and within the organization. People and the unit need to be able to count on you, and that your word is your bond. Competence is the technical knowledge or subject matter expert experience or training that you exhibit to others. Our organization needs capable people to lead the way for others to follow; it instills the confidence that others have in you. Effectiveness is your ability to produce favorable results. As leaders, we need to be successful in how we influence people in order to create a desired outcome. Quality is a standard or characteristic we enforce. As a primary quality assurance inspector, it’s my job to ensure that all the work is completed with no defects or flaws against a written instruction or