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Military Requirements for Petty Officers Third and Second Class | Next
LEADERSHIP CONTINUUM |
CHAPTER 1
LEADERSHIP, SUPERVISION, AND TRAINING
Basically the world has three types of people:
those who make things happen, those who watch
things happen, and those who don’t know what’s
happening. Today’s petty officer must work diligently
to stay away from the last group and should direct all
energy toward the first two groups. As a leader, you
must look and listen to what is happening within your
work environment; then, at the right time, you must
make things happen.
The purpose of this chapter is to help you build a
base for self-development. Thus, you can use this
information in building your own leadership style. The
first section of this chapter tells you about the basics of
leadership. The second section explains the
relationship between leadership and human behavior.
Why is this chapter so important? Because the
Navy needs professional leaders who have high
standards, who are highly skilled in their roles, and
who are willing to study and learn to achieve their full
potential. Being a Navy leader has always been a
tough, demanding, but rewarding job because of the
high standards and responsibilities involved. The
challenges facing today’s leader are greater than ever
before.
FUNDAMENTALS OF LEADERSHIP
Learning Objectives: Identify the fundamentals of
leadership. Recall the Navy’s policy to provide leader
development opportunities and training. Recognize the
relationships between leadership and people.
We need men and women who by their
personal integrity, their sense of moral
purpose, and their acceptance of the
requirement for hard work will exemplify the
best in the leadership traditions of the Navy and
of our country.
—Admiral Arleigh A. Burke (USN RET)
(Former Chief of Naval Operations,
1955-1961)
Fundamentals of leadership is another term for
basic principles of leadership. These terms are used
interchangeably in many books. They boil down to the
art by which a leader influences people to work toward
a specific goal. The art of influencing involves
reasoning ability, experience, and personal example.
Until you grasp the basics of leadership, you will be
unable to apply the more in-depth principles. For
example, you had to learn to crawl before you learned
to walk, and you had to walk before you learned to run.
Where do leadership basics come from? What
determines their limits or capacities? How do they
relate to people? These questions are answered in the
following paragraphs.
WHERE DO LEADERSHIP
FUNDAMENTALS COME FROM?
We learn many fundamentals, or basic principles,
from the experiences of our successful leaders; we
learn from their mistakes and successes. For example,
suppose you saw your leader or supervisor do
something that ended in negative results. You would
then reason that if you repeated the same action in a
similar situation, you could expect the same results. As
children pattern their behavior after their parents, we
pattern our leadership behavior after people who are
successful leaders.
WHAT GOVERNS LEADERSHIP
ACTIONS?
Every society sets up laws to govern its people.
The Navy, being a unique service, is a society within
itself. Navy ships are literally floating cities, and each
ship is an individual society within the naval society as
a whole. Naval ships have their own form of
government (the chain of command) and a system of
laws that sets their operating limits.
The petty officer, as a leader, fits into this “chain of
command” as an official representative of the naval
society. The petty officer’s job is to be sure his or her
leadership actions conform to the rules and regulations
governing that chain of command. The publications
that govern the rules and regulations of the petty
officer’s actions are U.S. Navy Regulations, Manual
for Courts-Martial, and Standard Organization and
Regulations of the U.S. Navy.
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