Leadership

Leadership…but first, Followership.

10 years ago I met a young man who was an Annapolis graduate and became the Lt. Commander of DEVGRU or as most of us know it Seal Team Six. We spent a month walking from the Cemetery at West Point to Dallas, Texas.

We had a lot of time to talk about leadership. His thoughts have stuck with me for all these years as they are profound.

First... if you are going to be a leader you must learn to follow.

Second...you must learn to lead yourself. You must set a bar that you aspire to and  do your best to get over it.

Third...when you are in that foxhole with your teammates you must care about their success more than your own. When that truly happens you will know you are a leader.

So as we all have a little extra time to reflect on what we are going to do next lets think about how we move forward in our lives.

Lt. Commander Coleman Ruiz thank you for sharing this with me and Bridget Ruiz thank you Sharing Coleman with us as we Carried The Load in May of 2012. Oh and by the way Bridget is also a graduate of Annapolis.