One-third enthusiasm, one-third vision, one-third energy

  • Published
  • By Col. Michael Haefner
  • 387th Air Expeditionary Group commander
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Senior leaders often share their views on what it takes to be a successful leader. Three of those traits have guided not only my career, but a lifetime.

Enthusiasm, vision and energy, or EVE, as I commonly refer to these three traits, greatly assisted me as a young man, through college, into the U. S. Air Force as a flight and squadron commander, and most certainly as the first commander of a new Air Expeditionary Group.

Enthusiasm has always been my most prized leadership trait. Author Paul J. Meyer says, "Enthusiasm glows, radiates, permeates and immediately captures everyone's interest." Even as a second lieutenant in the mid-1980s, when we had to list our strongest qualification on the Officer Effectiveness Reports, I always selected 'enthusiasm' or 'enthusiastic leadership.'

Enthusiasm allows us to understand our mistakes and laugh at them as they fade away, starting each day anew.

It's like always being 10 years old, even though I'm now 48. If you have children, you know exactly what I mean. It's the wonder of each day, from the sand storms in the area of operations to the dark green pine trees and snow-capped Rocky Mountains. It's the chill or tingle down your spine when you hear a crisp version of our national anthem and it's behind every smile. It allows us to laugh with others at ourselves. It is clearly the one equalizer in life regardless of race, religion or where you grew up. And that person who is enthusiastic ... they are infectious in a positive way and they are fun to be around. It's about getting things done instead of finding ways to avoid work. It's looking at life a different way and not being afraid to try something different. But enthusiasm needs direction through vision.

Merriam Webster defines vision as, "having or marked by foresight and imagination." Vision is the road that allows us to depart from here and get to 'there,' wherever 'there' is. It's the idea or the dream that drives the machinery towards and end state. It's a prized painting before the first brush stroke hits the canvas. It takes a leader, along with a team, to sit down, embrace the larger vision and dissect that vision into smaller goals and objectives in order to make it a reality. In essence, it's self-fulfilling as a well-defined vision will almost always be realized if given enough time and commitment. Of course, all of this takes energy to implement.

If Benjamin Franklin was accurate when he said, "Energy and persistence conquer all things," then energy is a must for any leader and that energy source must be endless. You've heard of the person that asks for 110 percent ... not me. I've always asked for 100 percent yet we must realize that 100 percent results in different levels of performance between individuals and even within the individual, based on many factors such as rest, nutrition, etc. Find the energy to constantly peel another layer back from the onion and find the energy to always follow up with a comment or to find the answer to a question.

Now, when should you think about these amongst the many traits that leaders and commanders discuss. Well that's easy ... EVEry EVEning.

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