Category: Developing Others
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Importance of SNCOs Mentoring Officers
“Why are you putting this LT with me?” is a question I have heard in various forms from fellow SNCOs. To be honest, I have asked this question before too. It took some time at the SNCOA to truly appreciate the importance of my time with officers. We have all read in the little brown…
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Secret to Success: Train Up, Train Down
Here is a concept I adopted a long time ago: Train Up, Train Down. I really wish I could remember where the idea came from, although I am certain I simplified it into this phrase as a teen while training in martial arts. The concept is really quite simple in practice; you train to learn…
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3 Lessons Learned from my Father
“You are a man now. What you do or don’t do is your choice, but you have to own the consequences of those choices.” These were the words spoken to 15-year-old me by my father almost 22 years ago. To this day, I still reflect on that moment and the many more where he offered sage…
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Managing Talent
“To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability…The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the…
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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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Mired thinking
In the military, we often note that some of what we do is inextricably linked to traditions. Our rank structure, uniforms, customs, courtesies, and values are often tied to what we’ve always done and that serves to perpetuate our organizational identity as a whole. While most of that makes sense, we also easily become mired…
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What Would the Forefathers Think of Us Today?
240 years ago some brave statesmen adopted our Declaration of Independence from the tyrannous Great Britain. Their signatures were treason and punishable by death. Their signatures and courage to stand up was a declaration of war on the most powerful nation on the planet. Have we let our forefathers down as many claim? It is…
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You can’t make a hole in water
“Why don’t you take some time off? You’ve been working hard.” “If I’m not here, who else is going to make sure this place is running?” This is a fallacy that many of us find ourselves believing. Not only is it unhealthy because it can become a source of ‘bad stress’, but because at the…
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Leave a Legacy
When the topic of legacies arises, who comes to mind? For many, it is a former president, commander, etc. There is often very little talk about those who have the most impact in another’s life, the people who impact others on a one-on-one basis. In many families there is a lineage of veterans leading from…
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Are you a Pinger?
“We are working for a real pinger today,” were the first words out of the mouth of my Senior Airman trainer on my very first day on the flightline. He went on to explain a pinger is a person that freaks out and is bouncing from one thing to the next like a ping pong…
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