When I started college in Colorado, I fell in love with breakfast burritos. The combination of eggs, meat, and cheese was something I didn’t realize I was missing in my life growing up on the East Coast. Experimenting with local restaurants, I found some great burritos, but also some mediocre ones. The bad burritos weren’t so because of the aggregate mixture, but because one component was flawed -- poorly cooked meat, dry cheese, rubbery eggs, or a soggy tortilla. My takeaway wasn’t the uninspiring eggs or meat; I just remember a bad burrito.
If you’re looking to be a good a leader, think of yourself as a burrito -- you represent the entire team and its output, both good and bad. If your team messes up, you messed up. If your team delivers bad work, you delivered bad work. A good leader always represents the team.
I have learned many leadership lessons as a member of the US Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Detachment 105 at CU Boulder. Since I started with ROTC in 2019, I have had many incredible opportunities, including participating at a national training encampment, attending Air Force seminars, teaching CPR to fellow cadets, and interning with the US Space Force working on cutting-edge software development for the TAP Lab, a university consortium. Throughout these experiences I have kept notes on the ideas, concepts, and mindsets good leaders I’ve seen embody, whether in business, engineering, social activism, community service, or even when working on group projects at school. Here are a few.
A good leader must first lead themselves
A good leader must have a good attitude and mindset before making a single decision or assuming supervisory duties. A truly strong leader isn’t a narcissist and doesn’t crave power or act out of personal ambition. Instead, leaders should be guided by a sense of moral purpose to improve the lives of others. Poor leaders may try hard and have good intentions but may suffer from self-doubt, uncertainty, negativity, and pessimism. They sometimes lose control and get angry, let personal issues interfere with their job, are condescending, and don’t listen. If you think that one or more of these traits may be a personal weakness of yours, that is a good thing – knowing your weaknesses is key. To be a strong leader, you must continuously work on improving yourself, practicing empathy, optimism, confidence patience, honesty, and humility. Being a good follower is key to understanding leadership.
A leader will fail without the full trust and confidence from their team, and without having trust and confidence in their team
Your team shouldn’t follow out of a sense of duty; they should do so because they have full trust and confidence in you to do the right thing. Trust is earned based on one’s reputation and building strong relationships with your teammates and subordinates by treating them properly. Based on my experience working on group projects at school, as a Ski Patroller, and at the TAP Lab, the most successful groups are typically those in which people have worked together in the past. Members know from experience that they can trust each other. Unfortunately, most leaders don’t have the advantage of knowing all team members at the outset. Change that! The golden ticket to leading a team is to know your people. Discover who they are – their hobbies, what they care about, who in their life is important, their favorite candy – whatever helps build an important personal relationship. Spend time together outside of work doing something fun. Learn everybody’s ambitions, personalities, and skills, so you can help them utilize their traits for the greatest impact while providing them opportunities to grow. Once you build a relationship, you should share your goals and communicate changes, allowing the team confidence in you that your plans and decisions are made with the best intentions.
A good leader leads by example, protects their team, and treats them well
When leading a team, there inevitably will be failures along with success. Good leaders understand the importance of accepting blame for the team or an individual team member when something goes wrong. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it also helps build trust among your subordinates and superiors. A good leader also possesses mindsets such as prioritizing rewards last and tackling challenges first, leading by example rather than ordering others to do what they wouldn’t, and consistently sharing credit with the team. It takes time and practice to hone leadership skills; it’s a constant learning curve. Start by being a good person, practicing discipline and focus, and standing up for your team to gain trust. By doing so, you will be called a leader, not a manager (or a bad burrito!).
Justus Quint von Lengerke is on track to commission as an Intelligence Officer in the US Air Force in the Spring of 2024. If you are interested in serving as an Air Force or Space Force officer through ROTC at CU Boulder, learn more by visiting https://www.colorado.edu/afrotc/