THE SHADOWED LEADER REPORT

PUAF692Professor: Dr. Marc A. FarmerLuke Dinh

UID: 111982936

August 1, 2011IntroductionWhether anyone can become a leader is a tough question that always hangs over my head. Although I can find the answers in books, magazines and the Internet, they are theories only. Therefore, I conducted an interview with Nguyen Nam Viet, my shadowed leader, to know his perspective on leadership, how he can become an effective leader and develop his leadership skills.At 8:00am on June 12, 2011, I had a 45-minute interview with Colonel Nguyen Nam Viet, Command of High Command of Mobile Police at the Head office of High Command of Mobile Police (No. 37 Nguyen Khanh Toan Street, Trung Hoa ward, Cau Giay district, Hanoi city, Vietnam). He shared with me the leader experiences that he had accumulated through both his personal life and his professional career.

1. BackgroundIn times of a difficult situation, we have become stronger. Mr. Viet was born to a poor farming family in a small village of Ha Viet province in 1956. As the oldest son in his family with seven members, he was determined his duty in taking care of his family. Apart from going to school, he helped his mother sell vegetable in an open-air market and took care of his brothers.

To become a police officer has been his dream since his childhood. Therefore, when he was 18 years old, he decided to learn at the Peoples Security Academy. He always tried his best to overcome obstacles to learn. He also joined many social activities and was awarded with many prestigious rewards.After graduating from the Peoples Security Academy, he was appointed to work at the Police Investigation Team, which was under the Police Investigation Department in An Khe county, Gia Lai province. With his intelligence and hardworking attitude, he seized the sentiment of his colleagues. Therefore, at the age of 23, he was appointed a Captain of his team, in charge of combating crime. Four years later, he was voted as Director of the Police Department of Gia Lai province. After his 15 year of taking on this position, he was appointed Command of High Command of Mobile Police, Ministry of Public Security. Then, he studied for Master Degree of Laws at the Peoples Police Academy.Now, Mr. Viet is responsible for 02 Regiments of Mobile Police, 03 Battalions of Police Task Force, which includes thousands of soldiers and hundreds of senior officers. His force was responsible for combating organized crimes, terrorism, rescue hostage, etc. Mr. Viet has a happy family with a daughter and a son. His 23-year-old son, Trung, is working at Ciso system, Inc - the worldwide leader in networking. His 25-year-old daughter, Yen, is working at Trung Nguyen Coffee Co. Ltd the leading coffee brand in Vietnam.2. Summary of Interviewa. Leadership Definition

When he was asked about his leadership perspective, he answered slowly. There is no big difference between the perspective of leadership today and the one in the past. Leadership is an art in which a person attempts to influence on subordinates by inspiring and motivating so that they can achieve the desired goals. The leaders today pay more attention to direction, goals and strategies, and then gather effort to get straight to the direction in order to reduce the time needed for deployment. One of the most important goals of leadership is acquiring the subordinates respect and satisfaction. The modern leaders need strategic visions. They have to work enthusiastically, be well educated, and have tolerance for their subordinates. Besides, they should assign a person with the suitable jobs to enhance his abilities.

Mr. Viet emphasized High Command of Mobile Police has established military hierarchy. He quoted that We base on rules and disciplines to maintain power and cohesion. Military leadership is different from other kinds of leadership; however, it is also based on leadership skills. Military leadership is the process of influencing subordinates to complete the mission by providing motivation, purpose, and direction. Command and obedience are the center of military leadership.

b. Leadership ChallengeThe most challenge a leader facing is working under heavy pressure. He said, During his 33 years of working at the police force, he has never ordered any days leave. His routine workday starts between 5:30 am to 9:00 pm. He has to read many documents (e.g. crime reports, superiors documents and subordinates proposals), establish new projects to protect and recuse hostages or to combat terrorists, and act as a special counselor for leaders of the Ministry of Public Security. Besides, he has often to travel across the nation to deploy his forces duties.Balance between work and family is one of the biggest issues a leader facing. Mr. Viet spends almost time at work; he also describes himself as a family man. He claimed, Although I am very busy, I spend spare time for my family and relaxation." He usually plays golf on the weekends and goes jogging on workdays. At night, he comes back home to have dinner with his family. All his familys members often gather together to watch TV, discuss about what are happening and each members work. Sometime, they go out for dinner or to the cinema. His wife is a police officer, so she understands his work, and often shares emotions with him. In his childrens eyes, he is always a good example. He is a moral support for his children when they are facing problems. He said proudly My children open their hearts to me, and we are friends."He also gave me some advice to balance heavy workload and daily life. First, we should allocate time for our work as well as our personal life by identifying our timetable and seriously following it. The limited time will get us have more motivation to complete work on time. Secondly, we should set goals and make plans for our family as well as our career. We consider the importance of each task and set priority accordingly. Thirdly, assigning suitable works for subordinates is not only good for enhancing the relationship but also in handling heavy workload. His last advice is to engage in a suitable sport to relax, for example, jogging, swimming and playing football.

According to Mr. Viet, maintaining the positive relationships with both subordinates and superiors is also a challenging problem. Mr. Viet stated that the typical nature of law enforcement is the relation between power and obedience. Reputation plays an important role and is made up of authority and credibility. Reputation cannot be made in a short time. It can only be acquired through a nonstop process of education, communication, accumulation of experience. During his career, he has maintained a good relationship with his subordinates and superiors. However, he said that conflict is unavoidable. As a leader, he has tried his best to enhance the positive relationship and minimize the conflict among his office.To achieve this goal, he gave his subordinates more chances to express their ideas, legitimate aspiration and need. Moreover, he said, The relationship with superiors is one of the most important ones that we must build and keep it growing. We must make sure that our superiors know our ability. We have to obey their orders and be clever in seeking their support.

c. Necessary Leadership Characteristics

What specific characteristics should a leader in the police force have? Patriotism is an indispensable criterion. Apart from patriotism, a leader should have at least three characteristics:

Confidence. A military leader cannot lead thousands of soldiers without confidence in his ability, knowledge and power. Integrity. It is impossible to become a good leader without having integrity. Mr. Viet strongly believes that all relationships always require and must base on integrity. Integrity is a basic quality emphasizes the consistency of actions, goodness and truth.

Humility. No matter how powerful and excellent the leaders are, acquiring the trust of colleagues and subordinates is more important than leaders own talent. The signs of a good leader are willingness to listen and being humble.

d. Leadership skills Public speaking ability. According to Mr. Viet, oral communication is a significant quality of military leadership. When we are in an important conference, we have to utilize our public speaking ability to analyze, persuade other people. When we are in battle, we have to use this skill to lead our subordinates. Lead By Example.You cant be an aloof leader, someone thats never around and incapable of getting your hands dirty. One of the best ways to lead is by example pitching in where needed, lending a helping hand, and making sure that the work you do is clearly understood by your team. Be organized.A disorganized leader isnt leading, hes chasing his own tail. Disorganization breeds nothing but more disorganization. If youre frazzled and messy, your team will be too. When youre organized youll be much more productive and so will everyone else.

e. The Ways To Become A LeaderMr. Viet said that to become a leader may not be difficult, but to become a respectable leader is certainly not easy, especially in the police force. He also asserts that everybody always has at least one leadership quality. To become a leader, a person should find his strengths and weaknesses. Besides, a leader also needs to have an advantage environment to enhance his leadership potential. There are some ways he suggested to improve our leadership potential. Working laboriously, carefully. Mr. Viet stated that working carefully, laboriously brought him to this leadership position. Descending from a poor family of farmer is his motivation to overcome obstacles to learn and work. He said, If you shrink and push your work to others; you will lose your chances to prove your abilities. Even though your leader does not require you to do, you have to work industriously." For example, when he was a new investigator, he always followed his colleagues to learn their experiences and accomplished all works by putting his best effort and carefulness. When his leader asked, he alone volunteered to go to work at the remote borderland. His colleagues ridiculed him about his decision.

Identify your goals. Before we start doing anything, we should wonder what the purpose is. Then we should outline the directions to get to the goal.

Improve yourself incessantly. Successful leaders improve themselves ceaselessly. They continuously learn new knowledge such as IT, professional knowledge and new leadership skills.

Learn from mistakes. Leaders have responsibilities for the mistakes they made. If we make mistakes as a leader, should not spend our time in regret but in fact, spend time to determine the causes to avoid the same mistake in the future.

Conclusion I think this interview was extremely beneficial for me. Mr. Viet provided me with real world information such as how he became a powerful leader, personality of a leader, his perspective about leadership, and necessary characteristics of a leader as well as the way to develop leadership abilities.Conducting this interview proved a great learning experience. I realize that a leader is also a human being; he has both sides, positive and negative. Mistakes in making a decision are unavoidable. The most important thing is how we can learn from these mistakes. Now, I am more confidence in myself to go ahead. I have a better idea and understanding of how to achieve my goals in life.RecommendationTo become a police leader, we should identify who we are. Gradually, you enhance yourself by self-educating, making good your shortcomings and necessary leadership skills.

A leader requires a warm heart and a cool head. A military leader requires at least characteristics such as confidence, public speaking ability, integrity, fairness and humility. A leader must be able to identify the purpose and target, improve him/her incessantly, must be decisive and can learn from mistakes.