Photo By Maj. Stephen Von Jett | Mike Erwin, the founder and president of the Positivity Project, poses with soldiers...... read more read more
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Mike Erwin surveys his audience and as he begins his talk he also begins to roll his sleeves preparing for the work ahead. He moves around the room energetically talking with his hands and pivoting on his toes. His broad smile is infectious and when he isn’t moving he resembles a sprinter about to explode from the blocks.
Moments before, Maj. Chaveso Cook, commander of Dragon Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Military Information Support Group, had closed his introduction of the most recent Dragon Dialogues speaker by saying, “If we build you up as an individual, all the rest is gravy. We are about starting from the core, from the character.”
Character was the core topic of the presentation, specifically the 24 unique character traits recognized in the discipline of positive psychology. Erwin, a philanthropist, ultra-marathoner, Army Reserve major, and professional speaker, shared how understanding those traits can change one’s life.
A West Point graduate, Erwin served multiple combat tours before studying positive psychology under Dr. Chris Peterson, the founder of the discipline, at the University of Michigan. During that time, Erwin founded Team Red, White and Blue, a nonprofit organization that provides local opportunities for veterans and their community to connect through physical and social activity.
After teaching psychology and leadership at West Point, Erwin transitioned to the Army Reserves. Now, as the founder and president of the Positivity Project, Erwin conducts leadership and management seminars across the country.
Erwin discussed the merits of transformational leadership while using simple and relatable language. Once the Dragon Company soldiers demonstrated an understanding of leadership he defined relationships and then presented the idea that leadership is relationships.
“If leadership is a relationship, and you buy into this perspective, how do you get people to get something you want done because they want to do it?" Erwin said, grasping the air for emphasis, "be great in how you think about people, in how you talk to them, in how you interact with them and how you deal with them when things don’t go quite right.”
With this baseline of understanding established, Erwin rolled his sleeves further up his tanned arms, and dove into character. He asked the audience to define character then walked them through several well-worn clichés about character being how you respond when things don’t go well and character being what you do when no one is looking. Erwin asserted that each definition was correct but incomplete.
“Character is a family of behaviors, thoughts and feelings that are widely recognized and encouraged for the moral value that they bring to an individual,” Erwin stated before discussing the 24 different character traits, how they interact, how all the traits exist in everyone and how those traits are malleable.
Some of the traits Erwin discussed were appreciation of beauty and excellence, judgment, perseverance, social intelligence and zest.
Erwin lectured that by gaining a better understanding of which character traits one is strong or weak in, the individual can use mindfulness and resiliency exercises to strengthen traits that will enable them to make better relationships and be a better leader.
Cpl. Brandon Thomas, a heavy print specialist, gained a better understanding of what leadership is and what it means to be a great leader.
“Building relationships, that’s the biggest thing. If you learn your soldiers, get to know your soldiers, get to know their issues, their wants. It goes a long way,” Thomas said while discussing his own journey to become a better leader.
Spc. Brady Gill, a system admin specialist, was impressed that Erwin came to speak to their small group, calling the presentation gold.
“Someone cared enough to bring other people’s caring into it. That is what it breaks down to. Someone wanted to give back, someone wanted to take what they had and give it back.” Gill continued, “Resiliency training is step one, an introduction to the concepts and ideals. This further explains what it really means to be resilient. Pretty much laid out a path to follow to become better leaders.”
Erwin, energized by his interaction with the group, closed much the same way that he opened, “to build relationships you have to roll up your sleeves, literally and figuratively,” and that’s exactly what he did.
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.07.2016 21:48 |
| Story ID: | 191473 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | PINEHURST, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 754 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Ultra-marathoner Philanthropist Provides Positivity Training to Troops, by MAJ Stephen Von Jett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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