Most of the Cowardly Leadership posts discuss various traits and commonalities that cowards who are in positions of authority possess. We have talked about abdication of their duties, being right simply because they are in power, inability to tell the truth, refusal to speak truth to power, and many others.
Managing Through Power
Many of you know I am a retired Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. I was fortunate enough to read an article recently by Commander Kevin Duffy, USCG, in the United States Naval Institutes Proceedings, entitled Character Has Real Consequence
Commander Duffy relates a time when he was an Ensign (the Coast Guard and Navy’s initial officer rank, in other words, he was really new at being an officer and really new at about any job he was assigned, just like every Ensign on every ship at every point in the history of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard). The Commanding Officer was a gruff, direct man. Duffy was Officer of the Deck- OOD- which means, in basic terms, being in charge of the deck of the ship. They were in port, so part of the OOD’s responsibility is being responsible for visitors coming aboard and leaving the ship. The Captain was showing some visitors around, and as Duffy relates, he said:
“Why don’t you stop wasting time,” he asked, “and see if you can actually find some real work to do?” This type of over-the-top, public mistreatment of his junior officers was typical of this man, and I was unfazed by it. “Yes, sir,” I responded, as the captain began walking away with his visitors—presumably a very distinguished group if the commanding officer himself was escorting them. One of the civilians lingered and approached me as I turned to leave. He smiled and extended his hand, which I shook. “Now you know how not to treat people when you get there,” he said.
Decency
Cowardly Leadership focuses on the negative traits pretend leaders possess. Unfortunately, we can overlook one of the most important attributes that Real Leaders almost universally possess: They are decent human beings. Real Leaders look out for their employees’ welfare. They care about what is going on in the lives of their colleagues, and they practice them with respect. Simple stuff.
The most important quote in Commander Duffy’s article was:
“I learned more about leadership from a stranger whom I encountered for only a few seconds than I did from my first commanding officer, with whom I served a full year.”
What separated the two men, of course, was decency. One gained satisfaction from trying to humiliate a young officer in front of others; the other saw that officer as someone worth encouraging through a bad situation.
What Real Leaders Do
Cowardly Leaders supervise from a position of power. They look for opportunities to remind their subordinates (as if the subordinates didn’t already know) that they are in charge. You can read more about that here- I call it Facade Leadership.
Real Leaders look for opportunities to mentor. They enjoy helping the people they supervise, or command. They realize that the true mark of a Real Leader, more than any other characteristic, is how well they can develop the people they supervise. In other words, Are You Good Enough to Train Someone to Replace Yourself?
That requires not just being an excellent teacher, trainer, communicator, and expert at your job. It also means being self-confident. By developing and training subordinates, the organization becomes better, and by osmosis, the Leader’s job becomes easier.
Only decent human beings, and Leaders, can make it happen.
III-7
