Senior officials define leadership during Air Force Week

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  • By Tech. Sgt. Matthew McGovern
  • Defense Media Activity - San Antonio
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AFNS) --  Leadership was the key topic addressed during an Air Force Week panel discussion April 23 on the campus of the College of William & Mary. 

Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley led the panel with comments on the theme of "Leadership for the Future," and panel members shared their insights with community and military members on what it takes to lead. 

Joining the secretary on stage were Gen. John D.W. Corley, commander of Air Combat Command; Dr. Mitchell B. Reiss, senior American diplomat and vice-provost of international affairs at William & Mary; Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., adjutant general of Virginia; and Brig. Gen. Mark A. Barrett, 1st Fighter Wing commander at nearby Langley Air Force Base. 

"Each year we accept thousands of new members into the Air Force to become part of the Air Force team, to become part of the Air Force family," Secretary Donley said. "We have no way of knowing who will become the Air Force's, or perhaps even the nation's, leaders of the future. 

"What we do know, however, is that every Airman and every civilian who joins the Air Force team makes a valuable contribution to our national security," he said. "And Air Force senior leaders must ensure those contributions are as effective as they can possibly be. 

"This means that we ask fundamental questions of ourselves as leaders today," the secretary said. "What kind of Air Force will we leave them? What kind of Air Force will they inherit? Will it have the capabilities and tools right for the times they will live in five, 10, 15, or 20 years from today? 

"Since it's rare that we can predict the future, we need to also ask (ourselves), 'Did we give them the tools and skills necessary to navigate successfully through the challenges and uncertainties they will have to face?'" 

An organization's culture begins with its values, said the 22nd secretary of the Air Force.
 
"And this is an area where we in the Air Force are particularly fortunate," he said. "The men and women of today's Air Force come from different backgrounds and different motivations, but in joining the Air Force, all have chosen public service as their profession and all have signaled their commitment to our core values of integrity, service before self and excellence in all we do." 

The senior panel members also spoke about the importance of mentorship in the Air Force today. 

"Anyone can be a mentor," said Secretary Donley. "Mentorship happens every day. (It happens) when colleagues pool their experience to solve new problems, when a peer offers his or her advice to a co-worker and when a friend or Airman acts as a sounding board for another. Mentorship comes in many forms. 

"Like all the panelists up here, we all recognize that we are temporary stewards of tremendous institutions with rich cultural history and experience ...so as we prepare our Air Force for the future, we must also prepare its workforce to assume the leadership role." 

But being a leader takes more than passing a test and being book smart. 

When you think about leadership, intellectual ability is actually overrated, said Dr. Reiss, who holds academic degrees from Williams College, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Columbia Law School and Oxford. 

"Almost everybody we know and work with is smart," he said, "but not everybody who's smart is a good leader, so I think that intelligence is obviously something that is necessary, but by itself is not sufficient for leadership." 

You need at least three other qualities to be a superb leader, Dr. Reiss said. One of them is judgment. 

"The best leaders that I know are the ones who exercise good judgment," he said. "They make smart decisions, they accumulate information from a variety of sources -- especially people who disagree with them who test their assumptions -- and then over a period of time, they weigh and sift through it in order to come up with a sound decision." 

The second quality of a true leader is temperament, Dr. Reiss said. 

"Watching Colin Powell up close, one of the many things that impressed me about him was how he never would get too excited when things would go well and he would never get too down when things didn't go so well. He maintained an even keel, an even temperament, that provided a sense of reassurance to us." 

And the final trait a great leader possesses has to do with communication skills, said Dr. Reiss. 

"Whether it's the local community, whether it's the national media, you have to be able to articulate effectively what it is you want to get across," he said. "The best leaders are able to do that to serve their organization and to help the mission that they're trying to promote." 

To be successful, a leader has to have the ability to build relationships and those relationships have to be built on trust, said General Corley. 

"Building relationships is a key essential element in my mind," he said. "Secondly, leaders have to create a collaborative environment so people feel free to contribute to what we are ultimately trying to maintain and achieve. 

"Next, leaders have to be able to envision where they are going," General Corley said. "They have to know where the institution and the people who comprise that institution need to go to solve those imponderable, unsolvable oftentimes, issues that are given to us." 

The Air Force core values have helped General Newman shape his leadership style. 

"I start with 'excellence in all we do' because I think a leader's primary job is to accomplish the mission, and he has to lead that organization to accomplish that goal set by higher authorities," said the general. 

"Then 'service above self' is where a good leader looks to his organization before he looks to his own needs. Whether it is the young Airmen below you or the organization as a whole, you've got to care more about those people than you do for yourself. 

"And then the guiding principle that all good leaders should subscribe to is 'integrity first.'  Whether you wear the uniform or serve in other arenas, (the Air Force core values) are a terrific guidepost for any leader to embrace," he said. 

A good leader also is a person who knows who he or she works for, said General Barrett. 

"We have all seen organizational charts ... you have to turn it around and upside down so that guy on the top is really the guy at the bottom because that is who (the leader) works for. 

"There are a lot of things I don't do at Langley AFB. I don't check ID cards at the front gate and I don't serve meals (at the dining facility), but what I do is try to make sure the resources and the training for the folks who are actually doing the work get the things they need to do their jobs," he said. "That is important for a leader to understand." 

Secretary Donley said the final question that "we will ask of ourselves and of the Air Force is 'Did we adequately prepare the next generation of leaders?' 

"Today's junior officers and enlisted men will indeed grade our work," he said. "My hope is that we will have passed that test, that we will have given them not only an Air Force ready for their leadership, but also we will have prepared them to lead the future Air Force." 

For information on Air Force Week and to see a calendar of events, visit www.airforceweek.af.mil/hamptonroads. 

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