Artifact 4

I have long considered myself a servant-leader, which links ethics, morals, and virtues, to those I have been senior or ‘ahead of’ in life (Pawar et al.,. 2020). While I attended the United States Naval Academy during my time as an undergraduate, this often meant I tried to serve or help those who followed behind me in younger classes. Many years later, I remain in contact with several individuals whose relationships have transformed over time to become a blend of friend and mentor. In the time that I started the DEL program two years ago, I took a more deliberate approach to mentoring one individual in her capacity as a leader and officer in the United States Navy.  

During our many talks, I have gathered lessons from my own experience and time spent in scholarly literature to assist her sensemaking abilities and vertical leader development as she has faced various challenges and decisions within her role (DEL Outcome 2). Wallace et al, (2021) highlighted the difference between leader and leadership development as well as the lack of insight into exactly what is being developed in a leader during leader development. This is important because during our time, my mentee and I have been able to focus on specific areas such as judgment and decision making. The ability to synthesize and transfer knowledge through our mentoring relationship helped build her leadership knowledge and broaden her perspective outside of her own educational and experiential gaps in comparison to my own. Together, we have been able to conserve ideas and best practices that have helped influence her decision-making and thought processes as a leader to help refine both of our abilities to re-create our unique relationship to help others and continue a legacy of mentorship and community (DEL Outcome 4). Through our time together, I have had the privilege of watching her grow as a leader as she took on roles of increasing responsibility, promotion, and taking on the role of a wife and starting a new family. It has been my pleasure to watch her step into her potential and provide rudder steers along the way.