San Francisco --
Marines and Sailors with 4th Marine
Logistics Group, Marine Forces Reserve, participated in the 4th MLG Senior
Leadership Seminar at the Marines Memorial Club and Hotel in San Francisco,
Sept. 26-27, 2015.
The
goal of the seminar was to invoke discussion amongst the senior leaders of 4th
MLG and to learn how successful civilian corporations approach the principles
and practice of leadership.
"We
owe it to our institution to make sound leadership decisions based on the
guidance of our commander and our senior leaders," said Col. Todd A.
Holmquist, chief of staff, 4th MLG. “To do that, we constantly study the
principles of leadership and how we affect leadership across our organization.”
During
the first part of the seminar, the attendees shared best practices and
capabilities which they have implemented within their commands throughout the
year.
“Our
commanders are meeting the challenges of a constrained training environment
with the same effectiveness as the active component,” Holmquist said.
Often
times, commanders face the same types of challenges in meeting the annual
training requirements, but develop unique solutions to overcome these
obstacles.
"I
don't have all the correct answers, but listening to how my colleagues meet
challenges lets me jot some of those thoughts down so that I can apply them to
my own regiment," said Col. Joseph N. Raftery, commanding officer, Combat
Logistics Regiment 4, 4th MLG. “We are mutually benefitting each other by
sharing these ideas.”
In
the second part of the seminar, the Marines and Sailors watched presentations by
speakers from private sector companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, in
order to understand how these companies approach leadership.
“Coming from the Marine
Corps, I brought the core leadership principles I developed as a Marine leader,”
said Colby Williamson, a recruiter with Amazon and former Marine infantry squad
leader. “The difference at Amazon is that you can't give orders the way you can
in the military. You have to fine tune your interpersonal skills and solicit
feedback in order to influence your team members. I think these are things I
could have applied more in the Marine Corps.”
In addition, 4th
MLG’s senior leaders had the opportunity to tour Microsoft’s San Francisco
Sales Office, where the Microsoft staff taught the Marines how they can
leverage their existing technologies to enhance their leadership and management
capabilities.
“It’s our
responsibility as senior leaders in our organization to continuously evaluate
our own capabilities and to grow,” Holmquist said. “Whether it is through
military education or through other means, there are always opportunities to
develop and grow our organization.”
Through this
productive discussion of leadership, the Marines and Sailors strived to make 4th
MLG ready and responsive to the country’s future challenges.