Your career in the Navy is what you make of it, but leadership is forever.
- Author
- Gary L. Wise
- Published
- Wed 03 Sep 2025
- Episode Link
- None
Leadership at sea demands resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to grow through adversity. Senior Chief Petty Officer PJ Ernst's 26-year Navy journey showcases this evolution perfectly, from his spontaneous enlistment in 1991 to his retirement as a respected leader in 2017.
PJ takes us through the transformative experiences that shaped his leadership philosophy—from the shock of boot camp in Orlando to his first deployment aboard USS Peleliu during the Somalia pullout operation. His candid stories about crossing the equator ceremonies, port visits in Australia where locals paid for sailors' meals in gratitude for WWII service, and the brotherhood formed in engineering spaces paint a vivid picture of Navy life in the 1990s.
The conversation shifts to deeper leadership terrain as PJ discusses his growth through various roles, including Command Fitness Leader for over a thousand sailors and 3M Coordinator on multiple platforms. His detailed account of Chief's initiation—occurring while his pregnant wife awaited his return from deployment—illuminates how the Navy's leadership development process creates resilient leaders capable of handling immense pressure.
Most compelling are PJ's unvarnished accounts of leadership challenges, including confrontations with difficult commanding officers and the decision to retire after his wife suffered a brain aneurysm. His reflections on maintaining accountability, avoiding single points of failure, and balancing mission and family responsibilities offer universal leadership wisdom applicable beyond military contexts.
Whether you're a veteran, active duty service member, or civilian leader, PJ's journey demonstrates how leadership principles forged at sea create unshakable foundations for success in any environment. What leadership lessons will you take from his remarkable story?
