My philosophy of leadership started developing when I joined the Navy as an officer and the task of being a leader was expected of me. Previously, I had never considered myself a leader nor had I ever had any desire of becoming a leader. My drives had always been individualistic with no desire to work as part of a team, much less to lead one. Of course, my individualism often came into conflict with my duties as an officer with the result that, although I often did well at my job, I never excelled as an officer. During the latter years of my service, I started to examine what it meant to be a leader and studied the leadership qualities of those I admired as officers. I also reflected upon my own experiences and started taking note (mentally) of examples of leadership in whatever I was reading, which often (and still does) comprise a lot of history, theology, current events, and philosophy.

In my experience, there are two criteria, which one must have in order to be a leader: one must have some degree of leadership ability and one must have the necessary expertise in his or her subject matter or current circumstances (by this I mean the current events surrounding one or the situation one finds oneself in--whether on a local, national, or international scale) to make the correct decisions to enable his or her followers to achieve their goals. If one has no leadership ability, one cannot be a leader. If one does not make what his or her followers consider the correct decisions to achieve their goals, no one will have faith in the leader's abilities and, consequently, no one will follow and without followers, there can be no leader.

In my opinion, leadership is a personal quality that can be refined, much as the intellect is refined through experience and education. Furthermore, just as some people appear gifted with a naturally high intellect, some people appear to be gifted with a natural ability in leadership, which they seem to refine through personal experience and education. To my mind, there are three factors that come together, often through happenstance, to make a leader: natural ability, experience, and education. Of these, natural ability seems to be the most important, because it is the essential building material that the other two refine. To use an analogy from the art of pottery: natural ability is the clay while experience and education are the potter's hands.

Natural ability is the most important of the three ingredients, because within the leader must be an innate drive to want to be in charge of a group. There also has to be an ability to recognize when opportunities arise to take charge of a situation and thereby exert leadership. This ability to recognize opportunities for leadership is refined with experience and education. But without the innate drive to be in charge, the ability to recognize opportunity is meaningless. Without the desire to be in charge, a person will not have the motivation to make use of opportunity.

However, just as a mound of clay is useless if it has not been shaped into a pot, natural ability is pointless without the experience that refines it. The sine qua non of leadership is interaction with other people. No one can be born experienced in interacting with others; interaction with others can come only through experience. Although some people may be born with an ability to understand the psychology of others, it is only through experience that one can come to know the particular experiences, attitudes, and goals of those one intends to lead. Only by using his knowledge of his followers' abilities and what motivates them can a leader motivate and direct a group toward achieving its goals.

The importance of a formal education in leadership to one's leadership abilities is arguable, but it cannot be dismissed. Many of American society's leaders have some type of formal education in leadership. The most obvious examples of this are the officers, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower (1), who have graduated from military academies such as West Point or Annapolis and have gone, on to public service following their military careers. However, there have been great leaders, such as Jesus Christ, who was a craftsman (2), and Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, a lawyer (3), who were never formally educated in leadership. Therefore, although great leaders may have a formal education in leadership, a formal education in leadership is not always a prerequisite to be a great leader. However, it will doubtlessly help the average person who needs to develop his or her leadership skills, just the same as an education in pottery will help anyone who desires to become a potter.

The ability to make the correct decisions for the benefit of the group and to achieve the group's goals is perhaps the most powerful ability a leader has at his disposal, not only because correct decisions enable the leader to achieve the desired goals and because it instills faith in his abilities in his followers, but also because it instills faith in his abilities among his peers and among those senior to him in rank. It is my experience that subordinates will obey the orders of someone with higher rank in an organization, whether they have faith in his abilities or not, simply because the leader has the power to decide (or influence) the fate of the subordinates. Peers of equal rank will sometimes seek advice as friends and colleagues often will. However, it is rare leader whose advice is sought by those superior in rank. It is from having the cooperation and aid of peers and seniors that a leader derives much of his ability to achieve his goals and the goals of his group. That cooperation is more often than not dependent upon their faith in his or her abilities. That faith, in my experience, is dependent on the leader's ability to make the correct decisions that will benefit all concerned.

Based upon the ideas noted above, my concept of leadership is not based solely on the personal qualities of the leader, but also on his ability to be an expert in his field and in his current circumstances. If a leader is to have followers, the leader needs not only to have leadership skills, but also needs to be able to make the correct decision in any situation he encounters and thus build faith in his followers, peers, and seniors.