When I am asked about a good example of a leader in my life I always think of the same person – my first Squad Leader in the Infantry, SSG Wade. He was the type of leader that I hoped to become one day, and who I modeled myself after. The reason I felt he was such a great leader is because he was an Authentic Leader. Based off of Northouse’s (2013) discussion of Bill Georges authentic leadership approach, George found that authentic leaders not only have a desire to serve others, but they know themselves and lead based off of their core values. George came up with a model that shows all of the characteristics that an authentic leader possesses, those being; purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and heart.
It was not hard to see the purpose within SSG Wade, as his passion for the military and the Infantry were prevalent every day. His actions and how he carried himself, even when his superiors were not around, showed his values. SSG Wade was viewed by everyone as a great leader, and someone you could talk to in a time of need – he had a connection with everyone within the Company. To top it off, SSG Wade put 110% into everything he did – be it leading a physical fitness session to training a new Soldier more effective tactics. He put his heart into everything he did, and everyone took notice.
It was these these traits, and his ability act upon each one of them that gave him the ability to earn not only our entire squad’s trust, but that of the entire Company. SSG Wade knew who he was, he knew what his values were, and he was not afraid to act toward them – even when they went against popular opinion. There were plenty of times I did not agree with his decision, I always went with his decision because I knew he had weighed all other options and made the decision that fit best with his moral compass as well as having the best interest of all in mind. That is where the respect came from, from his ability to alway stick true to who he was even when faced with nearly impossible choices to be made. This is an extremely important characteristic to have when other peoples lives depend on your decisions and your orders.
I have not met a whole lot of authentic leaders as it seems a lot of leaders are out for themselves in order to climb the promotion ladder, but I do feel that if one person in my life was the perfect example of an authentic leader, it would be SSG Wade – and I know I am lucky to have served under such a great example of what leadership should be.
References:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
DEEDRA LEE HARDIN says
There’s an article that was published in the October 2011 edition of the Journal of Business Ethics (Peus, Wesche, Streicher, Braun, & Frey, 2011) that discusses the effect(s) that authentic leadership has on individuals and groups as well as the leader’s characteristics that most strongly influence these outcomes.
America has lost much of its willingness to trust in leaders—understandable given examples like Lehman Brothers, Enron, AIG, and lobbyists to consider. Mistrust of our leaders is not new to us; it’s not something that just emerged in 1998 with President Clinton’s famous lie and then expanded from there. We can go back earlier than that, to 40 years prior—back to rumors of Area 51’s contents, Watergate, “cover-ups” of presidential assassinations, and the famous “Red Scare” to see where a lot of today’s skepticism of and inability to connect with our leaders began. These were big issues then and they’re even bigger today because we’ve now begun to look past each situation itself and look more directly toward the men and women who were responsible for creating them. People today are looking for leaders they can not just stand behind, but also stand next to, knowing that they are working for the greater good and acting according to deep personal values and convictions. This builds credibility, respect, and trust between a leader and his/her followers (Peus et al., 2011). SSG Wade appears to have understood what it means to be an authentic leader.
References
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice, 6th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Peus, C., Wesche, J. S., Streicher, B., Braun, S., & Frey, D. (2011). Authentic leadership: An empirical test of its antecedents, consequences, and mediating mechanisms. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(3), 331-348. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1042-3
Howie Daubenspeck says
Andrew – first, thank you for your service! When describing leaders, I too have used squad leaders from my days in the US Army as perfect examples of leadership. I could immediately relate to this example, especially the part where you comment that you “didn’t always agree, but that you did “follow his decisions” because you knew it was a decision that had the best possible outcome in mind! I would venture to believe that since you felt it important enough to write about, that you yourself believe in the same values and display the same characteristics as SSG Wade had done! Individuals like your SSG Wade not only lead by example, they plant a seed for others to lead as they have done. HuhRah!
KRISTIN L ACE says
It seems like it was an amazing experience to be under SSG Wade’s leadership.
I agree that it is rare to find an authentic leader especially in the corporate world.
When being part of a group that is mainly motivated by money, it would be a constant battle to remain an authentic leader if initially one.
Competition, fear and the pressure to set goals higher weigh heavily on leaders. In a lot of cases, they are forced to overachieve again and again and this strain often affects their leadership approach.
I think that SSG Wade is an inspiration and wish that there were more leaders that were willing to stand up for what they believed in as well as go against the crowd when defending a moral stance.
His leadership style is the kind we dream we will find in adults when we are children. We often witnessed role model Dad’s, teacher and other influencers on our favorite TV shows and they taught children to remain true to themselves.
I think SSG Wade is someone who did just that and never compromised his integrity or beliefs. In turn this worked out to his benefit because followers truly trust and respect him.