Formula for success, leadership hasn't changed

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Bill Milligan
  • AETC command chief master sergeant
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  People, especially young airmen I meet when visiting our training units, often ask what it takes to be successful in today's Air Force.

The things you should do to have a successful career have not changed since airmen first wore chevrons. Success is based on your performance in three primary areas: Air Force specialty, airmanship and leadership. The ability to lead is the fruit of your technical competence combined with your development as a complete airman.

The more you know and can apply in your primary duties, the better supervisor, manager and leader you will be as you progress in rank and responsibility. You should learn your career specialty inside and out, and always strive to excel in your duties.

To be truly successful, you can't be just a skilled technician, however. You have to be a well-rounded airman, too. You must do all the things that make you a professional. Performing special duties outside your primary career field can attain much of this professionalism, such as a tour as a military training instructor, military training leader, professional military education instructor or technical training instructor.

When PME is offered, take it. Support your unit, club and the professional organizations that keep our Air Force strong. Stay physically fit. Give of yourself to help the community around you.

These are some of the things we all should do to develop ourselves as better people, and they are the things I see successful leaders doing everyday.

When you excel in your job and develop yourself as a professional airman, leadership opportunities naturally follow. One of the first measures of a good leader is how well you support leaders. When leadership asks for input, make it. Tell leadership what you think. Once leadership makes a decision, you have to support it.

I like to say that once decisions are made by leadership, "Yeah, buts" are over. There is no more "Yeah, but this ..." or "Yeah, but that ..." It is over, it is done and it is time to press. You have to learn to accept that. You have to learn to accept that at any given time there will be tasks that probably you don't relish doing. That is okay. Somebody has to do those tasks, and if it is you, do them to the best of your ability. I have a sign on my desk that says, "When they make you the water boy, serve them Perrier." You have to approach things that way to grow as a leader.

You also have to learn to take care of your people. This means sometimes not telling your people what they want to hear or letting them do what they want to do. Sometimes, that means you have to give them a swift kick in the seat of the pants, not because you want to hurt them, but because you care. You care about them, and you want to help them.

It is important today to follow the disciplines you learned in basic military training as you grow as an airman and leader. Every discipline you could ever want to be successful in the United States Air Force is instilled in BMT. I don't have any more discipline today than I did when I left Lackland almost 29 years ago. What you do is you don't lose those foundational knowledge and skills. You keep them, you hone them, you polish them and you expand them. That is why we call it basic training. You are given all that you need, and then it is up to you to take it to the next level.

If I can be parochial or selfish from a command perspective, AETC instills everything during BMT and technical training to give you the military and skill knowledge to be successful in the Air Force. If in the field leaders continue to enforce it, reinforce it and ensure you don't lose it, there is no reason not to be successful in today's Air Force.

In fact, you have total control of this. There are no secrets to success in the Air Force. The path to success is clearly defined. It is a matter of taking the initiative to want to be successful. When I leave this Air Force, I will not be a wealthy man, but I am a rich man because of the discipline it has given me and the opportunities I've had. Fortunately, along the way I have had some great leaders who have embodied this.

There is a quote I often use by Brig. Gen. Richard Secord, who spent seven years as a POW. He said to be born free is an accident -- you can't control where you are born. To live free is a privilege. Serving in uniform to ensure others may die free is a responsibility.

There is no doubt in my mind that young people entering our Air Force today will be every bit as competent, committed, professional and successful, if not more so, as airmen and leaders as anyone who has ever put on the uniform. We must continue to reinforce those disciplines I have mentioned. If we keep taking care of people, educating them and giving them opportunities, this Air Force is going to be the best Air Force in the world for years and years and years to come. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)