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Leader Identity

William Fogg

OGL 482

Arizona State University

told that I have more life experience than most people my age. I would say that the start of my

leadership journey was as an athlete in junior high and high school. That feeling of leadership

quickly changed when I was at the training to become a California State Lifeguard as I was

considered the lowest on the totem pole. That same low feeling continued as I joined the United

States Navy where I was once again, at the lowest position I could be. I then regained that sense

of leadership when I was promoted to a position in charge of junior sailors. As I lead the small

group, I practiced several types of leadership identities to figure out which one fit best for me

and which one fit best for those under me. Once I got out of the military, I experienced a feeling

much lower than I did when I was going through training or bootcamp. I felt that I could be

doing so much more than I was. I began my college education and decided to be a student athlete

with playing water polo, the sport I grew up playing and absolutely loved. Due to me being older

than the rest of the team and me having prior military and leadership experience. My coach

named me the team captain. There it was again, that sense of leadership I have been craving

since leaving the military. That feeling was short-lived. I ended up severely injuring my elbow

and shoulder which forced me to sit out on the sideline. I continued to lead as much as I could,

but without being able to lead by example, I struggled. It was not long after my injury that my

wife informed me that we would be having our first child. With the absolute joy of being a

father, I knew it was time to give up my dreams of playing water polo at a collegiate level and

start working and put food on the table for our growing family. While going to school full time, I

picked up a position in swim instructing for children. Once again, I was seen as someone who

had more experience than most in my field, so I was appointed to a head position. There it was

again, the feeling of leadership. After our son was born, my family and I decided to move out of
California and to the great state of Arizona. This is where I began my career in law enforcement.

This was the third time I had gone through a bootcamp style training. I knew what to expect and

knew that I could help others get through it. I self-appointed myself to a leadership position from

day one and received a decent amount of gratitude from several recruits. Once I graduated from

the academy, I was put into a training program that ultimately made me feel how nearly a decade

ago back at Navy bootcamp. I was the highest badge number with the lowest experience. I now

have nearly 100 people with higher badge numbers than me and less experience. I am climbing

my way up to that leadership position that I crave.

Throughout my experience, as you can see there are plenty of highs and lows regarding

leadership positions. As well as the highs and lows, there are several different types of leadership

styles that I used to fit the situation. During this paper, I will discuss the leadership identities I

used and found to be best suitable for me. I will also discuss the highs and lows in further detail

and explain how the molded me into the leader I am today.

I would have to start my leadership journey at a low point in my life. I always played

sports growing up and I was always the little guy. My freshman year of high school, I stood a

staggering 4’7” tall and a burly 80 pounds. I was constantly looked down upon, both literally and

figuratively. This was the little light that burned a fire under me to be something more than how

people saw me. I competed at a level higher than my peers that they could not ignore. I was

varsity in water polo, wrestling, and swim my freshman year of high school and was appointed

captain in all three sports my sophomore year. I led the state of California in steals in water polo

my sophomore year and always enjoyed the look of shock from our opponents as they shook the

hand of a sub five-foot player who bodied them in the pool. My low point of this leadership

journey was out of my control but my high point, was due to the work and effort I put in each
day. I earned the respect from those who would not normally do so, and I forced my way into a

leadership position. My leadership identity in high school was a pacesetting style. I lead by

example and set the pace for my team. In sports, I found this to be extremely useful. I made those

around me believe that if I could do something, why couldn’t they. My initial low is what created

me. By the time I graduated, I was 5’11 and 150 pounds. Though I was above average in stature,

I had that little man feeling that fueled my competitiveness to be better than the rest.

Once I graduated high school, I applied to become a California State Lifeguard. I went

from the top in a leadership position to the new guy with no experience in the field. I was yelled

at and pushed to a point that I had never experienced before. The rigorous training was partially

something I was used to, but advanced in many ways. This was another low point in my

leadership journey, and it continued for the next year or so. After the summer season, I joined the

United States Navy and was shipped off to Chicago to endure bootcamp. Now, I thought I would

have an idea of what bootcamp would be like and assumed it would be like my training to

become a state lifeguard. Boy was I wrong. Right from the start we are being yelled at to the

point where you could feel the spit of the instructor cover your face. I felt exactly how they

wanted us to feel. Like I was worthless and nothing but a burden to the already existing, world’s

greatest Navy. Their goal is to bring you to your lowest, so they can watch you adapt and come

out stronger than ever. Some were unable to adapt and were fittingly terminated. There was a

brief rise and what I would call a high moment in my life at bootcamp graduation. But, once

again this was quickly diminished once I arrived at my first duty station. Again, the same kid that

was the newest lifeguard on the team. I was nothing but a deck cleaner and ship painter. I was

given the jobs that no one wanted and continued to get those jobs until newer sailors arrived. I

would say that this continued for roughly a year or so when I was given the opportunity to lead a
group of junior sailors. My 4’7” spirit never left me. I was out to prove people wrong and

become something that they would never expect. The group of sailors I led were part of squad

called primary flight control. We oversaw the flight operations on a naval aircraft carrier. This is

where I adopted an authoritative leadership style. It was the military after all, and it is safe to say

that authoritative is the most used style or identity. I noticed that several of my team’s members

were not very receptive to this style, so I decided to give it a shot, and mix authoritative and

democratic styles. I would constantly ask my team what they wanted to see from me. I would

also ask how I could make their time at work more enjoyable. They would give me answers and I

would try my hardest to implement them. Since it was still the military, I had to occasionally use

an authoritative approach. When I had to do so, I found that my team would be much more

receptive as we have already developed a mutual respect. Occasionally, I would have a “bad

egg” on my team, and it would have to be handled accordingly. This was an educational

experience as I learned that not everyone is receptive to certain leadership styles and some

people choose to just not listen to authority all together.

After getting out of the military, I experienced a feeling that I had never experienced

before, depression. I was accustomed to a structure lifestyle of waking up, working, going to the

gym all at a specific time. Being thrown back into the civilian life hit me harder than I ever

expected. I decided to use my GI Bill and go to school at a nearby community college. This

school was well known for their athletics, and I always wanted to play water polo at a collegiate

level. I decided to give it a shot and tryout for the team. With little surprise, I made it through the

tryouts and was named as one of the team captains. Just like that, the depression vanished but

unfortunately, it was short lived. From a Navy related disability, my throwing arm was not what

is used to be. My nerve in my elbow shifted and I had no cartilage left in my shoulder. I was
forced to sit on the sideline and lead from a position I was not used to. I was not a pacesetter,

authoritative, or democratic, I was a coach. The coach leadership style is someone with the

ability to lead those in a direction without necessarily doing so. This was a different world for

me, I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as I did as a pacesetter. Shortly after my injury, my wife

of two years broke some news that I was not expecting. Our first child would be arriving in

April. I was ecstatic with the news, but disappointed that my dream of being a collegiate athlete

would have to come to an end. Now it was time for me to do what I did best, adapt. I continued

going to school fulltime while collecting housing allowance from my GI Bill as well as working

fulltime as a swim instructor for small children. This low point was quickly turned into another

high point of my leadership journey. I was quickly promoted to a lead instructor due to my

background in sports as well as life. I was constantly given the tasks of teaching the more

difficult children and I was hardly ever not successful. I constantly retrieved that gratitude from

parents that I needed to push me forward. Though both my wife and I were working full time, as

well as myself making money through the GI Bill, we struggled financially. We were sitting on a

decent amount of equity in our home and knew it was time for us to begin our journey elsewhere.

Arizona became our home not much later and we instantly fell in love. I took a short break from

school and continued working as a private swim instructor, but I knew this could not be a long-

term thing for me.

I knew there was something missing, I knew that I was put on this earth to serve my

country and community. I missed the structured lifestyle so much and knew it was time to apply

to a local police department. As expected, I was hired in no time at all. Now it was time for me to

go back to a place that I knew far too well, the police academy. With my history or training to be

a state lifeguard and the Naval bootcamp I endured; I knew this would be far too easy for me
psychologically. The first day of the academy was just how I expected it; the yelling in the face,

the constant psychical punishment if you spoke out of line. I would stand there at attention and

get yelled at because I was smiling. I was not smiling out of disrespect; I was smiling because I

was back where I wanted to be. I forced myself into another high point of my leadership journey

because I knew that I had more experience in this type of environment than my peers. They were

stressed, I was not, they constantly questioned whether they were doing something right, I was

not. I created a group chat between our classmates and would explain to them what was going on

and how they needed to handle it. I became the coach once again. Nearly our entire class

graduated the police academy, some did not, but to be honest, they did not belong there in the

first place. Once graduation came, I was thrown into a world that I was not used to and had no

experience in. I was now a police officer in our field training program. It was brutal, we were

being graded on things that we had no experience in. I was back down to a low point with a high

badge number. After a grueling four months, I passed our field training program and became a

solo officer. I would signup for trainings as frequently as possible and pushed myself through

those trainings so I would be ready for anything thrown at me. I now have nearly 100 officers

with higher badge numbers than myself. I am moving up and will continue to do so until I am

eligible to promote into a leadership position.

At 28-years-old, I am told that I have more life experience than most people my age. I

feel that I shared a small portion of that experience in this narrative and believed in related to a

decent amount of knowledge I learned during my organizational leadership courses. I am

currently in a law enforcement career with little knowledge of knowing if I will continue this

career path. I do know that if I wish to promote within my agency that I need to obtain a

bachelor’s degree and will hopefully do so with this being my last semester. I am a firm believer
that life experience molds individuals into what type of leaders they will be, and I believe that I

have the experience that will make me a great one.