73-2
Chapter One
YOU MUST LEAD YOURSELF FIRST
Greg Hastings
Each of the three stories here that span my recent leadership journey, from my
freshman to senior years at West Point, takes place at a different level of responsibility,
and each has helped me become a more effective leader as I head out
into the Army. These stories, the ones I have grown from, are typical and serve
as a window into the world of leadership development that is the U.S. Military
Academy.
Take Responsibility for Your Own Actions
I learned my first lesson about leadership while still a freshman at the Academy,
happy and proud of where I was but also miserable most of the time-by design.
West Point first-year students are called plebes, from the Latin word plebeian, referring
to the lowest class. So I was at the bottom of the rank structure, performing
extra duties like delivering newspapers, cleaning the common areas, and setting
the mess hall tables before each meal. But I knew and expected all of this before
I showed up, and I soon was able to perform all these duties with my focus on the
future, when I would be an upperc ... read full excerpt from Leadership Lessons from West Point ebook
