Against Regulations

Episode 42:  Operation Nose Lift

Henry:      Cosmetic Surgery is against army regulations.

Hawkeye:    Another good reason to do it.

Trapper:    Henry, do you know who’s a major down at Tokyo General?  You ever hear of Stanley Robbins?

Henry:     Yeah, sure, the plastic surgeon.  He does all those Hollywood people.

Trapper:    We could have him here in an hour working on Baker’s beak.

Henry:     Don’t tell me.  I don’t want to know about it.  You guys have my full permission, and I never said that.  I mean, I’m not even here, so how could I?

An enlisted man come to Hawkeye and Trapper for a nose job, however, plastic surgery is against regulations in the army.  Not deterred by regulations, Hawkeye and Trapper covertly arrange for the surgery to help out the troubled soldier.

Is there ever an occasion when it is okay to break the rules?  What happens when rules and regulations get in the way of progress?  Is there a difference between appropriate legislation and inhibitive legalism?  What about the ethics of the philosophy “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission?”  These are challenging questions to wrestle with while trying to effectively lead when the system seems to get in the way of getting things done.  Thomas Edison once said, “There ain’t no rules here. We’re trying to accomplish something.”  I don’t think I would want to live or lead in a society that isn’t governed by rules, but I do pray for wisdom and courage to lead in such a way that I can influence those who make the rules.  Leaders have a responsibility to lead up as well as leading down and to appropriately challenge anything that gets in the way of accomplishing something of significance.   

Positional Leadership

Episode 16:  The Ringbanger

Hawkeye:    We got us a real “ring banger” here.

Trapper:   A “what banger”?

Hawkeye:   Didn’t you see the way he kept banging his ring on 

           the chair?

Trapper:   Yeah.

Hawkeye:   A little reminder that he’s a quarterback and we’re 

           just the water boys.

Trapper:   I got a feeling he wouldn’t be so tall if he weren’t 

           standing on so many bodies.

An over zealous colonel comes to camp injured, exerting his authority and eagerness to return to the front line to kill more of the enemy.  Hawkeye and Trapper try and prevent him from returning to battle by convincing him he was suffering from ‘battle fatigue.’

There are many different styles of leadership; from task-oriented to people-focused, bureaucratic to servant, autocratic to participative, and many others in-between.  Regardless of the style or situation, it is commonly agreed that leadership is more about influence than position.  Position asserts the rights of a leader, whereas influence accents the responsibilities of a leader.  Position is self driven, influence is others driven. Position exerts power over others, influence empowers others. While positional leadership is a reality in most organizations, leaders have a choice about how they use their position.  In his book, The 360 Degree Leader, John Maxwell, who teaches that “leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less,” defines the relationship between position and influence by stating, “Influencing others is a matter of disposition, not position.”