This past July 22-28, Fargo celebrated Navy Week. Fargo Navy Week brings sailors from across the flee to the area to emphasize the importance of the navy to Fargo. The State of North Dakota, and the Nation. Luckily, that afforded us the opportunity to lean a little bit about leadership from these amazing individual.
Commander Trey Kennard
About Trey Kennard
Commander Kennard found his path to the Navy when he was studying mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech.
Advice On Leadership
“I think from a leadership perspective, you have to be honest with yourself and you have to be yourself. You can’t be pretending to be someone you are not. If you do that, people will catch on and it will just be exhaustive. I also believe having full transparency is very important. The more open and honest you can be with your people, the better. If you’re open and honest, they’re going to know why you’re doing things and not just think that you’re barking orders. I think that builds buy-in. It’s also important when leading a team to realize that it’s people-centric. If you don’t treat people as people and you treat them as numbers or units or resources, no one is going to want to follow you. They’re going to do just enough to get by and not lose their job—that’s not what you want.”
How To Be A Good Teammate
“I think the key to a good team is knowing your teammates. It’s about knowing what they’re good at and what they may struggle with. I also think another part of being a good teammate is communication. I think it’s important to communicate openly about the things you have going on in your life. Every few years, you’re going to be part of a new team in the Navy and I’ll credit my wife with this, but I think it’s important to treat every new group like you would a new marriage. You’re starting out fresh with new people and you have to get to know your new people and really learn what makes them tick, how they communicate, how they receive information, and how they process information so you can work together to be successful.”
