Personal Narrative: A Cultural Leadership Experience

I was raised in the island of Puerto Rico, which helped to be raised oblivious of segregation based on skin color, religious preference, political division, race background and with a great sense of respect to my elders. The Caribbean is a big pot of interracial mix, which makes a fun place to raise your children. No matter if you are from Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, or Virgin Islands we all are Caribbean’s. Every island ensures to create a sense of respect and idealization to their little piece of the Caribbean, but also a lot of respect to the neighbor island at the same time. Your elders make sure that you understand your place in the pyramid in your family, and the only way to go up on it is as your get older. I got raised

It gave me the chance to be stronger and never give up on myself, my peers, my family or my subordinates. In my job as an Army Career Counselor, I don’t take a “NO” as an acceptable answer. I call, email or contact face to face whoever is that person need it to be contacted to make sure the Soldier receives all the information and help necessary on whatever is the situation. I will read, research and write an email or memorandum to whoever is need it to take care of the Soldier. As a young Soldier I was told “pick who you don’t want to be”, never understood the statement until I became a leader. I learned then, that I didn’t want to be the weakest link on the chain, I didn’t want to be out or empty of answers when required or need it. I didn’t want to be the change, I wanted to be part of the change; because it takes more than one person to make a change happen in an organization as big as the military. My cultural background help me to understand that I have a place in the pyramid of my job, the only difference is that in this one I don’t have to wait to age to rise up, I just need to work hard for my next rank and this will give me the chance to continue to be part of the

I don’t know how to say “no”. Which tends to get me in situations where I am overworked, stressed at times, and the “go to person” in most situations. Since I was not allowed to quit as a young person, it became a challenge to allow myself to quit in any situation regardless was related to family, work or friends. As a Soldier I was constantly reminded the warrior ethos: I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit and I will never leave a fallen comrade. Which reinforced my strength but also reinforced my weakness, because it made it harder to say “no” to any person or situation I might find myself. I am working on learning how to turn people around when assistance cannot be provided, point them towards the direction they have to go to take the proper or recommended action. I am learning I cannot help everyone around me. Also learning and working really hard on trying to please everyone because is impossible to please the entire world, everyone will not be happy with decision made or taken. And to be part of the change sometimes is “ok” to say “no”, because that might be the answer required to make the change