[January 7, 2017] “My dog Roger ate my homework!” So was the excuse my son used to justify why he couldn’t produce his teacher-assigned homework during his first week in Junior High School. I probably used the same excuse as a young boy, so I was on to him fast and didn’t buy it. He spent time at school having to live with the shame that he was grounded in his room for a week. Leadership also means taking responsibility and dealing with it.
Today, a little different angle as I address the concept of responsibility in junior folks … beginning with my first military assignment and how it looked at the end of my career. The one observation that always intrigued me (or should I say surprised me), was that there were times when junior leaders asked that their responsibilities be taken away. These were not the Millennials of today but the Baby-Boomer generation.
Personal observations are fraught with bias and inaccuracies; yet, I believe there to always be a little truth in them. That truth was, and remains, that many people – from all walks of society – don’t like the burden of responsibility. I’ve seen people rebel against responsibilities being assigned to them and I’ve seen them quit lucrative jobs, break down and cry, and run away when given just a small slice of responsibility.
In my very first assignment as a new Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry, my Platoon Sergeant made several recommendations to promote soldiers to the rank of (Buck) Sergeant. The rank that soldiers often aspire and are most proud is the rank of Buck Sergeant (pay grade E-5). Privileges and status that comes with it and one gains the respect of many senior leaders when a soldier achieves that rank.
I was surprised when several of my newly promoted Sergeants asked me to have their responsibilities taken away. They realized that this required not just removing a few tasks from their list of things to do, but it also meant that they would no longer be a Sergeant, their pay reduced, and loss of their pride. When I asked why, most were quick to respond that they didn’t think being responsible for other soldiers would be so difficult, time consuming, and stressful.
Decades later I still find junior soldiers who will not take on the responsibilities of junior leadership at the rank of Sergeant. The good news? I cannot see an upward trend (although many like myself predicted it) where young soldiers would be rejecting responsibilities of more senior rank. After the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military has been through a transition that few could have foreseen that shaped the soldier into something better. Perhaps that explains it.
Today, the average soldier wants to be there with his unit and wants responsibility. Despite the fact that we hear about the feminization of the U.S. military (see guest article link here), I think the average soldier is better now when compared to when I was just starting out. Perhaps it was the crucible of war but whatever the reason, I find the younger generation (those in the military) to be smarter, stronger, and more resilient than those 40 years ago.
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