This one’s dedicated to all my new NCOs (CPL or SGT) and SNCOs who still are not sure how to lead. To start off we will be diving into how being “buddy buddy” and having a lack of confidence can have a poor impact on your leadership style. I’m not here to tell you that once you get promoted that means you can no longer be friends with the “Undergrounds” because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. All I’m saying is, take a shot if you know this one, that there is a time and place for these events to take place. Try being that leader you wished you had when you were a young Boot.
Throughout the years I’ve witnessed a lot of leadership styles that were not the best example to follow, however we do our best to pick and choose the traits we want from the leaders we respect to build our own style. My style for example, I’m an asshole among assholes but I’m also passionate, understanding, and relatable. I tell my guys the same thing my Cpl told me when I was in their place. “I don’t care if you hate me or love me, I’m not here for a popularity contest. I’m here to make you a better Marine.” (Cpl Moreno, now SSgt) a miniature hip-pocket class given to me after I told him how he was one of my favorite NCOs. This was one of the things I took to heart as I led my own group of Marines when my time came.
As Leaders we tend to back down from what is right usually because of peers, former peers who are friends but especially, lack of confidence in ourselves. We care too much about our image of being the “cool” guy/gal that we ignore everything that is right, endorse all that is wrong and continuously cheat our Marines out of their full potential. “Potential means what you can be, not what you are.” (1st Sgt Long, now SajMaj) words from a man, with a master’s degree, chose to stay in to create a better environment within the Marine Corps. It takes one good Leader to make a difference, you don’t have to impact all of them, one person is still a difference. Leaders don’t get promoted to be respected (that’s a childish reason to get promoted) but, because we are respected for our leadership skills is why we get promoted. (The right way)
A lot of us have gone through toxic leadership or just having leadership that don’t care however, many of us were fortunate to have at least one who cared and paved a path for us to follow. At the time, I learned that even though I can’t have the same exact leadership styles as everyone I respected, I can at least have my own with a part of each of them mixed into it. As young Lance Corporal Yut, all I ever dreamed of was to finally get out of the Military. I had no plans to get promoted whatsoever until 1st Sgt Long at the time decided to give my potential a chance. Instead of wishing I had better Leaders I was given an opportunity to become the Leader I was wishing I would’ve had and believe me, I did. I never, like most, wanted any of my subordinates to go through the toxic and garbage leadership a lot of us had to endure.
In conclusion, as a Leader you shouldn’t care about being that cool guy/gal nor am I implying that you should be that Leader who rules with an Iron Fist (i.e. “Do 100 MCI’s by tomorrow or else.”), but you should at the least be that Leader you wished you had. I promise, the good ones will respect you more for being someone they can emulate (for my ASVAB waivers, this means to “look up to someone”) versus someone they can do shots with. It’s cool to still be homies with the Underground as long as both parties respect the boundaries between work and play. At the end of the day whether you got promoted yesterday, last year, or you’re getting promoted tomorrow, as Leaders, we owe it to our subordinates to help them live up to all their potential. Thank you for reading and feel free to leave comments, complaints, moans, groans or anything else you got.
