The Cpo as a Leader

Running head: MANAGER AND LEADER IN ONE

The Navy Chief Petty Officer: Manager and Leader in One

Damien Len Benton

Liberty University

Abstract

In the business world, there are leaders and managers. While there is no job in the business world that allows you to do both, there is a career in the military that allows you to, being a Chief Petty Officer. This paper will show how through Navy training and experience, a hybrid leader and manager in one are created. The ability be a leader and manager at the same time is something rarely in the business world, and can be beneficial to a company. The Navy Chief is given the unique role of not only providing leadership to junior sailors and junior officers above him, but to also manage different functions that are given to him on a daily basis.

The Navy Chief Petty Officer: Manager and Leader in One

The Chief Petty Officer, or CPO, has a unique job in the Navy. They are expected to be a leader the day they put on their CPO anchors, or collar devices, and be able to manage everything that is given to them. A CPO is molded early in their career as a junior Petty Officer to become a leader and manager through performance, job accomplishment and initiative. Having this type of person creates an asset in the business world because this person cannot only perform the job of a manager, but also an executive level leader. This is proven by deckplate leadership and hands on management, creating a hybrid leader beneficial to any company or organization

Deckplate Leadership of the Chief Petty Officer

The Navy defines leadership as: “the art of influencing people to progress towards the accomplishment of a specific goal” (Garner, 1990, p. 5-1). “Forged from the Deckplates” is a motto that all Chief Petty Officers in the U.S. Navy live by. What this phrase says is that a CPO is made from the bottom up. The Navy creates leaders through many opportunities, some big, some small, but always...