The 14 Leadership Traits

For those that don’t know, the Marine Corps was a significant part of my life during college, during which time I was a member of a program similar to ROTC. I decided not to join the Marines after college, but my experiences in the program (OCS in particular) had a major impact on my life. People’s true personalities really come out in stressful situations; the Marines have used their centuries of experience in one of the most stressful situations a person can encounter, war. So who better to study than them? There are 14 traits I’m going to spread out over several days so that I can go into a bit of detail on each one. Enjoy.

1. Justice: Justice is the practice of being fair and consistent. Simple enough, right? Well, there’s a lot more here than meets the eye. Justice is about not playing favorites, it’s about evaluating an individual’s worth based on merit and nothing else. Justice is also about being consistent in your evaluation and treatment of individuals. What’s that mean? It means being consistent in both your praise and your criticism.

Be honest with yourself about why you make a particular decision. Avoid favoritism. Try to be fair at all times and treat all things and people in an equal manner.

2. Judgment: Judgment is the ability to think clearly and rationally and make sound decisions. This is a tough one to improve, but you can improve your judgment with education. The more you know, the more informed your decisions will be; you cannot expect to make good decisions if you don’t have the information required. Study, read, become a master of your field and anything you strive to succeed in.

You can improve your judgment if you avoid making rash decisions. Approach problems with a common sense attitude.

3. Dependability: People have to know they can count on you. Wow, this is a big one. One phrase comes to mind when I think of dependability: “Under promise and over perform.” When you say you’re going to do something, do it. That means following through with what you said you would do, even if you decide it was a mistake to say you’d do it. It means doing your job to the best of your abilities and helping people in need. And, probably most importantly, not making excuses. If you said you’d return a phone call and you don’t, don’t make excuses. If you’re going to be late for a meeting, don’t make excuses, be honest about why you were late, don’t let it happen again, and call ahead, even if you’re the boss.

More to come!

[Citation: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership_traits.htm]