ballaban - leadership paper

8/10/2019 Ballaban - Leadership Paper

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MEASURING SUCCESS:

ONE SAILOR AT A TIME

LT STEVEN A BALLABAN, CHC USN

Naval Chaplaincy School Basic Course

October 6, 2014


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The topic of Leadership, and its application to ministry within the Sea Services, can seem

to be complicated and difficult to define. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of

Leadership, and numerous Leadership styles have been analyzed, discussed and studies. In spite

of the apparent complexity of the subject, King Solomon has neatly and simply summed up the

essence of Leadership in our Sacred Scriptures. Proverbs 11:14 provides an effective philosophy

of leadership for the religious leader: Where there is no wise direction, the people will fail, but

salvation comes with much good council.

Chaplains in the Sea Services are called to provide wise direction and good council to

those whom they serve. While chaplains have a great deal of responsibility, oftentimes their

authority is limited. This requires a delicate exercise within the role of the chaplain, one that is

best achieved by leading through personal conduct and example. Within the Jewish tradition,

there is a work known as The Ethics of the Fathers. Found in this collection of aphorisms is the

question, Who is Wise? The one who learns from all Who is strong? The one who controls

himself Who is honored? The one who renders honors to others. These words provide a

roadmap for the chaplain who wishes to succeed in providing wise direction and good council

within the Sea Services.

To accomplish these goals, a chaplain must honor others. Although the Navy Chaplain

wears the rank insignia, the real honor due a chaplain comes from the example set by that

chaplain in all that s/he does. First and foremost, this means that the chaplain is expected to

honor all who are created in the image of The Most Blessed One. A chaplain accomplishes this

in many ways. We honor others by meeting their needs, and placing those needs ahead of our


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own. When we use our rank to benefit others who cannot advocate effectively for themselves,

we bring honor to the insignia we are privileged to wear. Our goal should be self-sacrifice, and

not self-service. As chaplains, it is our responsibility to serve the people who serve the mission.

In the words of L Wayne Rushing, CAPT (retired) USN of blessed memory, we must always

have friends in low places. It is those people who make up the bulk of the military ranks and

who perform some of the least glamorous and underappreciated tasks who make up the backbone

of the sea services. We honor them by visiting with them, listening to them, and demonstrating

that they are cherished by the Almighty One who is our common beginning, and to whom we

ultimately return as equals. It is our role to see them as God sees them, not as their fellow sailors

and marines may see them.

Chaplains often find themselves in a position that places them in the middle of competing

priorities. The demands of the mission may conflict with the needs of a particular individual.

The financial needs of one project may mean that another project, just as important to someone,

cannot be met. Other times, the chaplain may be caught between individuals who each believe

equally earnestly that they are in the right. That may be two shipmates, or it may be two partners

who share one marriage. At such times, the chaplain may find her own emotions beginning to

get engaged. She may believe that one person has been injured and feel righteous anger at that

injury. Other times, the chaplain may believe that his opinion, well and respectfully stated, has

been disregarded and may be frustrated, hurt or angry. In addition, a chaplain may be hurting

because of personal issues in his own life, whether it is missing his family during a deployment,

or grief at the loss of a friend or shipmate or disappointment because of a failure to select to the

next rank. At such times, Courage means the strength to control such feelings in order to

continue to function effectively as a leader. This may mean that a chaplain makes the decision to


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live for another day to continue the good fight by not alienating those senior to her. It may

mean that the chaplain finds a healthy outlet through a colleague or therapist to process personal

feelings so that these feelings do not interfere with functioning with her Sea Service colleagues.

By publicly exercising self-control, the chaplain can also offer good council and wisdom to

others who may not feel as capable of maintaining a professional bearing, or who may not

believe that such level-headedness is even necessary or expected.

Finally, moral leadership within the sea services requires that the chaplain have wisdom

in order to provide good council. Wisdom does not come from books, nor does it come from

the certainty of being correct. Wisdom comes by learning from othersfrom the lessons they

have gained by living life, and turning failure into education. To gain wisdom, the chaplain must

be curious at heart. This means asking questions of those around them, and then keeping quiet to

hear the answer. It means remembering that God created us with two ears and one mouth, and

knowing that this means we should listen twice as much as we speak. It means that the chaplain

must struggle to control the belief that she is the only one with answers, and the desire to tell

those answers to others. Instead, she must see that God has given everyone a lesson to teach, and

the chaplain should aspire to be the good and diligent student who learns at the feet of those

masters.

By mastering the Leadership traits of Honor, Self-Control and Wisdom, the chaplain can

provide wise council and good direction to those to whom he ministers. The chaplain can

serve the needs of the most junior sailor as well as the most senior commander through the

discipline of these Leadership traits. Significantly, Proverbs teaches us that it is by these means,

and these means alone, that salvation is achieved. Exercising such leadership traits is not merely


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a good idea, or an effective strategy. It is, in fact, the only way in which we can bring salvation

to those around us, and safeguard the care and well-being to whom we are called to minister.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Oesterley, William. The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirke Aboth). Hard Press Editions,2013.


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