Author: Joe Lawrence
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Raising Awareness: Really?
“I am raising awareness”…seems to be the rebel yell of the day. We change our profile pics on Facebook, write posts, troll political sites, share clips of news debates, etc. all in the cause of “raising awareness” for some cause or social issue. But what are we really doing? Nothing. Making noise, at best. We…
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Is Rank Required for Leadership?
A few years back I had a conversation with someone about an upcoming promotion cycle. He was telling me about how he hopes he makes the next rank so he could gain some clout in the unit. I asked him why he thought he needed rank to lead. He wasn’t able to articulate his thoughts…
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Incremental Daily Growth
I remember being an Airman in the dorms and being broke. I wasn’t frivolous with my money; I just didn’t make much as an E-1. I would list out my wants and my needs in a little journal and spend accordingly on the 1st and 15th. I also had a change jar in my wall…
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Just a Pawn?
Every one on a team must fill a unique role if it is to succeed. One of the most difficult problems of being on a team is filling a different role than what we think we deserve. It is extremely difficult to lead a team that has members conflicting over their roles. Unfortunately, this is…
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Short-Term Victories vs Long-Term Relationships
“Building bridges is what a leader does” was the advice I received somewhere along the road. This sounded like some common sense advice to me; however, it turns out that not everyone feels the same way. We have all worked with some who will do whatever they have to in order to achieve a short-term…
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Leadership roles: Train versus Educate
Stepping into my first leadership role was awkward for me. I was a good technician and knew I could help others be better at their trade too. However, I was not sure how to function in this new role and I wasn’t given any clear guidelines. It almost felt like a sink or swim scenario…
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Good Enough for Government Work
When you are given a task to complete, are you just checking off the boxes or actually providing the best possible product? We have all experienced that moment when we were technically finished with the assigned task and still had some time leftover. What you do with that time is difference between good and excellent.…
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The Small Moments
“I remember when I was brand new to the line and you pulled me aside to show me how to use the inspection cards better. I have used that technique every time I have taught someone.” This is something that a TSgt shared with me a while back. He was telling me at his going…
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That’s too Taboo
Our Air Force and world around us is more tolerant and open to different lifestyles and embracing diversity like never before. This is a good thing for the most part as we are all Americans and all deserve equal opportunities. Where it is bad is in our ability to be vulnerable or even curious as…
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Are Leaders Required to be Technical Experts?
As we are coming up in the ranks, we strive to become technically sound in our profession. We learn the ins and outs of our job and continue to hone these skills. Eventually, we make rank and gain some supervisory roles. If we are quasi effective in these new roles, we gain even more rank…
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