The document discusses the author's views and experiences with leadership. It describes how the author's parents influenced his leadership development, with his father teaching analytical thinking and his mother teaching compassion. The author discusses key principles for being a good leader, including listening to and empowering team members, appreciating their initiative and actions, and embracing diversity. The author provides examples from his military career of learning from subordinates and allowing them opportunities to lead.

1. My Take on Leadership
Duncan s. Robinson
A good leader will include everyone in maintaining things before
they break and if they do break he includes their ideas in fixing them.
The meaning of LEAD is imbedded in the four letters. Whether
you become a leader depends on how you are developed. Everyone
is born to lead. It is developed over the years by parents, teachers,
peers, subordinates and bosses. My leadership development started
with my parents. Both had two different ways of helping me develop
me into a leader. My father was a chemist for more than 30 years.
Before that he served in the Navy as an officer on active duty and
later in the reserves. As a chemist, he had to be highly analytical and
take not even the smallest thing for granted. He showed me how to
be a leader by his actions, always reading and developing his mind,
asking me questions and not giving the answer. He would give me a
one-liner that would have me walking away saying what is he talking
about and he would come back days later asking what is your
answer. My mother, a teacher for some 33 years, taught me
compassion. That’s a virtue that not all of us learn at the same pace,
however, if you continue to encourage children they will learn. I have
given this gift to my children and I am delighted to hear my five year
old say to me,” Dad be kind and compassionate.”
(Talk more here about how you gave that to your children)
To Lead a team, one most first realize just because you wear the
rank, hold the title and sit at the head of the table it does not mean
you have all the answers and you are the reason for the team’s
success. In fact, like an octopus the tentacles (the members of the
team) are able to process information themselves, with little of that
information ever reaching the brain. (What does this mean?) The
leader facilitates and develops the team so in his absence anyone
one of them can take over without missing a beat. To do this he must
one Listen and Learn from each member, Empower each member,
encourage Action by the members and lastly Diversify his team not
only by race and gender but through having a team made up of
individuals with different ways of doing things.
The inspiration behind this article came from one of the first people

2. I met when I came in the army my XO. Over the years we have
continued to be close friends and a person I go to for advice when
needed. Every time I talk to him he will say, “Man I told you to write
this stuff down you have a lot to tell and I say ok Dad” (I said that
because my father would say the same thing).
L- Listen and Learn
When one learns the art of Listening you find out what kind of
questions to ask how to ask them and the strengths and weakness of
each individual on the team. I reported to my first duty station on
October 13, 1984 at Fort Polk, LA. That’s when I met Billy and he
took me down to my first platoon sergeant. He was a Vietnam
veteran and Billy introduced me to him by saying Sergeant Brantley
this is LT. Robinson your new Platoon Leader. When he introduced
me, Sergeant Brantley was sitting on a bench waiting for the rest of
the platoon to come out to formation. When Billy introduced me SFC
Brantley looked up and said you are already screwed up (he actually
used the F bomb). When he said that, I looked at Billy laughing and
he said you will know what he is talking about and think about soon
enough. That is not the only time the F bomb would be dropped that
day. Some 30 minutes after that encounter I went up to the company
headquarters and I ran into a Soldier getting some keys out of the key
box, he turned and said, “Sir are you our new platoon leader.” I
replied “Yes. Who are you?” He sounded off,” I am your driver.” He
went on to inquire if I had been to CIF yet and been issued my
coveralls. “I said yes.” He replied,” Good bring them in tomorrow we
are in scheduled services you are not going to be a dumb ass like our
last platoon leader.” During the next day in the motor pool I was
standing around talking and my platoon sergeant popped his head
out of his tank and said, “LT less talking and more work.” It was
during that week I learned a lot from the lowest ranking soldier all the
way up to my platoon Sergeant. I learned about their character,
family, why they joined the army to what motivates them.

3. A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make
tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.
He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality
of his actions and the integrity of his intent. —Douglas MacArthur
E- Empower- Every member of a team has something to offer
whether it is good or bad and therefore those talents and lessons
cannot be learned unless we as leaders give our subordinates that
opportunity to lead themselves. There has always been more than
one way to skin a cat. To be a great leader you must be just as good
of a follower. In my first day as a platoon leader my squad leaders
kept approaching me talking about what the last platoon leaders did
or did not do. I asked the Platoon Sergeant to gather all NCO’s. It
was at that time I asked each one of them to write down what I can
expect from them, what they expect from me and that I will do the
same. The objective of this drill was to see one, if they understood
their roles and mine, and two, hold them accountable for what they
say their role was in training and developing there soldiers. Over the
years I have found that the more you challenge those who work
under you, the more motivated they become to better themselves and
others as well as become more responsible.
You don’t need a title to be a leader. –Multiple Attributions
A-Appreciate Action- Appreciate the fact that your subordinates want
to take the initiative to take Action without waiting for instructions.
Appreciate the fact that they have the courage and loyalty to tell you
what you need to hear rather then what you want to hear. Bad news
is good news when told in enough time to act rather than react. Allow
them to fail without fearing penalty; in turn you learn something about
yourself and them. Our junior leaders always say we do nothing--that
we are just figure heads. Give them the opportunity to fill your shoes
and vice versa. This will help you appreciate the work they do and
appreciate why you make some of the decisions you make and they
will also see how much you go through to take care of them.

4. Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will
surprise you with their ingenuity. —General George Patton
D- Diversity: It is my wish that society would stop using the words
racists and prejudice interchangeably, there meaning are completely
different. I was recently asked by a young Marine how many racists I
think there are in the military. My response to him was none, not to
say there weren’t any. We are confined to motor pools, offices, fox
holes, tanks and many other confined areas where we have nothing
but time to talk and get to know one another where nothing but good
can be transformed. We began to see we are reliant upon one
another and what was said about one another was not true.
Prejudices exists and that is good we all have some type of
prejudices whether t is against a attitude or act and that is good as
long as we keep it against the rightful owner of the individual; it helps
us rid our ranks of the racist. Diversity has grown far beyond race. It
is about gender, same sex marriages, women equality and education.
Homosexuality has been hidden in our ranks for decades. The only
thing different now is they do not have to hide. Women have been
doing combat tasks for years and excelling at it. We now have one of
the most educated forces ever; we have privates with more education
and degrees then some of our officers. Now is the time to continue to
embrace all these differences. These individuals volunteered and
took an oath to defend this country and obey the same orders of
those appointed over us with the same collective goal in mind and
that is to see each one of their brothers and sisters come home from
war alive. Embrace the fact, the same way we did when we
integrated our ranks with all races. We now have a complete
spectrum of ideas of leading and treating people within our ranks.
We put all this together and we have Soldiers not just obeying the
orders of those appointed over them but obeying the orders to those
above and below.

5. The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but
not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be
humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but
without folly. —Jim Rohn
The best leaders I had where not the ones I worked for but the ones
that allowed me to work with them. They where enlisted, Non
Commissioned Officers, Warrants and Officers. All these individuals
made me think through a situation rather than react to it. The enlisted
asked why, the NCO said there is a better way, peers kept things in
perspective, Warrants said that is not the right question and superiors
asked what do I think. When I was at war I did not think about my
country, I thought about what made up my country I thought about the
men and women that were sacrificing themselves to serve their
country in order that they could return to their families and a grateful
and free nation.
My Top 10
1. Deliver the bad news and failures just as you would the good
news, it will show the team is growing and not becoming
complacent.
2. Share your solutions.
3. Concentrate on the solution not the problem, the problem is
long gone and done with.
4. Follow sometime it will help you keep things in perspective.
5. Do not let the rank define you, your character defines rank.
6. Focus your energy on solving the problem and you will be
amazed to find out why it occurred in the first place.
7. Micro-managers never win if you do not believe me do it and
watch all your people sit back and let you do it.
8. Set unattainable goals and watch how much positive energy is
used to meet them, you will be amazed.
9. It is not what you do not know that is going to kill you; it’s what
you do know that is going to bit you in the butt.
10.It is your responsibility to develop leaders, and in return they
will make you a great Leader.