Category: Leadership
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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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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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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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Service Before Self?
“My EPR is coming due! I need to get some base/community service in so I can get a bullet.” Sound familiar? I wish I could say that I have never said a version of this, but I think all of us have at one point. Although serving is ultimately a good thing, we carry this…
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Whispers Turn into Screams
After I gained some experience as a leader, I realized something simple and yet profound: whispers turn into screams. Small issues can become large issues if left ignored for too long. Something that can be handled very quickly is often ignored until it becomes an emergency. Time and time again, we hear about a systemic…
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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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