My Command Philosophy

By Chester B. Cabalza

A good leader, manager, and commander, which I consider myself as one; possesses strategy, vision, power and powerful ideas. A good leader like me ignites passion and inspires others. This supports my character being focused and responsible.

Leaders have different command philosophies because everyone is genetically different. The experiences of childhood and later life combine with genetic predispositions to form psychological attributes of the adult, however, as psychologists suggest in schema theory, personality attributes can change as adults encounter new problems, situations, experiences or through conscious intervention.

In my command philosophy, my personality can be reflected through my contentious style in my work ethic. I highly value hard work that shows my dedication in my job; I toil very hard and capable of intense and single-minded effort. I side with the right thing that regards strong moral principles and values and the right way in which everything must be done “right”. Perfectionism and perseverance are considered in all tasks and projects to be complete to the final detail without even minor flaws, and I stick with my own convictions and opinions. Hence, I looked up to orderliness and tidiness in doing my job. I also value prudence and accumulation which asserts my personality being thrifty, careful and cautious in all areas.

However, emotions also can have an impact in managing relationships with others. This can be externalized through empathy, sensing other’s emotions, understanding their perspective and taking active interest in their concerns.

Empathy which affects command philosophy has three kinds according to Daniel Goleman, i.e., cognitive, emotional and compassionate. Among the three, I subscribe most to ‘cognitive empathy’, simply knowing how the other person feels and what they might be thinking. Sometimes called perspective-taking, this kind of empathy can help in, say, a negotiation or in motivating people.

Believing that I am unemotional and controlling, confrontational and intimidating, these highlights my personality as a confronter, an officer who can command, and a challenging person; sometimes intense and defiant of rules. Yet with self-control, I am consistent, logical, focused and determined. These strong points of my character motivate me to hone formidable leadership skills. In fact, when I say skills, it includes any behavior, activity or tactic and usually these are intentional and utilized for an expected result. Skills include questioning, listening, reflecting, reframing, paraphrasing, behaviors, tactics and intervention strategies.

I strictly emphasize my innate leadership attributes in many areas of my management and command skills. This proves my capacity to command and move people. Hence, good leadership also works through balanced emotions using emotional intelligence (EQ) in handling my own personality and my relationships with others.

Leaders carry out this process by applying leadership attributes such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge and skills. Although, some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles based from the trait theory.

For instance, as a leader I can cling to various assumptions. Say for example, in truth assumption, as a leader I can impose that “I am right, and you are wrong!…after all…I am the Boss!" This assumption causes endless grief, for the person I am poking in the chest, and myself. Moving away from assuming what I know, the ‘truth’ shifts the purposes from proving I am right to understanding perceptions, interpretations and values that affect my view, to find out that what is true rather than what I assumed to be true.

In looking the strength of my leadership and command skills, using Daniel Goleman’s frameworks on emotional intelligence: self-awareness looks at how I manage myself through emotional self-awareness that reads my own emotions and recognizing impacts using ‘gut sense’ to guide my personal decisions. The accuracy of self-assessment can be understood only if I know my own strength and limits that would enhance my self-confidence for a sound sense of one’s self-worth and capabilities.

In self-management, emotional self-control is important because it keeps my often disruptive emotions and impulses under control. These kinds of situations arise especially in dealing with difficult persons and during difficult conversations where anger and tensions are apparent in dealing with these stresses. Anger can either be physically released at the time it is experienced, or it is suppressed. Since it is rarely appropriate to release anger physically for fear of damaging relationships, or causing bodily harm, it is often suppressed. On the other hand, sometimes in tensions, emotions are not released, one of two things may happen. It may build up until it can no longer be suppressed, and explode at someone who may have had nothing to do with original anger. Or it may remain unreleased and, over a period, may cause chronic muscular holding patterns and possibly may cause damage to health.

In relationship management, inspirational leadership assumes a guiding and motivating with a compelling vision. A good leader influences, wielding a range of tactics for persuasion; bolstering others’ abilities through feedback and guidance; become a change catalyst by initiating, managing and leading a new direction. Thus, teamwork and collaborations can help achieve cooperation and team building in most of my endeavors. At the end, a good leader is not necessarily proficient in all these areas, but at least in some areas and works to develop competency in other gray areas.

Thus, in a real world, one’s command philosophy is tested and compelled in various difficult situations. It is here where one determines who’s right, who meant what and who’s to blame. With each of these assertions come crippling assumptions that can cloud one’s judgment as a good leader.

In my assessment on governance issues as a commander, the new administration must look into the population policy of the country to solve roots of the many social ills. If not watched, the population will have doubled by 2033 and may reach 200 million by 2042. The growth rate is extremely high compared with competitive ASEAN neighbors.

For instance, in environmental issues, I have positive and affirmative belief that environmental issues should not only be regarded as a fad or a trend but a reality that the entire humanity must confront with. The emphasis on environmental security should not sugarcoat the core issues that each country with various ecological situations face up to and the universal ecological issues that everyone of us share with.

In the end, based on the speech of Neil Ahrendt, I share with his thoughts that we must demand environmental protection from our leaders, our politicians, our friends, our families and ourselves. We must make a commitment to renew the spirit of innovation; we must lead by example in saying that we will protect this world so that our children and generations after them can exist in a sustainable society which does not inherently damage the ground it resides on. We must rebuild our society so that the air we breathe is clean, the sky we look upon is clear, and the waters which run throughout are free from pollution.

Based from the study of Abraham Maslow (1954) who felt that human needs were arranged in a hierarchical order. Maslow posited that people want and are forever striving to meet various goals. Because the lower level needs are more immediate and urgent, then they come into play as the source and direction of a person's goal if they are not satisfied. A need higher in the hierarchy will become a motive of behavior as long as the needs below it have been satisfied. Unsatisfied lower needs will dominate unsatisfied higher needs and must be satisfied before the person can climb up the hierarchy.
In his hierarchy of needs, in my view I have achieved already the hierarchy of self-actualization, which describes exactly how I know who am I, where am I going and what I would like to accomplish. It is definitely a state of well-being. Thus, the characteristics of self-actualizing person like me possess the following characteristics: has better perceptions of reality and is comfortable with it, accepts myself and my own natures, likes privacy and tends to be detached, relies on my own development and continued growth, has strong ethical and moral standards, original, inventive, and has a deep feel of kinship with others.

But as a person with strong red personality, being confrontational, strongly verbal, and possessing formidable leadership skills, overall, my self-assessment holds to my willful determination to assert the mental model that the strong survives and the weak do not. A stronger character motivates me to learn and exercise in an appropriate use my power in a right way.

Summing it up my command philosophy, in my own assessment, I believe that I am tough, headstrong, smart and a leader. These assets can lead me to achieve my future goals and destiny in life.