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Own It When the Storm Rolls In.

Writer's picture: Kevin HorganKevin Horgan

“Only he deserves power who everyday justifies it.”

Dag Hammarskjold 1965


“I don’t need you when the sun is shining; I need you when the storm clouds roll in.”

Ed Sharkey, UPS Lifer


Seek Responsibility, Take Responsibility for Your Actions

If there is a leadership principle that exemplifies the need to “hit the ground running” day in and day out it is the principle of taking initiative and owning it.

Leaders do not wait for things to happen. You know your mission, you know your job, and you know your team, so what is there to keep you from getting it done?

Institutional lethargy can hold back the most competitive leader if that person allows it to occur. Most often peer pressure to “keep a steady pace” is a euphemism for “slow down.” Do not fall victim to the tedium of repetition.

Something needs improvement. Someone needs counseling or training. Somewhere a problem is untended and left for decay.

Veterans are prized because they have been trained to seize opportunities. Veterans work with virtually no supervision. The transition element most challenging for vets is finding a job demanding enough. Even the simplest and most routine of assignments, though, can be made more efficient or profitable. Do it.

If there is failure, rely on the process and the facts to find how the failure occurred. Blaming an individual is easy, but if you are tasked with supervising the project, a failure by anyone on the team can be, and should be, yours to shoulder.

In the absence of something immediate, pick up a book and develop yourself. It sets a good example. If a subordinate takes legitimate initiative and falls short, avoid the impulse to chastise him or her. Praise the effort, and be constructive about where to prevent a recurrent mistake.

Especially, do not dress down a subordinate in a group setting, unless the wrong doing is egregious and requires immediate correction. If you strip an employee of his or her dignity in public, that person will be almost useless for an indeterminate period.

Any enterprise in the absence of direction that serves to move the mission forward should be embraced. When we fault initiative in a knee-jerk fashion, it will become a rare event.

One caution: seek responsibility, but do not over-commit in order to endear yourself to others. Everyone should be able to rely on your good word. If you cannot get the job done by the commitment, keep your customer or boss in the loop. No one likes surprises, especially bad ones.

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(c) 2019 Kevin Horgan, www.corps2corporate.com

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FROM THE CORPS TO CORPORATE and Points in Between... is a series of personal musings using the Leadership Principles and Qualities of the USMC, through my eyes and experiences.  I had a wide variety of successes and failures both large and small, and perhaps you will see yourself or others in the opinions herein.

I am a retired UPSer, having spent a fast 33 years with the organization.  I served in management positions in engineering, operations, and as an attorney in real estate.  I started law school

and loading trucks for Big Brown on the same day in 1984.

Before UPS, I served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps.

That experience was the great privilege of my life.

I was nothing special:  I deployed, but was never shot at!

I have written three novels, THE MARCH OF THE 18TH, and THE MARCH OF THE ORPHANS and A FACE ON THE FLAG.

(See www.kevinhorganbooks.com).

 

I have a cultural/political observation blog . (See www.ourcultureinchoate.com) I also podcast the blog on https://anchor.fm/kevin-horgan 

If you like this work, please share.  Your comments are always welcome!

 

 

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