DD,
I'm sorry; you misunderstood what it was I misunderstood about which of the two were true. You did write it again, so it was not a mistake, but still confusing as to which you mean to convey. I'll specify my points of confusion this time.
Your use of belief and right contradict each other. Using the Encarta Dictionary--Belief: acceptance by the mind that something is true or real, often underpinned by an emotional or spiritual sense of certainty versus Right: accurate, or consistent with the facts or general belief. You expressed no desire for validation from those outside from your own mind that your belief system has merit. This stance begs the question: How can you know you are right?
Wow. Since you use “belief” to define “right”, it appears to me that they do not necessarily contradict each other.
How do I know that I am right? Let me provide four examples. Granted these are not scholarly references vetted through academia, but they are true life examples from guys that I was in charge of or worked for.
1. Mike served under me for about two years. He was a superstar. He did things right all the time. I was lucky to have had him in my division. I transferred from the command when Mike was an E-5. About 4 years later I got a call from Mike asking me if I had an extra set of Chief’s anchors that I would give to him. His CMC tasked him with trying to get anchors for his pinning day from the CPO that he most wanted to emulate when he made Chief.
2. Jim served under me for three years. He was a “pretty boy”. He didn’t like being told what to do and was a chronic whiner. I frequently had to pull him aside and explain the facts of life to him. Jim was a six and outer. After he’d been out of the Navy for 5 years Jim sent me an e-mail, thanking me for not putting up with his Sh*^. He said his experience as a nuke and strong leaders like me that kept him in check were the springboards for a successful career once he got out of the Navy. He also apologized for being a pain in the butt.
3. Daren served under me for two years. He was a great worker, but had some marital difficulties and hadn’t done well enough to get screened for instructor duty. I worked with the detailer and got him orders to new construction. When he got there he wrote me complaining about being the 4th or 5th first class in the division. I told him not to worry, because once the real work started, his COC would see his work ethic and he would quickly become a leader at the command. His wife wrote me about six months later thanking me for my vote of confidence. Daren had been selected as LPO over senior guys. He later made LDO. He couldn’t make it to my retirement, but wrote me a nice e-mail thanking me for the influence I had on his career, summarizing it best by stating, “When faced with a tough decision, I always ask myself what would EMC M do.”
4. Mark was one of my COs. He didn’t like me, at first. In fact, he wrote me the worst FitRep I had as a CPO. He frequently questioned my decision-making and actually said to me once, “Quite honestly I don’t know why you came here so highly recommended.” I stuck to my guns (beliefs, if you will, because I knew I was right). After another year at his command, I made E-8, despite the poor FitRep. After my pinning, he had me in his stateroom and basically said what a relief it was to him that I had advanced because he had me pegged all wrong and now recognized that I deserved a better FitRep than he had given me the previous year. A year after that as he was getting ready to transfer, he pulled out a 3 X 5 card that he kept on each of us and went down the list of challenges I had faced. He basically said, “You handled all these way better than I gave you credit for.” If you knew him, that’s the closest thing to a compliment you could ever receive.
So even though I have no scholar to confirm my beliefs about leadership and there are many who would say I fell short in a number of areas, I obviously influenced those who worked with me, mostly in a positive manner. So question the quality of my writing, dissect my use of the English language, and impugn my motives for tooting my own horn all you want. I try to write like I talk (something I learned from a college professor) and recognize that not everyone cares about my accomplishments, or lack thereof. Your critiques of my writing and leadership beliefs are accepted as, “We’ll have to agree to disagree.”
I know this is long-winded, but I can’t help but draw the parallel between your seemingly never-ending desire to discredit me, or my opinion, based on the syntax of my writing and the leaders inside and outside the Navy who think the manner in which a message is delivered is more important than the message itself.
