Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass

Leading in Uncharted Waters

Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz USCG (ret)

• Publisher: Koehler Books
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781646635245
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

"A prime resource for any leader's library."

-James Mattis, General, US Marines (ret), and 26th Secretary of Defense

Today, our nation is like a ship being tossed in tumultuous seas. The winds and waves of change have divided and distanced our society, threatening to wash away the very principles our nation was founded upon. Now more than ever, our nation needs leaders with the moral courage to stand strong and steady-leaders capable of uniting people in support of a shared purpose by building the trust and respect necessary for organizations and their people to thrive.

In Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass, Admiral Sandy Stosz draws upon her forty years of extensive experience and wisdom to provide tools that will help leaders reach their goals and succeed at every level. Character-centered, proven leadership principles emerge from these engaging, personal stories that teach leaders how to find, and then become, an inspiring mentor; implement successful diversity, inclusion, and equity programs; successfully lead in a complex environment; and much more.

Leaders eager to make a difference by helping people and organizations be their best will find Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters their go-to resource.

PART ONE

Leading Self and Leading Others

The key to discovering your true self is letting go of the limitations you perceive and imagining the possibilities of who you can become.

—Sandra Stosz, Vice Admiral, US Coast Guard (ret.)

EVERY LEADER’S CHARACTER AND core values are shaped early in life. Reflecting on formative developmental experiences helps leaders at all levels better understand themselves. In doing so, I discovered three elements of identity foundational to leadership development. They are personality (who you are), abilities (what you can do), and core values (why you choose to do something).

Core values are the most significant and nuanced of the three elements and are what define a leader’s character. Unlike personality and abilities, which I consider to be part of a person’s inherent make-up, core values must be instilled early and constantly reinforced. Young people need strong parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, and other influencers to teach them the core values they will need to navigate life in a complex and challenging world. Core values are a leader’s North Star. They guide a leader in setting and pursuing goals, making good choices, and doing the right thing, always.

Part One begins with the story of my formative years of leadership development, from childhood through my time as a junior officer. In this part of the book, I will share the tools and models that helped me develop as a leader of character and prepared me to move up to the next level of leadership in the Coast Guard.

CHAPTER ONE

GETTING UNDERWAY IN UNCHARTED WATERS

A pathfinder’s north star is character.

—Jonathan Treacy, Major General, US Air National Guard (ret.)

THE WIND-DRIVEN SLEET stung my face and hurt my eyes. I closed them tightly, wiped, then opened them again to scour the tumultuous seas for icebergs and other hazards to navigation. Drawing a deep breath of frigid, sea-sprayed air, I savored the taste of the stinging saltiness on my lips. I was a new ensign standing watch on board the Coast Guard icebreaker, Glacier, sailing to Antarctica. As a break-in underway officer of the deck, I was learning under the tutelage of a qualified watchstander and was responsible to the commanding officeri for directing the movements of the ship. Never had I experienced such responsibility or such excitement. I was living my dream!

Antarctica is my favorite place in the entire world. It is the most amazing, remarkable, and ruggedly beautiful place on Earth. The fifth-largest of the seven continents, it hosts the world’s southernmost active volcano, the 12,500-foot Mount Erebus. Despite being covered with ice up to four miles thick, Antarctica boasts one of the world’s largest mountain ranges, and its renowned Dry Valleys are the driest place on Earth. It’s no great surprise it also ranks as the windiest and coldest place on Earth.

Regardless of these seemingly inhospitable conditions, marine life abounds. Numerous species of seals, penguins, whales, birds, fish, and colorful invertebrates inhabit the Antarctic Ocean and surrounding ice. The Adelie penguins are my favorite. Incredibly cute and very curious, they would waddle right up to the ship to get a closer look at us.

On the voyage from Glacier’s homeport in Long Beach, California, down to Antarctica, we crossed the equator, with its oppressive heat and doldrums. The ship wasn’t air-conditioned, and the temperature rose to well over one hundred degrees in some of the berthing areas. The heat forced people topside to sleep. At night, crew members of all ranks and rates covered the decks, wrapped in their bedding, to escape the suffocation of the berthing areas. From my spot looking down from my watch station high up on the bridge, or pilothouse, of the ship, the starlight played upon the motionless, mounded bodies. It looked for all the world like the deck of a ghost ship moving silently through the darkness.

Our trackline continued down through the South Pacific to the “roaring 40s,” “furious 50s,” and “screaming 60s” as we entered the southern latitudes. There, the weather could become notoriously rough and deadly. Even though our ship was 310 feet long, the incredibly strong winds and huge seas battered us mercilessly as we crossed those harsh latitudes. The ship, which had a rounded hull designed for breaking the ice, rolled wildly in the open sea.

Sure enough, our first casualty came when a huge wave hit the ship and threw the helmsman off the wheel. The helmsman suffered severe injuries from crashing into the leeward side of the 75-foot-wide bridge. Blood mixed with spilled coffee and seawater to create a treacherous surface on the dielectric deck covering. We medically evacuated the injured crew member by helicopter the next day when the seas subsided. I came away from that experience with a much deeper respect for Mother Nature.

The first iceberg we encountered was small but made for much conversation. For many of us in the crew, it was our first ice. The novelty wore off as we very quickly found ourselves navigating an entire sea of small icebergs, or bergy bits, like a minefield. They popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, through dense fog formed by the cold Antarctic current meeting the warmer surface air. We were engaged in a dangerous and scary exercise.

Although the bergy bits looked small, much of their mass lay below the waterline, and striking one could significantly damage the ship, big and heavy as it was at 310 feet and over 8,000 tons. I quickly came to understand and deeply appreciate the breadth of responsibility that would be entrusted to me once I earned my qualification as an officer of the deck. I resolved to be worthy of that trust and to earn my qualification as soon as possible.

Within a few days, the fog gave way to sparkling blue skies and scintillating icebergs, many of them emanating an ethereal, deep cobalt hue denoting their old age. Not long after, we heard the shout, “Land ho,” and our gazes met the mountains of Antarctica on the horizon. To my astonishment, the mountains were still 150 miles away. The clean, clear polar atmosphere deceived us into believing they were much closer.

The sea and sky teemed with the marvels of Antarctic Ocean marine life. The omnipresent minke whales lolled past, feeding idly on plentiful krill. Looking skyward, I gazed with wonder as wandering albatross, the largest sea bird in the world with a wingspan of up to ten feet, curiously circled to check out the ship.

Finally, after weeks of transit, we arrived at our destination—the ice edge. The channel leading to the ice pier at the US Naval Station in McMurdo, Antarctica, was covered in sea ice for twenty to thirty miles. Glacier’s role was to break a path through the ice, open the channel, and escort the merchant ships that supplied the station and its residents.

I loved my job and could hardly believe I was getting paid to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that few other people would ever realize. Who else would have the opportunity to break open the shipping channel in the shadow of Mount Erebus? An active volcano, it simmered mysteriously, releasing gas into the atmosphere as if it were a living, breathing entity.

My euphoria was dampened daily. Despite standing two four-hour watches per day under instruction, I had not yet received my coveted deck watch officer qualification. Once qualified, I would be authorized to stand my own, independent watch without another officer supervising me. My eagerness to earn that qualification surpassed all else.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard I worked and how well I progressed, my supervisor didn’t see what he wanted. Earning my qualification was proving to be harder than navigating through the seas of icebergs I encountered on watch. My frustration mounted when my supervisor admitted I’d demonstrated the technical proficiency and judgment to stand the watch. In his mind, I lacked something in my command presence, but he couldn’t articulate the details to help me advance.

One of my shipmates, Ray, was an old salt and a qualified watchstander who was helping me break in. He had served in the Coast Guard for over twenty years, and he became my first mentor. Ray encouraged me, telling me I was doing a good job, to tru...

Table of contents

• Dedication
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part One: Leading Self and Leading Others
• Chapter One: Getting Underway in Uncharted Waters
• Chapter Two: Developing Character and Core Values
• Chapter Three: Finding Passion and Purpose
• Chapter Four : Learning to Lead
• Chapter Five: A Formula for Success
• Chapter Six: Three Ps of Power
• Chapter Seven: Sustaining Wellness
• Chapter Eight: The Control Paradox
• Part Two: Leading Programs and Making Policy
• Chapter Nine: Changing Course
• Chapter Ten: The Meaning of Success
• Chapter Eleven: Succeeding in an Organization
• Part Three: Leading the Organization
• Chapter Twelve: Returning to Port
• Chapter Thirteen: The Power of Giving Back
• Chapter Fourteen: Developing a Vision and Strategic Intent
• Chapter Fifteen: The Art of Decision-Making
• Chapter Sixteen: Creating a Leadership Philosophy
• Chapter Seventeen: Succession Management
• Conclusion
• Appendix One: Reading List
• Appendix Two: Commander’s Intent
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Notes