The Wisdom of the Bullfrog Ch 12

Leadership Lessons from a Navy Mid-shipman

• Author recounts summer cruise as midshipman, learning from enlisted sailors.
• Experienced significant cultural immersion and learned valuable leadership lessons.
• Initial interaction demonstrated the author's inexperience but emphasized importance of humility and respect among crew members.
• The Samoan sailor, Ricky, offered valuable insights into sailor culture and attitudes.

Keys to effective leadership

• Sharing hardships builds trust and understanding.
• Active engagement and genuine connection with subordinates is crucial for effective leadership.
• Importance of listening and valuing the insights and stories of those you lead.
• Recognizing and appreciating the stories of each sailor, their motivations, experiences, and perspectives, fosters deeper understanding.
• Leadership exemplified by engaging with troops at all levels in all types of activity, allowing shared experiences and respect to develop.

Importance of immersion

• Essential to understand and relate to sailors' experiences and perspectives; their work, difficulties, needs and their stories.
• Leadership needs to "smell like their sheep"; understand issues, challenges from the boots on the ground.
• This is not only for better decision making, but also for building respect from the team.
• Officers who are present in all aspects of the ships' work are respected and trusted by the personnel.
• Proximity with enlisted personnel is key to understanding their needs, motivations, and perspectives.

Traits of respected officers

• Officers respected by the crew were present and active in working situations, participating in the work-life cycle
• Leaders who shared experiences and hardships with their subordinates.
• Leaders who understood and valued their perspectives.
• Leaders who respected their sailors professionally, demonstrating a willingness to be engaged at every level of the operation.

Leadership in challenging environments

• Shared training experiences like BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training) fostered equal respect between officers and enlisted.
• Author's experiences in war zones underscores the importance of direct interaction with troops.
• Leadership in military and business settings emphasized the importance of leadership engagement through shared experiences.
• Effective, empathetic leaders were those who were present physically amongst personnel on all levels, from the general down to the junior personnel.