Conversation with a Shipmate - Leadership

U.S. Navy
5.1K views • August 11, 2014

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and MCPON Mike Stevens talk about leadership during a recent conversation with a shipmate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington.

0:04 [Music]
0:05 welcome everyone and thank you for
0:06 joining us for conversation with the
0:08 shipmate I'm mc2 gray here at deterent
0:11 Park with the sale of USS woodro Wilson
0:13 behind us a naval based kitap Banger in
0:16 Washington state joining us here today
0:18 is the chief of Naval operations Admiral
0:20 Jonathan Greener and master chief petty
0:21 officer of the Navy Mike Stevens good
0:23 afternoon and uh I think everybody needs
0:25 to know that you can do anything in this
0:28 Navy of ours where a person from
0:30 Cleveland Ohio can meet with a person
0:32 from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania the Browns
0:33 and the Steelers and have a civil
0:36 conversation we can do anything and that
0:39 not only goes for here but that's
0:40 worldwide absolutely all right
0:42 absolutely oh don't forget him oh yes so
0:44 so uh good afternoon and the thing about
0:47 Montana is we have no professional
0:48 sports teams so I get along with
0:50 everybody all right well being August
0:52 you know how it is we're all getting
0:54 worked up so anyway but that's not what
0:56 we're here to talk about all right well
0:57 today I would like to discuss with you
0:59 leadership I mean both of you were the
1:01 top dogs in the Navy so we would like to
1:03 get your thoughts on basically the path
1:06 to developing leaders why you think it's
1:08 important and why young Personnel both
1:10 enlisted and officer alike should be
1:12 engaged in cultivating these skills
1:14 early on in their career so let's get
1:16 started you bet
1:19 sir what is one of the things that
1:21 you're focused on to build better
1:23 leaders in the Navy well first of all uh
1:26 the foundation is integrity we have to
1:28 believe what anybody tells us and what
1:31 that what I mean by that is if you are
1:34 standing watch you tell me something
1:36 occurred or didn't occur uh and we are
1:38 ready to go we're not ready to go I have
1:40 to fundamentally believe that that's at
1:42 the foundation you can't go to see with
1:45 two 300 people and not absolutely be
1:47 able to trust what somebody else to you
1:50 Integrity number two character we have
1:53 to have character with a with a a
1:55 foundation of good ethical Behavior the
1:58 understand how we behave and how we will
2:00 conduct ourselves it all builds from
2:02 that okay mcpon do you have anything to
2:05 add to that you know I I will quote one
2:07 of my favorite authors John Maxwell he
2:10 says no organization can rise above the
2:12 capabilities of its leaders and so if we
2:15 hope to continue to get better as a Navy
2:16 then we have a responsibility to always
2:18 seek ways to improve leadership and
2:21 Leadership
2:22 opportunities why do you believe that
2:24 it's so Mission critical for our Navy
2:26 well it's the foundation of of the
2:28 military and it has been for time of
2:30 Memorial I mean for the for well over
2:33 the 200 years of this great Navy of ours
2:35 somebody has to lead has to define the
2:38 reality to people their reality and why
2:41 they're doing what they're doing what
2:42 the mission is and that they can depend
2:44 on that individual to be responsible
2:47 take care of them and be accountable for
2:49 the actions of the unit no matter how
2:51 big that unit is so folks have to lead
2:54 into the future have to help understand
2:57 the common good of the organization and
2:59 bring Bring It Forward and lay that out
3:01 that is again a foundation and a
3:04 Heritage of ours now mcpon you've talked
3:07 about how recruit becomes a leader
3:10 starting a boot camp can you elaborate
3:12 on how a recruit can be a leader yeah
3:14 something I used to tell and still tell
3:16 my Sailors is that where there's two
3:18 Sailors one's in charge right right so
3:21 leadership to me has no rank leadership
3:25 is something that everybody is
3:26 responsible for and must embrace
3:30 sir why should Junior Personnel not
3:33 necessarily engaged with a leadership
3:35 position be concerned with developing
3:38 these skills early on and why should e1s
3:41 and ens be part of this process well
3:44 like the mcpon said uh you're a leader
3:46 anytime a group gathers together look
3:49 this is kind of basic psychology
3:51 somebody will migrate in charge it's
3:53 been said where there's a leadership
3:55 vacuum it's filled so what I'm telling
3:57 you is I need our e1's I need need our o
4:00 ones to understand the foundational
4:02 pieces number one Integrity I I said it
4:05 early on when we talked they have to
4:07 understand integrity and understand
4:09 those Basics how to behave follow
4:11 regulations and follow regulations when
4:14 somebody's watching and more importantly
4:16 when they're not watching that will
4:18 allow them to uh to understand how to
4:21 bring how to hold standards and bring
4:23 our people forward we'll develop their
4:25 communication skills we'll develop the
4:27 professional aspects that these that an
4:30 E1 needs that an 01 needs as they come
4:32 up and we ask them to take on more
4:34 responsibility but they have to have
4:36 that Foundation follow the rules
4:39 understand the guidelines tell the truth
4:41 and have good character again whenever
4:44 well let's put it another way if if your
4:47 mother would be proud of what you just
4:48 said or did did that's a good way to
4:50 think about it I think my mother's
4:52 always proud of what I say well then
4:54 you've got a good Foundation Gray at
4:56 least I like to think so yeah anyway uh
5:00 mcpon uh so as you're traveling the
5:02 fleet you've been discussing the
5:04 importance of petty officer leadership
5:06 courses and I was just curious to know
5:09 what some of the feedback from the petty
5:11 officers have been and whether or not
5:12 they believe that they're important well
5:14 this is just something we've started to
5:16 Champion the feedback so far has been
5:18 positive we owe it to our Sailors I
5:21 often say this we must set the
5:24 conditions and provide the opportunity
5:26 that allow our Sailors to be successful
5:29 and that's a big part of leadership is
5:31 providing them with those opportunities
5:33 so I've felt that over the last several
5:36 years we haven't placed the focus that's
5:39 necessary on young petty officer
5:41 leadership development we moved it out
5:43 of the school houses and we brought it
5:44 into the commands we've asked the
5:46 commands to provide the
5:47 leadership and by and large we're doing
5:49 it but I believe we can do it much
5:51 better we got to get the right people
5:53 and front of the audience with the right
5:54 training to deliver this this leadership
5:57 development training that we should be
5:58 doing uh and we need to let our petty
6:01 officers know that we're serious about
6:02 it so that they treat it seriously and
6:04 so I've asked the Chiefs to Champion
6:06 this and uh they're doing that right now
6:09 and we're hoping that we'll see good
6:10 results but so far the feedback has been
6:12 positive all right that's what I like to
6:14 hear sir so you often speak of
6:16 increasing the quality of service
6:19 throughout your time in the Navy how
6:21 does leadership really tie into that
6:24 well I think uh there are two aspects
6:27 that uh we provide our sales it's about
6:28 enabling people that that's the kind of
6:31 the topic if you will one is the quality
6:34 of life of our Sailors and what that
6:35 means is the the basic necessities of
6:37 life are we providing that good good
6:40 compensation for the work they do uh
6:42 Health Care educational opportunities
6:45 housing uh Child Care things of that
6:47 nature their life is appropriate but
6:50 they want to do well where they work
6:52 what is the quality that would be the
6:54 environment the enabling factors of the
6:56 service they do their workplace do they
6:59 have spare Parts is their supervisor man
7:02 is the supervisor a good leader uh do
7:05 they have a a clear way ahead some
7:07 predictability to what they're doing
7:09 that's the part where I'm I'm
7:10 comfortable in fact I'm comfortable
7:12 because our people tell us I'm good with
7:14 my quality of life I live reasonably
7:17 well and I think I'm being compensated
7:19 but when I cross the pier and I go into
7:21 the ship and I go to do work do my plan
7:24 maintenance see my w I don't have a very
7:26 good schedule because I got a gapped
7:28 Billet above me were my supervisor uh
7:31 where are the spare parts uh what's the
7:33 schedule we need to do better at that
7:35 and so a lot of what I'm looking to do
7:37 is to to fix that part of it get that
7:40 balance better between the quality of
7:42 life and the quality of service enable
7:44 them to be the SE the Sailor and the
7:47 leader that they want to do we've got to
7:48 get that foundation in there absolutely
7:50 that's tell one thing that I think could
7:52 increase that is you know just switching
7:54 State rooms for all all hands State
7:56 rooms absolutely you do well you got nap
7:59 time that's increased cleaning you got
8:01 to clean those staterooms too that's
8:03 fine with me I'll take
8:04 [Laughter]
8:06 it so mck Pon CPO 365 has been viewed as
8:11 a controversial topic so how do you view
8:13 it and how is it going anytime there's
8:16 change there's controversy right
8:18 especially when you're talking about the
8:19 Chiefs mess I would have expected
8:20 nothing less I'd have been disappointed
8:23 if I hadn't had some controversy good
8:25 tradition here clear Heritage that's
8:27 right so I want to First say give a
8:30 shout out to the Chiefs that are out
8:31 there they've taken CPO 365 once they
8:34 got off over the initial shock uh
8:37 they've embraced it and they've turned
8:38 it into a great program first and
8:40 foremost it's about providing our first
8:43 class Petty officers with an opportunity
8:46 to continue to learn and develop and
8:48 doing it in an environment where we
8:50 treat one another with dignity and
8:52 respect uh I never asked for it to be
8:54 easy I want it to be hard I want it to
8:56 be challenging I want it to be testing
8:58 but I believe we can accomplish all that
9:00 we'll still treating one or treating one
9:02 another with the dignity and respect
9:04 that I often talk about so CPO 365 is is
9:08 off and running it's meeting its
9:10 intended purpose and Beyond and just
9:13 since I've been on this trip I've had
9:14 the chance to talk with our new newly
9:16 selected chap Petty officers and they've
9:18 come up to me and have said mcpon thank
9:21 you for CPO 365 and I said don't thank
9:23 me thank the Chiefs mess they're the
9:25 ones that are making it work well it
9:26 sounds like it's going great so far so
9:28 do you foresee any upcoming changes to
9:31 the CPO 365 program to say there'll be
9:33 no changes I think would be wrong
9:36 because you always have to look for ways
9:37 to improve and get better but uh I'm not
9:40 inclined at this point to make any
9:42 significant changes too much change too
9:44 fast isn't always good creates too much
9:47 churn and I think I've created enough
9:49 churn uh with this program so I want I
9:52 want it to settle I want people to get
9:54 used to it but I certainly want to look
9:56 for ways that we can make Minor
9:57 Adjustments to make it better there's a
9:59 fine line between Cutting Edge and Chaos
10:02 you got to stay on the right line of
10:04 that absolutely now you know speaking of
10:06 the chief's mess sir from an officer
10:09 standpoint what do you believe the value
10:11 is of having a strong leadership sense
10:13 in the enlisted Force well number one as
10:16 as the mcpon said uh that that's what
10:19 will lead the vast majority of our Navy
10:21 the foundation of it and that is our
10:23 Sailors and and make sure that we are
10:26 nurturing and building those leaders to
10:28 come behind them but when I think of the
10:30 officer Corps I think of uh Chief Glenn
10:33 Miller my first Chief I think of Chief
10:36 Bill Shellhammer who taught me how to be
10:37 a good engineering officer of the watch
10:39 Fire Control Chief valchar Joe valchar
10:42 who taught me how to suck it up whenever
10:44 I got chewed out by the captain for not
10:46 doing a good job as the officer of the
10:48 deck and and he you know how to
10:50 communicate and BR B bring a watch team
10:53 together they're going to train our
10:55 officers they're going to take that
10:56 Junior officer put their arm around and
10:58 say kiddo this is this is how it works
10:59 this is how you lead our Sailors my
11:02 Sailors too and they'll take care of our
11:04 Navy that's I'm not making this up this
11:07 is the tradition I don't sit here in
11:09 front of you without those three guys I
11:11 just talked about and that goes all
11:13 around here you put any officer in this
11:15 chair and they will tell you uh somebody
11:17 sat them down some senior enlisted an
11:20 NCO and took care of them and nurtured
11:22 them brought them along so that's why
11:24 it's important take care of the officer
11:26 Corps but also lead our Navy the vast
11:29 majority of those people that get the
11:30 work done day in and day out excellent
11:32 so mcpon can you tell me about the
11:35 changes that are coming up for the
11:37 senior enlisted Academy requirements
11:39 sure so think about this petty officer
11:40 gray you make chief petty officer at the
11:42 10-year Mark which is not uncommon then
11:45 you make Senior Chief and master chief
11:46 so you're able to do 30 years of Naval
11:48 service so there's a 20-year window that
11:51 if you're not uh going into the command
11:53 master chief or chief of the boat
11:55 program there is this 20-year window
11:57 where potentially you do not get one
11:59 more day of professional leadership
12:01 training because it's not a requirement
12:04 it's only a requirement for our cobs and
12:05 for our cmc's and our Command senior
12:08 Chiefs so because it's not a requirement
12:11 we we don't fund it and if we don't fund
12:13 it then there's not opportunities to
12:15 send a lot of people so we have to put
12:17 all this together right so we took a
12:19 look at it and we said if we're going to
12:21 provide all of our senior Chiefs about
12:23 1300 of 1300 a year an opportunity to go
12:26 to the senior enlisted Academy then
12:28 we've got to make it requirement so we
12:29 can resource it and fund it so the
12:31 requirement is going to be around 2020
12:34 time frame maybe 2019 if you are
12:37 selected for Senior Chief in let's say
12:39 16 20 uh 2016 you'll have to have
12:42 graduated from the senior enlisted
12:44 Academy to be eligible for E9 by
12:47 2020 um we haven't figured out the date
12:49 just yet it's going to be 19 or 20 the
12:52 first class is going to start in
12:54 December uh the first class will consist
12:57 of nine weeks of Blackboard distance
13:00 learning and they'll have a facilitator
13:02 and a master chief at the at the school
13:05 that will Mentor them through this
13:07 distance learning and then they show up
13:09 for three weeks of residency because the
13:11 budget's tight and we have to do all
13:13 this with about the same amount of money
13:15 that we're doing it now it's not the
13:17 perfect situation but it's the best
13:19 situation given the resources available
13:22 so what we've done now because really
13:24 we're out of money now for the Academy
13:25 but thanks to the CNO uh providing some
13:28 money through the through the Navy's N8
13:31 organization our Bankers right we were
13:33 able to insert a few more dollars in
13:35 there uh and we now have a class going
13:37 through the academy right now with aund
13:39 over a 100 students in it where we would
13:41 have had only about maybe 20 or 30
13:43 students in that class so we recognize
13:46 the seriousness of it uh We've we've
13:48 changed some things to provide uh the
13:51 funding capability and also to make it a
13:54 requirement so that we can get long-term
13:56 funding through the Palm cycle now I
13:59 have one more question and this is for
14:00 the both of you do you believe leaders
14:03 are born or are they
14:05 bred sir I think uh people some people
14:09 are are born with a unique communication
14:11 skill they can just relate to people now
14:14 I don't know that I would really say
14:16 born but they grew up and that you know
14:19 kind of became part of their uh their
14:21 personality and then they joined our
14:23 service let's say so they communicate
14:25 well but I think then we need to IM
14:28 inbred or embed in them that foundation
14:31 of the importance of Integrity here you
14:33 know there is no such thing as the
14:35 little white lie it's uh lives depend on
14:38 every aspect of that and in the
14:40 character development so you take that
14:42 that combination of somebody that can
14:44 communicate huge huge aspect and then
14:47 you give them a foundation of character
14:50 and understanding of Integrity teach
14:52 them a professional skill and you've
14:55 you've got a a nice mixture of a great
14:57 leader yeah I like to use uh the analogy
15:00 take an take an athlete some people have
15:03 an inherent uh ability to run and jump
15:08 high and fast right uh and then others
15:11 develop that ability to run and jump uh
15:15 high and fast so some people come to us
15:18 with this kind of an inherent ability uh
15:21 they just have this natural Charisma
15:22 this reverence about them people tend to
15:24 flock to them uh for whatever reason I
15:27 can't I can't put my finger on it it
15:29 just is what it is right and then other
15:32 people uh don't have may not have that
15:34 ability but we provide them with the
15:35 time tools and education and help them
15:38 to develop that now what I like is you
15:40 take that leader that's kind of natural
15:42 born so to speak and then you also give
15:46 them the training on top of that they're
15:49 the ones that become kind of your
15:50 Michael Jordan's your LeBron James's of
15:52 the leadership world right because
15:54 they've taken a gift and they've built
15:55 upon it but that's not to say that you
15:58 can't be a great athlete or you can't be
16:00 a great leader if you train really
16:01 really hard and we provide them with the
16:03 opportunities so I think I've said what
16:05 the CNO said I just kind of use a little
16:07 bit of an analogy but what I liked about
16:09 what you said is uh you give somebody a
16:12 chance you give them the skills they may
16:14 not have that inherent that that you
16:15 describe they work their way up and they
16:18 become and how many athletes you know
16:20 we'd be we just turned into an athletic
16:22 show that's not the point but the same
16:24 opportunity exists that same hard worker
16:26 and that's that's a lot of what we were
16:28 talking about is we have to put in place
16:30 those opportunities because in through
16:33 time that's what's made our Navy what it
16:35 is today given people an opportunity and
16:37 they grab it I was watching ESPN special
16:40 the other day back to sports and uh they
16:42 were talking about knuckle ball pitchers
16:44 right so they're not great athletes but
16:46 they develop great skills and they
16:49 become great pitchers and so you can say
16:51 the same thing about leadership they may
16:53 not think they're great leaders but they
16:54 can acquire those skills and they can be
16:56 just as effective and rise to the the
16:58 same level as anybody else in the Navy
17:01 excellent well thank you so much
17:04 gentlemen for your time here today um is
17:06 there anything else that you would like
17:07 to add or just say about leadership in
17:09 general or even about the Navy well U if
17:12 I may add the uh again the the great
17:16 leader the one that uh does the right
17:18 thing when nobody is watching the one
17:20 that uh treats that shipmate with
17:22 dignity and respect and looks out for
17:24 for the common good uh as a mcpon said
17:27 they say Hey I'm just you hear it all
17:29 the time I was just doing my job say
17:31 yeah but you you do it well and you do
17:33 it with humility and you understand that
17:36 your function is to take care of people
17:39 not be just uh treated in some sort of
17:41 awe so thanks to the sailors out there
17:43 who are doing that every single day
17:45 deploying and take care of us so we can
17:47 have this interview I appreciate that
17:49 and their families well sir I appreciate
17:52 you and mck Pon I appreciate you coming
17:54 out here and sharing your thoughts on
17:56 the path of developing leaders you want
17:57 to close up
17:59 I'll give it a shot yeah yeah I thought
18:00 that was pretty good saying know um what
18:03 I want to share with our forces is I
18:05 hope it's no secret but developing
18:06 leaders has been and will continue to be
18:09 my number one priority because as I
18:11 stated earlier no organization rises
18:13 above the capabilities of its leaders uh
18:16 we are the lid to the sailors that we're
18:18 responsible for and if we want our
18:20 Sailors to rise to Greatness then we
18:22 have to develop leaders that can rise to
18:24 Greatness so I'll continue there's many
18:26 areas of focus and a lot that we're
18:27 working on on but I will continue to
18:30 focus on developing leaders because for
18:31 the CNO for our Navy I believe that's
18:34 where I can help us achieve the most
18:37 bang for the buck is in developing
18:38 leaders W could have said it better
18:40 myself all right hey good luck to the
18:42 brownies this year all right and to the
18:44 Steelers question mark on that one
18:47 sincerity good luck to the Steelers all
18:49 right I'll give it to you sir and thank
18:52 you big F thank
18:53 you and uh thank you for sharing your
18:56 thoughts on leadership in the path of
18:57 developing leaders like you both touch
18:59 Bas on it's there no any well
19:02 functioning organization can really
19:05 produce any product or have any outcome
19:08 without leadership behind the helm so
19:11 I'd like to thank you again you're
19:12 welcome and thank you for joining us for
19:15 another edition of conversation with the
19:16 shipmate be sure to stay on top of the
19:18 entire series at the cno's leadership
19:20 page on navy. Mill and the Navy's
19:22 official YouTube channel thanks for
19:24 tuning in I'm mc2 gray and we'll see you
19:26 next time on conversation with the
19:29 shipmate