Running head: THE HIGHS AND THE LOWS: MY LEADERSHIP JOURNEY 1

The Highs and the Lows: My Leadership Journey

Jeremy S. Pompeo
Arizona State University
OGL 482: ORG Leadership Pro Seminar II
Dr. Brent Scholar
17 March 2023
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Since the moment the second human burst onto the scene, there have been leaders. The

concept of leadership applies in every human situation and institution: Families, militaries,

business, religion, schools, clubs, etc. In any endeavor where people work together to achieve a

shared goal, there are leaders and there are followers. Leaders are easy to spot in our everyday

lives, but the path to becoming a leader is complex. It takes time and experience to develop the

skills and knowledge required to inspire, motivate, and guide others. Many people equate

leadership with things like power, but to connect the idea of leadership to personal gain is to cut

at the heart of why leaders exist. As Leto Atreides said in the 2021 movie Dune, “Great men

don’t seek to lead… I found my own way to it” (Villeneuve, 2021). My own path has been

complex and marked by ups and downs, but I have grown into the role and the business of taking

care of people.

To talk about my own path to it, we have to go back to the beginning. As a young boy, I

never dreamed of leading people or being in charge of anything. I was the oldest of four kids. I

did well in grade school, but my home life was not good, and there was always a lot of yelling

and fighting in my house. My stepdad was a lowlife. He rarely worked, struggled with addiction,

gambled on horses, abused his family, and was always in trouble with the law. As a result, my

mom always had to work, sometimes multiple jobs. She was gone most of the time and he would

hang around the house with other people like him. I can remember problems like not having a

car, the electricity being turned off, and using the oven to heat the house when we didn’t have

propane for the furnace. We lived in upstate New York, so running out of propane and not

having hot water are fairly significant events.

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Of course, as a child, you normalize what is going on around you. We were poor, but I

didn’t know it at first. I didn’t know anyone outside of my immediate family until around the

time I was in middle school, but as I grew up, I became increasingly troubled. Kids began to

comment on my clothes and shoes, and I can remember being called trash, scrub, and poor boy at

school. I wanted to play sports, but we couldn’t afford any fees or equipment, so my options

were limited. I joined the swim team in seventh grade, but when I travelled to our first meet, I

didn’t have any money for food, and of course other kids on the team started commenting about

it. Rather than deal with the shame and the bullies, I quit the team. Sometime this same year, the

police came to my house, searched everything, and arrested my stepdad. He had broken into a

business in town and stolen some power tools. I can remember the shame and embarrassment I

felt that day, but memories can be short.

With nothing positive in my life and bad examples all around, I started running with a

bad crowd. By ninth grade I was doing drugs, truant from school, and getting into trouble with

the law as well. Like father like son, I was in juvenile detention by the time I was 14. While I

was inside, I got caught smoking a cigarette (I set off a smoke alarm) and I was kicked out. The

next stop for me was sure to be the New York State home for boys, and at that time if you didn’t

complete the program at juvenile hall, you went away until you turned 18. Luckily for me, my

mom had left my stepdad and we moved to Arizona before my court hearing. I had slipped the

noose! I have always wondered if there was some judge back in New York still looking for me,

Jeremy Pompeo the outlaw…

Now, I don’t share all of this to encourage sympathy, only to illustrate how long my path

has been. I was a terrible kid and I put my mom through hell. I was going to get what was

coming to me at that state home, and if she hadn’t run with us the way she did, I certainly
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wouldn’t be here writing this paper today. There were leadership lessons throughout my

childhood that I couldn’t see. I didn’t have a father or a hero, but I had perfect examples of what

not to be. And because I was no criminal mastermind, I got caught at literally everything I ever

did. So, the consequences were right in front of me. The writing was on the wall, but it was

written in a different language that I didn’t know how to read. The language was so foreign to

me that I didn’t even realize it was a message. It was like trying to read Russian or Chinese

without any training. When I look back at this time in my life, I feel extremely embarrassed. If

there is anything about this chapter in my life that I am proud of, it’s that I came with no

entitlements. Anything I can claim today I gained on my own. I found my own way to it.

Let’s fast forward a few years. In 1999, I graduated high school and joined the National

Guard. I had learned some discipline, but I continued to run with bad characters and party too

much. I was frustrating to my leaders, always looking for ways to hide out and doing the bare

minimum to keep my leaders off my back. During this time my leaders all operated using the

Situational Leadership Model, as Hersey and Blanchard’s system was taught in Army Leadership

institutions. As an individual who displayed low commitment and low competence, my leaders

were constantly coaching me. I was what they called a “10% Soldier”, because I consumed 90%

of their time.

In 2003 I had a significant moment. Staff Sergeant Newlin had recently come out of the

82nd Airborne and joined our unit. Feared and respected, he was the only man in the unit who had

been to a combat zone. As the platoon sergeant, he highly outranked me and didn’t usually speak

to me at all. I was shocked to be called into his office, scared about how much trouble I might be

in, and wondering what/how he had found me out. However, instead of chewing me out, he sat

me down to have a serious conversation. Our unit had received a mobilization order, and we
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were to report to Kuwait in a few months. The Sergeant told me that he knew I was using drugs,

and that I needed to separate myself from my current group of friends. He said to me “things are

about to get real, and you need to grow up. I expect you to be a leader over there if we are going

to bring everyone home”. He explained that I was going to be a team leader, and that if I failed

him, he would see me out of the Army.

I left his office feeling confused, wondering how things had taken this turn. Why had he

given me a second chance? He must have seen something in me that I didn’t see in myself. More

importantly, I left feeling embarrassed and angry with myself because I realized this imposing

warrior was disappointed in me. Somehow, this was worse than getting in trouble. I had never

known I wanted his approval, but now I couldn’t stand the thought of not having his respect. His

approach had been to use transformational leadership to cut through my attitude, to get to the

person inside. By combining Idealized Influence and Motivational Inspiration during our

conversation, he had awakened something in me. As Bass and Riggio explain in their book on

transformational leadership, “Transformational Leaders behave in ways that motivate and inspire

those around them by providing meaning and challenge to their followers work” (Bass & Riggio,

2006). He had known exactly how to get through to me, by issuing a challenge that resonated

with the person inside. I decided that day to be a leader. I would work to deserve the respect of

my people and my leaders.

In 2005, my unit returned from Iraq with all of our people safe and sound. I had stayed

out of trouble and worked to distinguish myself from my peers, and it was paying off. I was

promoted to Sergeant and sent off to the Warrior Leader’s course, where I too was indoctrinated

with the tried-and-true Situational Leadership model. I felt that I was doing good; I was making

things happen and running a fairly impressive team within my unit. I also landed a great full-time
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job at the local mine, so my finances were looking better as well. I felt that I was on top of the

world, but I was working really hard to get results. Just like I had done, my troops were laying

down on me. They would do sub-par work, and then go hide out and hope I couldn’t find them to

correct it or assign more tasks. In response, I managed the whole team using the directive

approach. I was great at getting compliance, but I had no buy in from my followers. Worse than

that, I could barely sleep on maneuvers due to all the micromanaging I was doing.

I didn’t realize it yet, but I was leaning way too far into positional authority, relying on

my rank to get results. I was unprepared to counteract this human tendency, and I was so green

as a leader I didn’t even think to seek out a mentor who could help me. Instead, I pushed harder

and earned a tough reputation among the lower enlisted. Had I understood there are multiple

sources of authority, I would have adapted a servant leadership approach, working to develop my

team by delegating more authority to my troops and then supporting them to figure out how to

accomplish objectives on their own. Instead, my approach distanced me from my team and cost

me several friends while I attempted to figure it all out. I began to doubt my abilities as a leader,

and I felt very alone. I was trapped between my leaders who’s trust I had to earn, and the lower

enlisted who were more and more resentful of me.

In 2008, I graduated early from an apprenticeship program at the mine. As the highest

scoring student, I was recognized as apprentice of the year. I was taking charge of things in my

career and had been selected to graduate early by my leadership. Although my job didn’t come

with any formal authority, I had been given an assignment to directly support the Concentrator

division. I was interacting directly with all their top leadership. Almost immediately, I was

placed in a quality control role and began overseeing contractors in a project management

capacity. I enjoyed this position because my skills and knowledge were elevating me, and people
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looked to me as an expert. I was able to walk away and trust that progress would continue, and

that if people hit any barriers, they would seek me out. This allowed me to spread my time across

multiple lines of effort. I made a connection during this period that titles are not all that matters

in the leadership realm, and I made a lot of professional connections that I still maintain today.

Although I felt that I had found my niche, there were economic troubles brewing and my

employer was no exception. As suddenly as things began to rise for me, they also came crashing

down. Copper prices tanked, and the concentrator division was shut down. As an employee

assigned to support the concentrator, I was put on part-time work status. I lost my benefits

package and was told to wait for a call to return to work. After a few weeks I was called back to

work, albeit at reduced hours and I no longer worked in my old capacity. I was put in charge of a

group who was assigned to do cleanup work around the property. These employees were

resentful towards the company, and understandably had a lot of concerns about the future. Part of

my duties were to manage these people’s assignments while keeping them below 32 hours per

week, which made me the focal point of requests for more hours.

The situation was hard to manage because all the tools I had to use were transactional. If

employees didn’t answer a call to come work, or refused an assignment, they would be dropped

from the rolls. Nobody had benefits, and the work was undesirable. Financially, everyone was

struggling. People with small kids couldn’t afford childcare, and the fluid nature of our

assignments prevented people from getting second jobs. As people were terminated (and many

were), leadership called further down the roster to offer work. The caliber of employee was

declining along with morale. I was also on part time status, so even I couldn’t refuse the

assignment. I had to find a way to connect with the people, to let them know that I understood

what they were going through and that I was committed to making things as painless as possible.
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Showing empathy and being transparent with followers are trademarks of authentic leadership,

and this approach served me well. In the moment, I was frustrated with the situation and

conflicted about what I was being asked to do. But when I look back on this period in my life, I

am proud of how I handled myself and the things we were able to accomplish in that year.

In 2010 I was called back to work full time, and the way I had handled the situation with

the part time crew had been noted by my leadership. I was immediately put in charge of a

maintenance crew and assigned to maintain some critical processing equipment. I was promoted

to Staff Sergeant in the National Guard as well, so it seemed that my new authentic leadership

approach was working. I felt that I was finding my way, but then another life event taught me a

hard lesson. My unit was again deployed, this time to Afghanistan. My team was separated from

the unit and assigned to an active-duty task force. Overnight, I was separated from my

organization, and now had to operate at a much higher level than I had been trained to do. My

projects forced me to deploy smaller teams to remote bases, and the reporting cadence prevented

me from travelling too far from the Leaders I was supporting. As a result, I could not interact

with my team very often. I felt that I was losing my grip, and I was anxious about the fluid and

dynamic environment I had been thrust into.

What I learned in this deployment was that empathy and openness were not going to get

me the results. Nor was throwing my rank around. We were in Afghanistan, I was sending my

troops into the unknown, into very real danger that eclipsed any consequences I could leverage

from a performance management standpoint. On top of it all, my troops were all having to work

well above their training and experience as well. I had E4’s leading recovery teams on the IED

littered highways. I had E5’s leading assessment teams and working as lead trainers with Afghan

partner forces. It was impossible for me to dictate the protocol in these situations; I was no
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longer the expert. I could not protect them anymore. And yet, I was ultimately accountable for

these people. I knew their families, I had trained all of them since they joined the unit, and I felt

responsible for them. All I knew was that I had to help them any way I could, so I began to

empower them. When I would speak to my team leaders, I would ask them what they thought the

best course of action was. I had to accept the residual risk in their plans, so I coached them

towards safer plans. I had to be willing to accept responsibility for the outcomes and trust my

people to do the right things, so I immersed myself in the planning activities whenever I could to

try and share whatever knowledge I had. I feverishly read military manuals and bulletins, looking

for any information I could share that might help them with the missions they were executing.

Occasionally they made mistakes, and I had to step in and defend their decisions. During this

time, I never chastised my people. If I didn’t like an outcome, I angled the conversation to drive

thoughtful exploration by my soldiers. I had to be a Transformational Leader, helping my people

reach the best possible outcomes and supporting them from a distance. I was extremely

uncomfortable with this level of detachment. This was one of the most difficult times in my life,

because I had to fully step away from everything I knew about leading people and find new

techniques. I will say, however, that when I look back this time was incredibly powerful for my

troops. Although I retired in 2020, all of my people from that deployment have gone on to

become high level leaders in their own units.

After this deployment, I came home a different person. I was much more understanding

with my people, and I had learned a lot about my own strengths and weaknesses. Shortly after

my return, I was assigned to the leadership team on a two-billion-dollar expansion project in the

mine. Again, I was moved into unfamiliar territory and charged with designing the maintenance

program for a suite of new equipment, including some world’s first prototypes. I had a team of
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people I had never met before, and they came from various backgrounds and skill levels. The

challenge was two-fold: Shape the maintenance organization and design a robust sustainment

program. As I had done during the layoffs, I had to blend my approach.

This was an opportunity for me to hone my skills, and I jumped at it. I could work with

technical personnel in an advisory role, while still being able to help build a vision for the future.

In this role I was able to socialize that vision and empower people to grow into stronger

professionals. There was even an opportunity to outline a training curriculum for the new

employees, and the program I helped create almost 10 years ago is still in use today. Essentially,

I have helped to develop several hundred employees and counting. I had found my way into an

incredible opportunity.

Part of this assignment was to select the core work of our internal maintenance teams:

determining what we can be the greatest in the world at. My leadership identified how we would

remain profitable and passed the word down to me. I then had to evaluate what work we would

perform in house versus what would be outsourced. From this exercise I designated five separate

crews, each with a unique skillset that supported the organizational objective. I assigned these

early team members based on their interests, which gave me some highly motivated employees.

Each crew had a name and an emblem, which were put on T-shirts. This foundational work

defined the new division and formed the hedgehog concept for us. These small but powerful

details helped to create a passionate group, and we enjoyed some early success when we got into

full operation.

I felt great throughout this period of time. I was so plugged in to everything that was

going on, so connected to the people and the mission, that a few years went by in a flash. The

division had struggles and hard times, but they were all learning opportunities. Many who were
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involved (including myself) have moved on to high positions in the company. While this period

was marked with challenges, I personally look back on it as a leadership laboratory. The

opportunity to build something of this scale is considered a once in a lifetime chance in the

mining business. Coming full circle from the bad examples of my childhood, I was surrounded

by amazing leaders who took care of me and challenged me to reach my full potential.

Those leaders saw something in me, were willing to take a chance, and gave me enough

room to grow. I have adopted this transformational approach, and I now pride myself on

developing upcoming leaders. By focusing on the power that can be unlocked through

developing others, I enjoy a very successful career and have been promoted several times since

we started that new plant. While it is not my core work, I am now fortunate to train all new

supervisors who are promoted in our company. This activity speaks to my soul, and hardly feels

like work to me. I get involved in leader development every chance I get. When I speak with

these energetic and passionate leaders, I can see some of myself in them. I know they will make

some mistakes, but that is part of their journey, and I am always excited to share anything I can

to help them on their own paths. The leaders I have mentored are my greatest accomplishments,

and I am honored to be part of their stories. The sign of a true leader is elevating others to levels

they never dreamed they could reach. I never set out to lead; I found my own way to it. Whether

or not I am a great man is for them to decide.

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References

Warner home video. (2021). Dune [Film]. United States.

Bass, B., & Riggio, R. (2006). Transformational leadership. Google Books. Retrieved March 27,
2023, from https://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=2WsJSw6wa6cC&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=transformational%2Bleadership
%2Btheory&ots=I7a2mXIQBI&sig=a7d47AlUk25VFNN3UuLqU5BYi7w#v=twopage&q
=transformational%20leadership%20theory&f=true

Avolio, B., & Gardner, W. (2005, April 25). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the
root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly. Retrieved March 30, 2023,
from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984305000263?via%3Dihub