USMC How To: Stay Relevant

Guided Discovery.

Artist: GP Photography

Suggested Reading

• MCTP 6-10A, Sustaining the Transformation

  • Pages 7-1 through 8-13 based on printed document (PDF pages 99-121)

  • Description of general responsibilities and expectations of company- and field-grade Marine officers and the evolution of leadership requirements

• Link to MCTP 6-10A on the US Marine Corps Publications Electronic Library

• This week’s Study: The Mishap Library

• All excerpts below are from MCTP 6-10A

Guided Discovery

Every single day a leader should be able to answer the question “why am I in charge?” Not just in charge generally, but why are they in charge today, now, in this situation?

Being in charge is not a permanent state of being. A title does not automatically confer the right to lead.

You get to be in charge when you are relevant to those you are expected to lead.

Sustaining relevance as a leader is effort. The point is not to be viewed as cool, popular, or liked. Relevance is making the answer to the question “why am I in charge” self-evident to everyone else.

“It is not enough that you merely know a leader’s qualities and not enough that you proclaim them; you must exhibit them. To exact discipline, you must first possess self-discipline, and to demand unsparing attention to duty, you must spare none yourself.”
The Marine Officer’s Guide

Relevance is demonstrated.

Relevance is earned.

7-3. There are no easy shortcuts to becoming a good officer. It takes a nose-to-the-grindstone dedication every day.

Realize that Marine officers and non-commissioned officers who dedicate their careers to the Corps will continue to age, accumulate expertise, and gather power and responsibility, even as the the bottom of the organizational pyramid is refreshed every year with new 18 year olds. Rank makes the leaders important, but to inspire confidence and trust in decision making, leaders must stay relevant.

Our teams need leaders who are no less relevant. Otherwise, trust erodes as team members look elsewhere for relevant leadership.

How then do we stay relevant?

1. Stay Humble

2. Stay Grounded

3. Stay Hungry

4. Stay Curious

5. Stay Visible

These are mentalities, actions, and mantras. Combined, they will keep us relevant as we grow and expand our responsibilities.

Why are you in charge?
Are you relevant?
How do you assess relevancy of leaders above you? Who do you gravitate toward?

Stay Humble

Sustaining the Transformation includes two chapters on officers, one related to company-grade officers (Lieutenants through Captains) and the other for field-grade officers (Majors and Lieutenant Colonels). The very first topic addressed? Humility.

7-2. Marine officers must have the courage to lead in combat, the empathy to counsel a distressed Marine, the integrity to enforce unpopular decisions, and the humility to accept correction from more experienced enlisted Marines.

Humility is required to not become irrelevant. No greater self-sabotage exists for a leader than ego or pride.

7-2. Without humility, young officers may become caught up in their own authority and lose touch with their moral obligation to their Marines.

Everyone has experienced working for or around a leader lacking in humility. They eventually lose respect and relevance as those they deign to lead grow frustrated with the arrogance. This behavior fallacy is so quickly obvious to everyone else, but is it always obvious to the leader?