My Leadership Philosophy

When I hear the word leadership – My first thought is: “Just do what is required of you.” As I analyze my experiences and reflect on the situations of my career, it is not that simple. Humans are not machines, they are arguably the most complex / simple entity of known existence. I say “complex / simple” for a reason. At the molecular level, everything works in harmony and performs its individual task as designed. When you put everything together, is when the complexity emerges. Let’s breakdown a computer, there are electrical components and electrical signals. We can understand electronics; specific voltages are applied and removed in a systematic pattern through components. It is really that simple if you break it down to individual component

Early in my career, this was easy and I earned the trust of my supervisors quickly by performing at an exceptional level and attention to detail. My supervisors learned quickly that if I was given a task, it was completed on time and to higher standards then was set; often times used as a reference of quality for other members. As I advanced into a leadership, this mentality was not suitable. First, I would often perform the task personally and it would eliminate learning experiences from my junior personnel. The hardest part of leadership for me was letting go of the philosophy: “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” I could read the personality “blind spots and deltas” and try to practice what I was supposed to do, but it was unnatural and my subordinates caught onto that

I knew I worked harder than most, and my attention to detail was on a greater level, but I never had a conscious thought that I was better until one day during a mid-mark counseling session with my 1st class. He had 5 years more service than myself and I relied on him tremendously on working with the crew. He had a natural leadership persona to him and I utilized it. Much to my surprise, his mid-mark counseling ended up being my blind-spot realization. This session lasted over an hour of him explaining to me that the shop loathed me. How I was so intimidating, blunt and direct that they would often avoid me all together. We went over everything, so much that I didn’t know how to digest it. It was a wakeup call in my attempt at