ABOUT

David G. Guerra, MA, MBA

As an Army brat, I was not destined to remain within the Lone Star State, my home, all my life. It was during my childhood and teenage years that my thirst for adventure and travel began as my father led my family and I to various US Army posts throughout the United States.

dividedcityBIG

No one was surprised when I joined the U.S. Army as an Infantryman. My first duty assignment, in 1985, put me at the tip of the Cold War spear, 110 miles inside communist East German territory, in what was then known as West Berlin.

It was in West Berlin, my view of the world suddenly and significantly expanded – especially being part of the U.S. Armed Forces inside the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. No longer was I just along for the ride with my father’s military assignments. Instead, I was in the thick of it, right where politics and ideologies met. East and West collided on a daily basis. While serving with the US Army, I acquired and learned from some of the Greatest Leaders and Managers the skills, knowledge and wisdom that would be the foundation for my adult life, long after leaving Berlin and the US Army.

Working for the State of Texas as a network analyst and eventually becoming an IT department manager, I put what I learned about leadership into action. While working for the state, I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration, having decided it was best to work and gain more real world experience before finishing school.

dave_mba2

Those years of real-world work experience combined with my education made me ready for deployment into the private sector. A few years later, a unique opportunity arose to attend Graduate School, yet again, this time for a Masters in Higher Education Administration. Now, I am in a position to influence, not only my team, but also everyone I encounter, that are on their path to becoming great individuals and better leaders.

I BELIEVE…

  • Greatness is found inside each of us. No matter how damaged or broken life has left us, we are still very capable of being so much better than we were yesterday
  • Dwelling on the past is not going to create a new future.
  • The only way to move towards building a better future is to lead yourself first.
  • Leading by example is the purest, truest form of Leadership.
  • No title, degree, or position whatsoever will make you an “automatic” leader.
  • The title of Leader can only be EARNED.
  • The title of Leaders is NEVER easily earned.
  • The title of Leader can be easily and quickly stripped away.
  • Real Leadership comes from trial and error
  • Real Leadership comes from trial and error.
  • Genuine Leadership comes from getting back up after every fall (literally and figuratively).
  • Authentic Leadership is the result of recognizing that being a Great Follower is where leadership (at all levels) truly begins.
  • Leading others may appear to come naturally to some people but Leadership is a skill that must be cultivated and allowed to grow over many years.
  • Being a leader may take an entire lifetime to master.
  • Leadership is all about CHANGE.
  • Leaders expect things not to stay the same.
  • Leaders roll with the punches.
  • Leaders are expected to experience failures.
  • Leaders that NEVER experience failure are NOT REAL Leaders.
  • Learning from their mistakes is how Leaders grow.
  • Leaders know that everyone is watching, listening and most of all they are paying attention to what they do and not always what they say.
  • Great Leaders exist only because they foster the development, growth and success of NEW Leaders.
  • There are no shortcuts to becoming a leader, let alone to becoming a Great Leader.

A word (or two) of advice: There is not and there will never be a shortcut to becoming a Leader. If you are prepared to put in the hard work and you are prepared to sweat, to bleed, and to cry then you can truly begin going down the long, arduous, and lonely road of the Walking Leader to become a True Leader and attain Leadership Greatness. That long, arduous, & lonely road is also known as the “road less traveled”. While not everyone is cut out to be a Leader or a Great Leader, for that matter, the journey will be full of lessons to learn. At times, the scenery may be dark, scary, and it will also be bright, sunny, but most of all it will ALL BE WORTH IT.

No matter what position you hold in the company, organization, or in life, it is up to you to TAKE THE INITIATIVE and LEAD YOURSELF, first and

BE THE LEADER YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO FOLLOW!
BE A LEADER WITHOUT EQUAL!