1. Commanding Officer
United States Coast Guard
Leadership Development Center
37 Mohegan Ave.
New London, CT 06320
Phone: (860) 701-6301
Fax: (860) 701-6888
0730
11 Jul 2014
MEMORANDUM
From: W.D. Briscoe, IS2
CG SECTOR Corpus Christi
To: Reserve Officer Candidate School
Subj: PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY ASSIGNMENT
1. The information contained in this report is a reflection on how I envision my future as a leader
and how I plan to lead self, lead others, and lead performance and change in the Coast Guard.
This document will serve as my leadership guide and hold me accountable for my actions. It
outlines my personal leadership values and what my team can expect of me, what I will expect of
my team, and how we as a team can achieve results.
2. Leadership is about action. One may occupy a management position, but not have the ability
to effectively lead. Thus, a good leader will promote teamwork over self, and will identify
themselves as a leader through their actions. This is essentially called character. As leadership is
defined as the process of influencing others to achieve a common goal/achieve results, it is a
leader’s character that will be the influencing factor in this process. To be successful, it is
important that leadership encompasses that of collaboration and teamwork because, “Cohesive
teams can achieve collective excellence when leadership levels interact effectively” (Trimac
Leadership Academy (TLA)). My leadership philosophy aligns with one of the principles specified
in the Commandant’s Direction 2014, “Duty to People.”
3. Personal Leadership Values:
a. Integrity: I will be honest to my team and will expect the same in return. This is the
keystone to success. If applied, we as a team can achieve results.
b. Respect: No matter what the situation may be, everyone I encounter will be treated with
respect. From my experience, lack in leadership and/or respect leads to lack in productivity. My
goal is to achieve results; therefore, it is paramount that I give respect in order to gain support
and trust from my team.
c. Teamwork: As presented in, Character in Action (p. 35), “Teamwork is the way Coast
Guard people achieve their missions.” I will place emphasis on developing a cohesive team.
People will be more productive and happier in a team environment. Happiness and increased
productivity will lead to successful results.
4. In the words of Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, “Before you
become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all
about growing others.” This statement explicitly indicates that leadership is not an inherited trait.
2. It is a privilege that can be developed through the balanced application of leadership trainings,
advanced education, and professional experience. To be a successful leader, I will maintain self-
awareness of both my strengths and weaknesses and progressively leverage my strengths to
correct my weaknesses. Also, I will continue to pursue advanced educational courses and/or
leadership seminars to help me grow as a leader. Finally, I will seek advice and/or feedback from
my team to learn their perspective on leadership and adjust my leadership style accordingly. As a
leader, I will hold myself accountable for my actions and that of my team, specifically as it relates
to situations involving Coast Guard operations. It will be my responsibility to provide clear and
concise directives and ensure all team members are equipped with information and/or supplies to
complete the assigned tasks in a timely and accurate manner. In addition, considering the Coast
Guard is a multi-missioned service that requires every member to be, “Always Ready,” I will
demonstrate the qualities of a resilient leader. A resilient leader is one who recovers quickly from
setbacks, shock, adversity, and stress while maintaining a results orientation and keen sense of
urgency. Further, I will strive to instill the same qualities in my team. As learned at TLA,
“Competence and knowledge guide the energies of a strong will to pursue courses of action that
lead to success and the achievement of results.”
5. The Commandant expresses in his 2014 Direction, “The Coast Guard’s strength resides in its
people.” Effective leaders focus on developing others through counseling, coaching, and
mentoring. This can be accomplished by facilitating a learning process for my team and helping
them grow as leaders. I will concentrate on listening to my team about daily operations,
personal/professional situations, desired opportunities, responsibilities, etc, so that I can
appropriately support my team and resolve issues in a positive manner. By actively listening to
each member of my team and being empathetic when necessary, I feel my team members will have
respect and confidence in me as their leader. This will enable us as a team to accomplish our
mission and have the right personnel to achieve results. Another component of effective
leadership is effective communication. My goal as the leader would be to deliver effective
messages through oral, verbal, and non-verbal communication. As stated in, The Architecture of
Leadership (p. 62), “Leadership is about people. The bottom line, therefore, is that leaders have
to be able to explain the vision and connect with people in order to get them involved.”
Communication barriers are usually considered the main problem when something goes wrong. A
team who is committed to lifelong learning, active listening, and effective communication will be
stronger and better prepared to undertake and overcome any challenges that may be encountered.
6. In order to lead change and performance in the Coast Guard, we will maintain a customer-
centric focus and deliver reliability as a team. This can be achieved by working together to better
understand our customers’ and responding to their true needs. My team will be encouraged to
coordinate efforts to create new ideas and methods for our customer. Based on my experience,
the customer often has limited knowledge about the capabilities of those whom they request
information/products from; therefore, innovative solutions may be valuable and lead to unit and/or
functional improvements. I will work with my team to develop and execute plans that can
improve organizational processes and goal accomplishment. My theory is that teamwork is a
much better approach to success than an individual thought. While maintaining relationships and
teamwork, I will foster a culture of open communication, particularly as it involves conflict
management. Conflicts and disagreements will be resolved in a positive and constructive manner.
This will minimize any negative impact that may hinder our ability to work as a team to achieve
results. Clear direction, guidance, and priorities will be implemented with emphasis on teamwork
and maintaining a customer-centric focus with a common purpose of achieving results.
7. My leadership credo demonstrates the importance of people to achieve results. Admiral
James M. Loy, USCG (Retired) (p. 20) states, “All great leaders of the past have been able to
combine an internal drive to achieve results with an inherent capacity to care about people.” As I
develop as a leader, I will be better prepared to lead my team to success. It is through teamwork
and collaboration that makes an organization successful. Change and performance can be
measured by customer effectiveness/achievements; therefore, it is imperative that leaders build
relationships and teamwork while maintaining a customer-centric focus.
