By Charles Melton
Melton’s Musings
Throughout my personal life and my professional career, I have been blessed to have worked with and been mentored by some truly amazing leaders who all taught me something new about what leadership is and isn’t. Now that I’m a year away from the end of my federal civil service career, that’s something I’ve had to time to finally contemplate and ponder.
My dad, Charles Thomas Melton, is the first leader I learned from because, naturally, as his oldest son, I spent my childhood years attached to him at the hip. Dad’s leadership style has changed over the years, but one thing hasn’t. With him, you know where he stands and you know that he wants the best for those under his leadership. He’s not always the cheerleader you want, but as long as you’re doing right, he’ll be right by your side. His deep faith permeates everything he does, and correction from him is always aimed at making you the best you can be.
During my Army years, Lt. Col. Darel D. Schoening showed me what it is to be a compassionate servant leader, and to this day, he remains one of my closet mentors. Lt. Col. Schoening and I met when I was battalion staff duty at Fort Lewis, Washington, and after a brief conversation, he made me his driver and his P.R. person. When my life outside of work got overwhelming Lt. Col. Schoening provided me a graceful and merciful exit from my military service that allowed me to take care of my family when he had every reason to drop the hammer on me. He called it the “saddest day of his military career,” and he and I both shed tears when my military service came to an abrupt end. He showed me the value of giving grace and mercy to subordinates, even when you have every reason not to give it.
Gen. Robert Abrams and I met at Fort Irwin, California, when I was working in the Fort Irwin Public Affairs Office at the start of my civil service career. One afternoon, Gen. Abrams asked me to teach him Twitter, because he wanted to more effectively send out command messages to the entire Fort Irwin community. I spent countless hours watching him in meetings and interacting with everyone from members of Congress to foreign leaders to enlisted soldiers and Army civilians. He treated everyone with kindness and respect, even though he was a strict taskmaster who expected nothing but absolute excellence from everyone under his command. He is a scholarly leader who is laser focused on the task at hand while taking care of things on the homefront.
Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack taught me the value of picking the right people for the job and letting them do it, as his senior advisors were all among the absolute best, brightest and most compassionate and caring people I’ve ever met. From Silvia Fabela to Linda Delgado to Katharine Ferguson to Kevin Shea to Claudia Meng to Greg Jaffe and all of the under secretaries, assistant secretaries and other political appointees, Secretary Vilsack put the right people in the right place to serve the American people. Each had their own style, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning little things from each of them.
Leadership is hard, especially when you don’t want to be the one leading. Some people just want to lead by example and serve others without a leadership title or the administrative responsibilities that come with it. When they get the title, they accept it with reluctance and do it to the best of their ability, waiting for their successor to finally emerge so they can return to simply serving others. I relish serving without anyone knowing my name. People just know that some guy wearing boots and jeans took care of it and then faded into the shadows. He got the job done and left and gave credit to those who allowed him to do what he did. That’s my leadership style: no name leadership. Just an ordinary dude who gets things done. That’s all I want to be. Give the title and administrative responsibilities to someone who truly wants it. I’ve had my time at the top of the mountain, and it ended on April 11, 2025. Now, I just want to be a dude and not a star. Maybe one day soon. Maybe.
Charles Melton is the news editor of The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at charles@hutchtribune.com