What Does It Take To Lead When No One Picks You

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Some careers are straight lines. Terence Harmon’s is a fight through storms—boot camp setbacks, a fraternization hit that torpedoed his first run at MA, a year in Gitmo during riots—and a steady climb back built on mentorship, discipline, and no-nonsense leadership. We dive into how a country kid from Talladega found his footing on a destroyer, got his pride checked by a tough BM2, and turned into the kind of deck plate leader who lifts standards and people at the same time.

From Japan port ops and the immediate shock of 9/11 to the long nights on Charleston gates, Terence explains what changed when security became a warfighting function. He takes us inside Guantanamo Bay’s hardest days, missing advancement by points, and the perspective that gave him as a leader who knows what it feels like when the system overlooks you. Then comes the pivot—a Sailor of the Year nod at the brig, making chief on terminal leave, and choosing the hard way back to sea on FDNF Ashland. The Chiefs’ Mess rebuilt a culture the old way: clean programs, relentless reps, and a simple rule—no re-dos. It worked.

We follow Terence through a staff tour at NECC that turned into a breakout eval, his selection to Master Chief and the CMC program, a greenside tour with Third Medical Battalion in Okinawa, and finally Bahrain, where he leads brilliant ITs and ETs in an information warfare world far from his MA roots. Along the way, he shares the rules that lasted: let no one tell you no; take the jobs that decide outcomes; don’t be your sailors’ friend—be their leader; and trust the process when it gets messy, because storms are part of the route.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in “traffic,” wondered how to bounce back after a bad call, or needed a template for turning a team into a standard, this conversation delivers. Subscribe, share with a shipmate, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what storm are you fighting through right now?

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