A511.7.3.RB – Self Awareness

February 25, 2016

Richard Martinez

MSLD 511

            Self-Awareness is defined by many dictionaries as knowledge and awareness of your own personality or character. Each of us as leaders are defined by something that sets us apart from everyone else. We can find common similarities in many people but for the most part there is that one thing that sets us apart and distinguishes us and forms our foundation in leadership. As the our reading points out there are certain things that characterize leaders like Bill Gates’ geekiness or Harvey-Jones and how he stood out from the crowd, and Akio Morita of Sony and his boundless energy. For me my personality and character began evolving on 24 September 1985 which is the day I joined the U.S. Army. I was 17 years old and had just graduated high school in June of that year. I already had a set of basic values that were taught to me by my parents that laid the foundation for my traits and values or core competencies.

            One of the first things that I learned in the army was a set of core values that to this day I still live by and apply in everything that I do. These core values are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage (LDRSHIP). Together the first letter of each word spell LDRSHIP, a simple acronym to always help you remember these core values. This set the foundation of my leadership skills and style. The three primary characteristics of my leadership are Be, Know, and Do. Becoming a leader involves developing all aspects of yourself. The “Be” Character for me is my core values of LDRSHIP and my mental, physical, and emotional attributes. The “Know” characteristic for me is my interpersonal, conceptual, technical, and tactical skills. Finally the “Do” characteristic for me are my actions of influencing, operating, and improving. Influencing consists of communicating, decision making, and motivating.  The action of operating involves planning and prepping, executing, and then assessing. Improving is the final action of “Do” which involves developing, building, and learning. This has been the foundation of my leadership and who I am for the last 30 years.

            When I sit back and look at myself and my life now I find that as a leader I am very confident and responsible. I have always led from the front and never will have my team do something that I am not willing to do myself. I am very knowledgeable in many subjects both job related and non-job related. I try to be the person with the voice of reason. I am a mentor to my team and anyone who needs a mentor whether its job related or personal in nature. Together with my core values of “LDRSHIP” and the characteristics of “Be, Know, and Do” have set me up to be a successful leader while I was in the Army and in my personal life after the Army.

            I have always been taught that leaders of character and competence act to achieve excellence by developing a team that can work and succeed in all areas and serve the common goal of the company.