National Leadership Day, celebrated annually on February 20, is one of many of the United States “unofficial” holidays. Its stated goal is to instill the values of leadership in us all. According to the Oxford Dictionary, leadership is defined as, “the action of leading a group of people or an organization,” or “the state or position of being a leader.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District’s Leadership Development Program, or LDP for short, has an element of its year-long program for Department of the Army civilians, that takes the idea of National Leadership Day and the proper definition of the noun, several steps further.
“It's a great element of the program to learn, assess and see how different leaders attack different situations, by looking at different leadership challenges and the different perspectives that they bring to solve problems,” Lt. Col. Paul Brownhill, Deputy District Commander said.
All 12 FY25 LDP participants interviewed, then selected a mentor from a pool of seasoned Kansas City District employees in what Brownhill and his mentee, Hunter Young, likened to "a speed dating scenario."
“I got to sell myself to each individual and hope that they're interested in becoming my mentee, and me become their mentor,” Brownhill said.
Thinking back on this new experience helping lead DA civilians instead of soldiers, Brownhill understands his impact and expressed gratitude for the opportunity.
"I'm a green suitor. So, I bring a different perspective than say the chief of engineering or construction division. That worked out in my favor since Hunter thought he could learn something from me and in return, I am learning from him. It's not just a one-way street." he said.
This group is comprised of not only senior military officers who've led actual troops in combat theater, but upper management with decades of experience leading divisions and departments within USACE.
Meeting once a month or more, this mentor-mentee relationship in the public sector, can be likened to having an executive coach in the private sector.
Brownhill, who first learned about LDP when a cohort came to train at Fort Leonard Wood around 15 years ago while he was stationed there, said this is how you pass down institutional knowledge and build leaders of the future not only at USACE, but the federal government writ large.
“I get to apply a lot of different things that I’ve learned over the past 20 years in the Army; what I've learned in college; what I learned in military schools and really apply it with Hunter. It's very exciting for me and I really enjoy it,” he said.
Hunter Young is a Kansas City District natural resource specialist and FY25 LDP class participant. He said although LTC Brownhill’s three-minute presentation was impressive, however, it wasn’t the most important aspect of the process that sold him on choosing the U.S. Army senior leader to as a mentor.
“Actually, having that structure in the military and leading in a military role, my thinking was he's going to have that experience I want to know,” Young said, who patrols the grounds of Clinton Lake in Lawrence, Kansas. “He also has that leadership experience working with civilians and he’s a baseball coach. I thought that all those perspectives fit together well.”
During the pairs preplanned monthly sessions that are usually an hour or more in length, some of the topics they’ve covered thus far are people management, workforce influence through good communication, relationship building and risk management decision making.
Brownhill even used these mentor-mentee interactions to task Young with reading a book influential to his military career, on the life and leadership style of former Army officer and the 65th U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell titled, “The Powell Principles: 24 Lessons from Colin Powell, Battle Proven Leader.
The unlikely duo joked about the book being added to Young’s long list of assignments, since the LDP program already has an extensive reading list, group projects and other tasks the class must complete.
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