The First Component of Naval Leadership - PERSONAL EXAMPLE

According to Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, "The first component of Naval leadership is personal example. Your subordinates will reflect your sincerity, enthusiasm, smart appearance, military behavior, technical competence, and coolness and courage under stress. To be an effective leader you must first look and act like one." Perry instinctively understood this principle.

According to an Army officer who had frequent contact with him: "the commodore was blunt, yet dignified... heavy and not graceful...held in awe by the junior officers and having little to do with them, seriously courteous to others... The ship seemed to have a sense of importance because he was on board."

From LEADERSHIP EMBODIED,
Chapter 7, Mathew Calbraith Perry
by Dr. Michael J. Crawford