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Andy Fehdrau

Leader Identity

Prof. Hess

11/2/2023
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Who are you as a leader? What do you look for in leadership? What makes a successful

leader? It depends on who you talk to, they might have different viewpoints on leadership. It also

depends on the position of the individual you are asking. Are they in the leadership position or

they under the individual who is in the position to lead. Leadership to me, is someone who can

provide their vision to others and persuade and empower them to successfully complete the

vision. There are different leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic, lassiez-fare,

transformative leadership, servant leadership, and transactional leadership. We will only discuss

a few in this paper with scenarios. There are numerous leadership characteristics such as

emotional intelligence, accountability, communication, etc. In this paper we will go over my

highs and lows in my leadership journey through high school sports, the Marines, and civilian

world.

First, we must understand what leadership is. Leaders for the most part are charismatic

individuals who are in positions of power to lead people, organizations, or countries. With that

being said, there can be individuals who use their leadership for terrible causes. For example,

Adolf Hitler in leadership perspective was a successful leader. I know, you are probably reading

this paper stunned. He was able to persuade an entire country to accomplish his vision. But he

lacked in leadership characteristics, such as judgement, integrity, and many more areas. For the

most part, leaders make sound decisions for the better of the organization, country, etc. Let’s

break down how the different leadership styles play out in different scenarios.

Autocratic leadership is a leadership style where one individual holds all the control and

does not listen to anyone’s ideas, thoughts, etc. This is a very common leadership style in our

military services in the United States. This leadership is very black and white which is why it

works in the armed services. The higher up gives direction and the younger Marines, Soldiers,
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Airmen, or Sailors go out an execute the task without hesitation. In this type of leadership, there

is a clear distinction between who is in power and who is not. This type of leadership works very

well inside the ranks of the military but would probably not do so well in businesses, schools,

and our government. We will discuss some firsthand experiences in this type of leadership later

in the paper.

Democratic leadership is a leadership style that is most common in businesses in

America. That is a biased opinion because it all depends on the situation, industry, and many

other things. This type of leadership encourages others to bring in their viewpoint, their thoughts

on decision making in organizations. Ultimately it comes down to the leader’s decision, but this

allows people to be heard and valued more than just another number in the organization. This

leadership style creates more involvement and with that comes more productivity. We will see an

example of this leadership style later in the paper that happened very recently.

Lastly, we will cover transformational leadership. This type of leadership style is

charismatic and can influence people. Did you ever listen to a presentation from someone and

how they conduct themselves, talk, and go over information just has your eyes glued? Well, you

experienced someone who is in this section of leadership. This leadership style often has

individuals looking up to them, they inspire and motivate individuals to not only complete tasks

but go above and beyond. These individuals often have a high intellectual thought process and

can approach many situations differently and that is important in leadership regardless of the

industry. Next, I will attach a graph of my leadership highs and lows followed by a few short

stories.
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Graph 1.1:

I understand it may be difficult to read so I will type here from left to right. Starting from

the left, high school sports, quitting high school sports, joining the United States Marine Corps,

leading Marines, leaving the United States Marine Corps, becoming an Account Manager, almost

losing my job, to successful turning my book of business or portfolio around at work.

High school for many people is a once in a lifetime experience. How this time in people’s

lives plays out can determine a lot of things for their futures. Most people don’t think of

leadership when it comes to high school, however in sports people can become leaders. When I

was playing football my freshman year, I was at the highest point in my life at that time. It was

my 8th grade summer going into my freshman year, multiple practices a day, kids fighting for the
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starting spot for each position, it was great. I was in a leadership position known as the

Quarterback (QB). A person who controls the offense and holds knowledge in everyone’s job and

responsibilities. This can be identified as transactional leadership but more on the end of

autocratic leadership. I believe it is autocratic leadership because there is a clear separation

between responsibilities in positions and often success and failures get put on the Quarterback.

After struggling to get the starting position early in the season and understanding that I wasn’t

going to get much playing time. I thought, should I ride out the season on the bench or go get a

job and work on the weekends? I eventually decided to quit football and that damaged some

relationships with friends and teammates. It also damaged their views on me as a leader, in better

words, my reputation. My morale was at a very low point and sometimes I pondered the question

of where I could have been if I decided to stick with it. The world may never know but I think

this experience in my life allowed me to question a lot of things and truly find what I am

passionate about. Which led me to joining the United States Marine Corps.

Graduating the United States Marine Corps bootcamp was one of the most amazing

moments in my life. I adapted, overcame, and conquered one of the toughest training programs

in the armed services. My time in the Marines was filled with many highs and lows. I

experienced many different leadership situations and leadership styles and characteristics. I was

surrounded by years of knowledge and put into constant difficult situations, war, and garrison.

Garrison meaning normal operations on base, something civilians would consider normal day to

day life. Autocratic leadership in the Marines is often the go to for majority of situations. When I

initially joined, I was considered a junior Marine, someone of low rank and not much time in

service. I experienced autocratic leadership from a follower perspective. It takes time to get used

to, and early on creates a lot of internal hatred thoughts toward the leader until you understand
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they have the knowledge, and they are trying to prepare you for the worst. As I was promoted

through the ranks and began leading Marines, autocratic leadership is often pushed onto new

leaders. Using this leadership got people’s attention and when I controlled convoy operations for

my platoon, it often worked to execute missions effectively. However, I completed a few

leadership seminars and questions started to ponder in my head if other leadership styles would

work. After continuing training, I identified and on and off switch. What does this mean? It

means a leader must have the intelligence to identify what leadership style to use for every

situation. While I was deployed and in combat training, autocratic leadership was used. While I

was in garrison, I used democratic leadership. This allowed me to allow younger Marines to gain

experience through trial and error. This also allowed me to become a transformative leader due to

the understanding I had of many approaches. Even though the graph 1.1 shows only highs, there

were a lot of lows during that time as well. Ultimately after my deployment I decided I was not

going to re-enlist in the Marines and transition into civilian world with my knowledge and

experiences gained.

When I departed the Marines, I was unsure about what I truly wanted to do. So, I started

working in the landscape industry to pass time while I started my educational journey. I

identified my degree path for Organizational Leadership and hit the books. I promoted very

quickly in the landscape industry, starting as a Laborer, onto Foreman, onto my current position

as an Account Manager. Which leads me to my last high and low turning point. Initially, I felt

great being in the Account Manager position. I am considered a middle level manager with

personnel and equipment under me, and the title also beefs up the resume. The experience gained

in this position and knowledge learned through education has helped lead me to becoming one of

the top Account Managers in my branch. Since I began distinguishing myself from the others my
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organization assigned me to a difficult task. I was transitioned into an entirely new book of

business that wanted to fire my company from providing future services. The portfolio was

totaled at $1.8 million dollars and on the verge of cancelling yearly maintenance contracts. I was

tasked with turning the relationships around and saving the portfolio to prevent loss of revenue

and my job. I became extremely stressed with tackling this obstacle. I had a newborn son, going

to school, and wanted to be let go by every customer I serviced. I had two options, I could quit

and hit the hills and find a new job or I could give it my all and see what I am fully capable of.

After many months of extreme stress and long working days that slid into nights, I was able to

overcome that difficult obstacle. Proving to everyone in the branch that I am the leader I present

myself to be. Not only was I able to rebuild every relationship I was able to expand each account

within the portfolio increasing total revenue from $1.8 million dollars to $2.6 million dollars. Of

course, the majority of this couldn’t have been done without my employees and my company

providing me with the resources I needed to tackle this tough task. Since conquering this

obstacle, I have come to a new current high in my leadership journey.

The experiences explained in this paper that I have had in my life from high school to the

present day have provided me with plenty of highs and lows. It has also presented me with much

knowledge because every situation is different from the other. It has allowed me to gain

leadership characteristics and styles to help me develop personally and professionally. I think

when it comes to leadership style, I would say I can effectively do them all but value democratic

approach to be my main choice. It seems to be the best route to take for the future innovation and

diversity that organizations are looking for. When it comes to leadership characteristics, I would

say I am a man of integrity, and hold great standards in communication, problem solving,

emotional intelligence and much more. As a leader we must constantly adapt to new situations
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and determine the best outcome either for the organization, the personnel, or the product. With

all you know now, who are you as a leader? What do you look for in leadership? What makes a

successful leader?
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Work Cited:

OGL 482 Turning Point Graph.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The Leadership Challenge. Jossey Bass.