A few years back I had a conversation with someone about an upcoming promotion cycle. He was telling me about how he hopes he makes the next rank so he could gain some clout in the unit. I asked him why he thought he needed rank to lead. He wasn’t able to articulate his thoughts very well about exactly how he was feeling, but it came down to he wasn’t comfortable being a leader.
I have never been a “rank” guy. In fact, I never had the option of using my rank because I was ALWAYS the lowest ranking guy on the team or within my peer group. I signed up for four years and was a true blue Airman Basic. Those coming in after me had the option to sign up for six and get Airman First Class after tech school. They showed up to the flightline almost a year after me and already out-ranked me. Fast-forward several years later to where I ran a few teams where I was the youngest and lowest ranking guy on the team of crusty maintainers who did not have too much patience.
I had to rely on building relationships and earning the trust of those on my team. I was fortunate enough to have been given a great example of how to do this by watching my father. He doesn’t have a college degree and never held a fancy title; however, every organization he has ever been a part of, he rose to leadership roles and was recognized as a leader by his peers. He did this by leveraging sweat equity, or so I explained it away at first. He would go all-in whether it was at church, work, the VA, or anywhere else. He would figure out what needed to be done and then just do it.
He worked his butt off in support of the team or his family and never expected anything in return. We went on a road trip vacation once in the winter right after a snow storm. Cars were in ditches every few miles. We stopped and pulled each one out along the way. It added several hours onto the trip, but that is the kind of man he is. I adapted this to each new role I was trusted to fill as well. I looked for the stuff that no one wanted to do or the things that slowed them down and I would take care of them. Right away, people appreciated the fact I cared and the fact I was willing to do the dirty work. That is how you build sweat equity very quickly.
Since then, I have created a formula for trust that has expanded on this system of sweat equity a lot. For those who haven’t read the article on building trust, it is to be visible, be interested and be involved. Sweat equity is the hack, if you will, to this system as it covers all three variables at once. However, you can’t be an effective team leader if you are constantly doing the dirty work and taking your eyes off of the finish line and not focusing on how to get the team across it. Once you have this initial trust of the team and they see you are willing to experience “the suck” with them, you can back off a bit and go deeper into the tasks that will keep the ball moving forward and the team is willing to follow you anywhere…it just takes time, effort and sweat. Before I was able to start initiatives I wanted to at my current role, it took about five months to get to the level of trust I needed.
So do you need rank to be a leader? Not at all. In fact, it is harder for me now that I am the highest ranking NCO in my organization. No one lets me do the dirty work anymore and it is very hard for me to build sweat equity. I have to find other ways to be visible, interested and involved. It is hard for me to fit this role because I have never had to do it before.
I do agree with his opinion about how rank does provide clout, but that is something to gain influence outside of the organization not to bully those within. Rank is something to strive for because it is a tool that can be used to move rocks out of the way of your team. It angers me when someone on the team gets the run around. Then when someone with more rank calls the same person about the same issue, it gets handled.
If you need rank to lead your team, I would not call you a leader; you’re a bully.
deliberatedevelopment.org 
4 responses to “Is Rank Required for Leadership?”
Speaking in regards to rank, it is not the strips on your arm that make you a leader, it is your actions, the ability to do what’s right when others are not looking, to support your guys no matter what the cost an to speak up for what is right, while others turn away. It does not take stripes to make a leader, it takes an individual to only realize their potential.
When I was only an E-3 (that’s just a couple stripes) in the Air Force i had a O-3 ask me for leadership advice after seeing me handle a difficult situation where he was unsure what to do. Not saying that individual was not thought by others as a leader, because he was, but it was a moment I will always remember and it was a time where I realized that it doesn’t matter how many stripes you have or what rank you are, true leaders set that aside and look at you as a person an realize they can learn from anyone and at the same time anyone has the ability to lead if they take the initiative.
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[…] have written before about how I learned to gain the trust of others through sweat equity and genuinely wanting to help others. My father worked circles around his […]
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I was quickly entered into a supervisory position early on in my career. I entered the Air Force 29 Feb. 1956. After a few years in the RPI and Japan, I was assigned to the night shift, Tokyo Airways as supervisor with only two stripes due to seniority. I had three radio operators and a teletype operator working for me on mid-shifts and we had to communicate and flight follow aircraft from Hawaii, The Philippines, Guam, Taiwan and Japan to their destinations. I quickly became a leader, not by choice but by necessity and since I wanted to remain in the Air Force I did my best at it and did succeed. Later at Adair AFS,Or. I was the one and only in charge for the ADC, Portland Air Defense Sector as supervisor for MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System now) which was used by POADS as a viable communications backup in those days. Again, a job I acquired by necessity and grew into. Later, at Thule AB Greenland as a SSgt, I was supervisor of three work centers simultaneously and Special Projects NCO as well. I was Chief Engineer, AFRTS for two AM Radio Stations and one TV station plus the MARS station. I was given “off the wall” projects in the Electronics World that the normal work centers didn’t have the expertise or ability to handle. Later, on Okinawa I was Supervisor of “Blue Eagle”, for Admiral McCain (John’s father) in the Pacific and “Commando Escort”, SAC Comm for the Bombers and Tankers. At Grand Forks AFB, ND, I was Safety NCO and MARS Director. FInally, as a TSgt I was selected to attend the Maintenance Superintendent’s Course (In Residence for one year) at Keesler AFB and received some…supervisory training. After that it was Eglin AFB FL as a MSgt and supv of the Radio Maintenance shop for the missile range there. On to Germany as supv for the Ground Radio Maintenance. Shop for the 2nd Mob. Then in 1973 I got to go the NCO Academy at Richards-Gebaur AFB Missouri. Then back to Germany where I became Supervisor, Mobility Training and Evaluation for the 2nd Mob at Weisbaden. Later I went to the Senior NCO Academy at Gunther AL, then to the Commanders Course at Richards-Gebaur AFB Mo. and was sent to Guam as Commander, Det A. Barrigada Transmitter Site. Later, Deputy Commander and Maintenance Supervisor, Malatya Tropo Site, Turkey then Maintenance Superintendent (CMSgt) Kadena AB Japan and retirement later. I said all of this to say that leaders don’t have to have schooling…but it really helps!!!
Jim Hough
CMSgt Ret.
Lead Telemetry Technician
Kennedy Space Center,FL.
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Wow! That was a career of sustained excellence and passion for learning! Thank you for sharing that.
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