Leadership Secrets of a Masterful Navy Leader - RADM Pat March - in his own words

“Traits to make me a successful officer”

• Belief in the importance of the mission of the Navy and the Cryptologic Community and the ability to articulate and pass that belief on to subordinates.
• Readiness to undertake any mission and to accept the job assigned. I never campaigned for any certain position but rather tried to do the best I could at what the Navy decided I should be doing. This is why, when I was the Assignment Officer in BuPers, I sometimes wasn’t too sympathetic with young officers whining when they came into my office.
• From the very beginning understood the importance of the Chief Petty Officers.
• I have a facility for getting along with people, but, at the same time, I think I had an inherent sense of what was important and what was fair – both to the Navy and to the individual.

“Traits to make me a successful cryptologist”

• I suppose a basic fascination with puzzles and the ability to write a coherent story from fragmentary data.

“Leadership philosophy”

• Very simply, application of the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you”). Basically I tried to be “hard but fair.” And most basic of all, praise in public and criticize in private.
• Be clear about what is expected from subordinates but give vent to and encourage their initiative.
• Know your people. I’m not talking mollycoddling or improper fraternization, but observe and listen to your officers and Chief Petty Officers.