Cebu Regis Leadership Reflection Paper No 2 by Leader Lt. Commander Andre Ladan

prof submitted is my reflection paper 2

thanks

Regis Leadership Cebu

Leader Andre Ladan

Reflection Paper 2

I am the sum of the shared experience and wisdom of many people. My whole being is my character and biology intersecting people and circumstance across time and space. I am made up of all traits, good and bad, intrinsic or learned. The continuous clashing of internal and external factors that shaped my being are brought about by the choices made under a unique set of time and circumstance.  

What brought me here is my optimism, though fazed with trials I've always believed that it can't rain all the time. One has just got to hold on and never let go. That eventually that sunlight is going to pierce those clouds and life will be sunny as a summer's day. I am also stubbornly confident, it helps me carry the heavier burdens in life. At times there will be moments where I've probably bitten more than I could chew and got burned but at the very least I learned something new. I am also very friendly and eager to help people, these help me make lasting relationships and discover new things from other people. By nature, I am very inquisitive as to what make people tick. I usually let new acquaintances talk their hearts out for it lets me get a deeper understanding as to where they're coming from. I genuinely want to know why people act the way they do.

Optimism, confidence and being sociable are a few of the most important internal factors that helped in shaping me. They've served me well while growing up, though seemingly unimportant the specific set of circumstances I went through were a perfect match for those traits.

Since childhood I've always carried those traits, though I've lived a very normal and sheltered life there were also trying periods. I came to PMA when I was seventeen, I was never a volunteer I was more or less shipped. Having no previous para-military experience except for being a member of the boy scouts I never really knew what to expect. I was excused from CAT because I played basketball and I dropped ROTC in college. Right from the get go we were running everytime, words can only be spoken if needed and when needed it has to be shouted. Meals and showers were taken in ten seconds, there was no I. Only a myriad of shaved heads and weary faces. It was beast barracks. Every PMA cadet goes through beast barracks, it's a trial of sorts to test your mettle. Encouraging words are far and between, it was eight weeks of running, sleep deprivation, basic military tactics, endless hours of mass exercises with limited food and water. There are no visitors, no letters(internet was at its infancy then), and no entertainment. There were nights you could hear cries of other teenagers longing for home, at times it seems far away. Sometimes it's the locker next to yours.

Optimism fueled me during those times, knowing that these kinds of moments will indeed pass. As the weeks passed I began noticing a few things. I became faster and stronger. My endurance was way past its previous state, and weeks after the start of training I have got to shed a single tear. My confidence is also a big part of that development, there were military activities that could literally kill you if you panicked. Run down rappelling (running on the side of a 60ft wall using a rope), drown proofing (being thrown in the water 12 ft deep with hands and feet tied), slide for life (its like a zip line without the safety harness) and weapons familiarization (fire guns, throw grenades, launch mortars that kind of stuff). I could not have completed them without a big, big, big chunk of confidence.

Being sociable helped me stave off loneliness during those times. As PMA was considered a melting pot of Filipino culture I witnessed first hand the peculiarities of the different provinces of our country. My innate curiosity when it comes to people was being fed by the different personalities of people around me. To date I could say that I have no particular allegiance to any sub-group. My closest friends in PMA came from different provinces. Cebu, Bohol, Sorsogon, Davao, Ilocos norte, Cagayan de Oro,  Marinduque, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Bulacan are some of the provinces of my closest classmates.

My greatest internal strengths are also the source of my weakness, my friendliness led to people abusing my friendship. My overconfidence got me in trouble at times because I sometimes bite more than I could chew and my optimism sometimes blinds me from abandoning a losing battle.

In my family, the most influential external factor that helped shape me to what I am was my father. As a young kid I grew up idolizing my father. He taught me to play fair and treat everyone equally. He taught me to stand for my principles and defend people who cannot defend themselves. He taught me to value my word and the word of others. He showed us the importance of family and the support system it provides. As we grew up we began to value and internalize those teachings.

For external influences coming from the school, well I came from PMA. It is a school for developing leaders. It taught me the importance of command and how to respect it. It taught me how to look after other people's welfare before my own. It taught me how to say no even when others say yes. It taught me how to anticipate situations and dictate the pace of operations to ensure success. It taught me the importance of protecting the right set of values and setting the example to one's men.

At work, my greatest influences came from my former bosses. Every commander that I had, I try to take one good trait and integrate it to my leadership style. I learned how to make an organization indispensable to another from an Airforce Colonel. I learned the value of technical competence and planning from an Army General. Another Army General taught me the importance of standing in front of the bus for your one's men. A navy commander taught me the importance of relationships in inter-agency activities. All of those things I tried to integrate to my brand of leadership.

What is the learning?

I learned that the internal factors and the external factors that influenced me are an integral part of my personality. I learned that they have to synergize for me to offer the most authentic and effective brand of leadership to others. As a military officer, it is important because we manage human lives. An authentic brand of leadership will breed trust in any organization. I've also learned to dig deep into oneself and appreciate its importance. Self awareness is the first step in becoming a leader.

What is the relation to what I already know?

In the military we were taught many leadership tenets, but basically it all boils down to accomplishing the mission and looking out for the welfare of our men. For the past 20 years this has been my driving force. The learning from this activity will help infuse new meaning to my leadership. It will help me perform my tasks easier for the leadership style that I'll be showing is more attuned to my personality. It will help me identify the gaps in my leadership and seek to improve them.

 What have I done, am doing, will be doing for this topic?

Prior to taking this class, I already have my leadership credo which is to build GOOD bridges of friendship, make a BETTER self and bring out the BEST in others. I've been practicing that brand of leadership for the past 3 years and it has been mostly effective for it reflects my values. I sought to build strong relationships with people that will transcend my military career for I know that a military career is not forever. What is important are the lives of the people you've touched. I've continually improved myself through education and tried to learn new things as much as possible. I've also supported my people in their education. As much as possible I encourage them to improve themselves through education and exposure to new technologies. As I currently head my organization, I try to inject new concepts learned not only in my leadership class but from other subjects at AGSB as well. But then being in the military, I have to tailor fit those concepts to what we do for us to benefit from it. For this topic I'll try to share this concept to my supervisors. This will of course take time because it is not a classroom setting but rather more of a one on one set up. Helping them understand self awareness thru knowing the factors critical to ones development will help them understand their own personalities and hopefully help them in managing other people.