This is the first blog
of MSLD 641, Resonant Leadership – Leading Change and as usual before a class
starts the uncertainty of the course content starts a chain of events that
makes me wonder if I should have taken the class in the first place. My mind
was quickly put at ease again once the syllabus was made available for review.
This blog will share insights into the people that have helped shape my persona,
my current leadership style, and how I can help others do the same.
Father
Most people would
include their father in any conversion about who provided influence in their
development as a person, and I’m no different. My father grew up during the
Great Depression and was the youngest sibling of a family of eight siblings. Like
most families of the Great Depression Era, they struggled to keep enough food
on the table. My grandfather died when my father was eight years old and that
made things even more difficult. They managed to survive and when my father was
18 years old (1951) he joined the USAF. The military life sharpened his life
skills. He had the skills of hard knocks, but the skills the military helped
him cultivate and grow would propel him to become a successful leader in the
military, in civilian life and at home. It was in the home context where he
would shape two boys into the men they would later become, one of them following
in his military footsteps.
I joined the USAF, like my father, at age 17 as soon as a
graduated high school. But before I joined, one of the greatest attributes my
father instilled in me was that if I made a promise and had to do everything in
my power to keep it. A man who is known for breaking promises can’t be trusted
and furthermore trust and integrity go hand in hand. “Without integrity a man
is not a man” my father use to tell me.
This is a common thread in what thought leaders of that era and of today
believe about trust and integrity when it comes to leadership “Integrity is a
primary determinant of interpersonal trust. Unless one is perceived to be trustworthy,
it is difficult to retain the loyalty of followers…Values related to integrity
include honesty, loyalty, fairness, justice and altruism.” (Yukl, 2013, p.
143). When my father was instilling these values upon me, they became a part of
who I am today because I trusted him. He gave me the foundation that set me up
for the successes to follow.
Military Experience
The military’s method of
shaping young adults in to dependable and trustworthy followers and leaders
cannot be understated. Employers seek out former military people for that very
reason. The extensive training, we receive from day one of basic training all
the way through the top military leadership schools is impressive. During my 20-year
career I had many leaders who influenced who I am today and will list the ones
that standout in no particular order.
MSgt Dan Ralston
Dan was as dependable as
they come. Even keeled, supportive and willing to go the extra mile to explain
something. One of the attributes that I associate with him the most was his
ethical and spiritual leadership style. Under Dan’s leadership, there was no ‘fudging’
numbers to make things work, not even a little. Over a period of a few years we
began spending time together off-duty at fishing tournaments and we would enter
a tournament as a team. While spiritual leadership does not necessarily involve
religion (Yukl, 2013, p. 350), in this case it often did. Dan was a very spiritually
connected person and he mentored and coached me in how our world was connected
to the ‘after-life’ and what the meaning our work had in the grand scheme the
world we were living in and of the afterlife.
MSgt Bruce Brockman
One of Bruce’s golden
rules was to treat everyone fairly and he is the leader who most went out of
their way to ‘sit me down’ and coach me in a purposeful manner. His biggest
test as a leader came when one of our youngest airman was accused by local
police of having sex with a minor. This was a serious offense and the airman
was placed in jail to await trial. Instead of distancing himself from the
airman, he supported him by paying him frequent visits in jail and keeping in
touch with his family back home. He never once condemned him and he quickly
squashed anyone from gossiping about the airman’s case.
While Bruce had the
reputation of being a ‘tough’ guy, he was really the consummate servant leader.
Yukl (2013) says this about servant leadership that really describes Bruce to a
tee “Social injustice ad inequality should be opposed whenever possible. Even the
weak and marginal members of society must be treated with respect and appreciation.”
(p. 349). The charges against the airman were dropped and he returned to our
organization. Because Bruce stood up for this airman and did not pass
judgement, Bruce made returning to the organization for this airman possible. I
will never forget this servant act. From that day on I always try and remember
to give everyone the benefit of doubt.
MSgt Mike Kriley
Resonant Leader comes to
mind when I think of Mike. Mike was my production superintendent for 28
aircraft we had in our squadron. I was responsible for 26 technicians whose job
it was to repair broke aircraft and it was my job to keep Mike informed of the
progress of the repairs. Most production superintendents were cranky, crotchety,
foul minded, crusty old MSgts that you just didn’t want to bring bad news to.
Mike always had a smile on his face and he always treated everyone with respect
and dignity. He connected with me and everyone in a resonant manner. When going
to see Mike with a problem there was total relaxation that Mike would either accept
the problem and adjust, or help me figure out a good resolution. And what is
really remarkable about those experiences is that looking back upon them now I
can see how his persona of being confident, calm and welcoming definitely had
resonant qualities. I’ve just started the MSLD 641 journey, so perhaps I’m
jumping the gun when I think of Mike as a resonant leader. I really didn’t know
Mike intimately enough to know if he has all of the resonant leader qualities
that Boyatzis
& McKee (2005) list as the qualities of a resonant leader, but for some
reason he comes to the fore front of my thoughts. Probably because he did
resonant with me more deeply than all of the other past leaders have.
Life after the Military
Life after the military (post 2001) has taken me
into civilian aviation. A leader that had a profound impact on me was the then
CEO of America West Airlines, Doug Parker. He has recently become the CEO of
the largest airline in the world, American Airlines, through mergers. My
experience and observations with Doug Parker is posted on another blog, Leading System Wide Change. Doug
was a charismatic transformational leader how has had amazing success through a
bankruptcy and America West Airlines, a merger with failing US Airways, and now
another merger with American Airlines. He has the ‘it’ factor for sure and I
want to be in a transformational leadership role someday. While I was at
America West Airlines, my manager, Mark Rubin also coached me much like Bruce
Brockman, but beyond Mark, the managers that have been in my sphere of influence, for the most part, have been managers stuck behind desks with
little or no time to interact on the level that a leader should.
Summary
Up until this class
started, I would have described my leadership style as having the been
influenced the most by Bruce Brockman and Mike Kriley. In addition, this is my
9th class of the MSLD program and it would be a mistake not to
consider this program’s influence on my style, because it absolutely has. I’m
much more interactive now than ever, so if I had to describe my leadership
style the words interactive servant leader come to mind and work on
incorporating resonance is already in progress! My team is the beneficiary of
the important concepts I’ve been learning and everyone that I come into contact
with at work.
When commenting on my
effort to incorporate resonance into my style one of my followers gave me a
huge compliment “Your already as close to being Jesus! Good grief!” I quickly
changed the subject as it was a bit embarrassing, but it did make me feel good
because I know that they value my contribution to their personal and professional
lives. Then finally, today in a meeting with my team and a lead engineer we
spoke about the difference between complex and complicated in context of the
Cynefin framework (Snowden & Boone, 2007) as we move forward in planning on
how to isolate faults for future generations of aircraft. The differences
between the two are subtle, but can have a profound impact on the success of a decision.
Dave Snowden would have approved! By being interactive and sharing my
experiences with others I hope to resonant with them and make positive changes
in their methods of work and in their personal lives.
References:
Boyatzis,
R., & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant
leadership: Renewing yourself and connecting with others through mindfulness,
hope, and compassion. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Snowden,
D., & Boone, M. (2007). A Leader's Framework for Decision Making. Harvard Business Review, 85(11), 68-76.
Yukl,
G. (2013). Leadership in organizations.
Boston MA: Pearson.
