CSAF Leadership Library: November 2021

  • Published
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

"It takes humility to reconsider our past commitments, doubt to question our present decisions, and curiosity to reimagine our future plans." – Adam Grant

Airmen,

When was the last time you changed your mind? In Think Again, Dr. Adam Grant offers prescriptions for our Airmen to "rethink" by seeking out information that goes against our entrenched or bureaucratic views. With time, facts and assumptions change that inform a new decision. As a result, individual and collective rethinking should be done on a recurring basis to maintain our competitive advantage against our pacing challenge.

To inform our rethinking, Dr. Rush Doshi provides a masterclass on rethinking our blind spots regarding China's strategic ambitions. In The Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order, Dr. Doshi unpacks the complex tapestry of China's grand strategy.

One rethinking pitfall, "hindsight bias," clouds how we view the past in the retrospect of the present. Katy Milkman's Choiceology Podcast "Knew It All Along" shows us how to avoid selectively choosing details to make sense of the past.

Finally, I invite you to watch the Air Force Public Affairs Emmy® Award-winning documentary Red Tail Angels – The Story of The Tuskegee Airmen. Nearly 75 years ago, the Tuskegee Airmen pioneered a new paradigm of diversity within military aviation. Today, Action Order A challenges us to rethink the standards of our pilot selection process to identify and remove potential barriers.

I encourage you to think about these insightful topics and share your thoughts and ideas with your fellow Airmen.

Sincerely,
CHARLES Q. BROWN, JR.
General, U.S. Air Force
Chief of Staff

 

Editor's note: The CSAF Leadership Library is a fluid set of media selected by Gen. Brown that evolves as novel ideas are published, recorded, and debated. New entries will be added periodically throughout the year.

 

 Recommendations:

Think Again by Adam Grant The Long Game by Rush Doshi
 

RedTail Angels Choiceology podcast with Katy Milkman

 

Books Podcasts Documentaries

Think Again 
Adam Grant

Choiceology podcast "Knew it All Along"
Katy Milkman

Red Tail Angels: The Story and Legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen
Produced by Air Force Television Pentagon (SAF/PAI)

The Long Game
Rush Doshi