Some leaders feel forced to exaggerate to appear relatable. In other circumstances, leaders are relatable enough but don’t feel they can be honest because that leads to vulnerability. An honest leader is relatable; a vulnerable leader is not weak. Leaders have to have built the credibility that allows them to be vulnerable when times call for it.
Being in command is the most challenging and rewarding tour of a military career. My last US Coast Guard tour was as both Commander, Sector Columbia River and Commanding Officer, Air Station Astoria. I was in command from June 2018 to August 2021 and it was during this tour that the Covid-19 pandemic struck. As we all know it changed our lives in the most fundamental of ways.
While many companies were able to adopt a remote work strategy, the Armed Forces were required to continue to provide in-person response services while moving non-mission critical activities to a remote environment. While we continued to operate in siloed teams, the unit could no longer meet all together, in person. I recognized I would need to find another way to connect with my over 500 unit members.
I would need to find a new way to communicate. Leading without meeting, establishing a connection and creating a common bond with each of the over 500 members, was my new challenge. How was I going to lead without being able to meet in person? I took to the written word to not only communicate professional updates but also to connect with members on a personal level.
These thoughts were on my mind when I wrote the following to my unit.
May 15, 2020: Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye,
If, at the end of a week, you don’t have enough dirty clothes to do a full load of laundry then you are not changing your clothes often enough during the week. This oddly concerning and very specific observation was made by my daughter this week. I am able to do a full load of laundry every week, so I am pretty sure she was not talking to me, but on reflection I do think she may have been talking to her brothers. Personal hygiene shouldn’t be sacrificed during a transition to home schooling. I had noticed an increase in gym short use over the last month, a gradual transition from jeans to sweat pants and gym shorts. I guess that was inevitable given the circumstances. Apparently, laundry police has been added to my weekend to do list.
I did notice it had become harder to do laundry since school closed. This is due to one thing only. My son brought his friend’s drum set over and set it up in the basement. I discovered this new arrangement one Saturday morning when I went to put my weekly laundry load into the washer and found it was blocked by the drum set. Because it was before noon, I had to wait 6 hours for the boy to wake so I could ask him why and when that monstrosity found its way into the house. He claimed it was so he could keep practicing for school. He needed to keep his grades up as a graduating Senior. I found that argument to be weak, at best, considering it was his calculus grade that would be the thing to keep him from graduating. It all turned out for the best and he is a class Salutatorian. But, back to the drum set, he did some good with it when he and his friend used it to make a Public Service Announcement for Covid awareness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aSbB0KDY7s). Later, one sunny Saturday afternoon, he and two friends set the drums up on the back deck and they had an appropriately distanced tiny deck concert. They are talented musicians and their performance brought out a few neighbors who set up their own deck chairs to enjoy the improv show. Of course, there was the one who, out of breath because they had hustled over from a block or two away, complained bitterly about how loud it was inside their house despite being so far away and the windows closed. This is probably the same person who complains about the sun shining when they forgot their sunglasses or that the lottery jackpot wasn’t large enough. My son and his friends apologized while some of their new fans were less congenial in expressing their dissatisfaction for this new concert attendee’s opinion.
So, how much of these stories are true? That is a question I get every now and then, especially about PowerPoint Friday. Oddly, not so much about Thirsty Thursday. I guess it is a fair question. After all, I think we can all agree I may have embellished a little when describing Matt Damon’s academic record. We don’t know he graduated from M.I.T. before becoming a botanist astronaut. But, he does have an oddly vast and yet very detailed knowledge about international maritime law that led to him conclude he was mankind’s first Space Pirate. Peter Quill and his trash panda sidekick probably would take umbrage with that assertion. But quite frankly, my boys would know more about that than I. But I stand by my statement- there are few problems a roll of duct tape can’t fix.
With admiration, gratitude, optimism x3, slightly more grey hair, a renewed sense of well-being, and unyielding faith in the problem solving ability duct tape,
Your Sector Commander
PS Call your Dad. And your Mom, she loves you too. I’m talking to you Joey Coyle!