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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 dont know whats happening.
Todays 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 todays
leader are greater than ever before.
FUNDAMENTALS OF LEADERSHIP
Learning Objectives: Identify the fundamentals of
leadership.
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.