Crucible Experience

L200 Essay - Crucible Experience

MAJ Michael A. Brock ILE 10-01, SG 17D 16 February 2010

Brock SG17D

The purpose of this essay is to identify, describe, and justify a crucible experience from my life; discuss how that experience influenced my personal leadership style, beliefs, philosophy, or behaviors; and explain how it will influence me as an organizational leader. To lay the ground work to do this, I believe it is important to first define what a crucible experience actually is. According to Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas, in their article titled C rucibles of Leaders hip, a crucible is defined as: “A transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or an altered sense of identity.” 1 Based on this very broad definition, I discovered that it was difficult to identify just one particular experience that had a profound impact on my sense of identity. Over the course of my forty four years on this earth, half of that serving our great Nation, I have experienced many opportunities to grow as a person and as a leader. For this paper, I chose to use an experience from when I was a newly promoted Corporal and Infantry Mortar squad leader in the Salute Guns Platoon of the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard”, back in 1990. During a a standard monthly counseling session with my immediate supervisor, a Staff Sergeant that will remain nameless in the event my essay is ever published, I received some advice that had such a profound impact on me that I decided to leave the Active Duty Army at the end of my first term of service, join the National Guard, and attend college. He counseled me that if I wanted to be a strong leader in the Army, I must always put the Army first. The mission must always come before my family, even if it meant I would lose them. His advice challenged my paradigm of: God, family, country. This caused me to take a deep look at what kind of man I wanted to be remembered as at the end of my life. Would an Army...