Big Red Leadership

Leadership advice for the Air Force's future leaders

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by Airman Magazine Via Flickr: Capt. Kevin W. O'Brien is Operations Flight Commander of AFROTC Detachment 520 and a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where he is doing research on using air pressure to morph the shape of aerodynamic wings, Apr. 15, 2016. O'Brien supervises the cadet wing at Cornell in the conduct of Leadership Laboratory (LLAB) activities, teaches Aerospace Studies and Leadership courses and manages programs to identify, attract, and retain cadets for the AFROTC program. (U.S. Air Force photo by J.M. Eddins Jr.)

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Former Air Force Captain Kevin O'Brien and newly commissioned 2Lt Scott Seidenberger from AFROTC Det 520 at Cornell University. Bully Gentlemen!

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Air Force Chief Master Sgt. James A. Cody gave the keynote address during Cornell University's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Joint Service Brigade Commissioning Ceremony, May 28 in Statler Auditorium.

What a way to end four plus years of training for these young men and women: America's newest military officers. Our thanks to CMSAF James Cody for his inspiring and blunt words for these new officers.

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Major General William A. Cohen, U.S. Air Force Reserve, Retired More than 40 years ago, management guru Peter F. Drucker reiterated that the first systematic book on leadership, written 2,000 years ag...

Great read on leadership from Maj Gen Cohen. Much to take away from this one.

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How Do You Listen as a Leader? - General Leadership

When you are listening where is your focus, where are your eyes? How well you listen can determine your future as a leader.

Big difference between hearing and listening.

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When you're in command, command.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

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Live simply.  Dream big.  Be grateful.  Give love.  Laugh lots.

Unknown

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An ounce of action can crush a ton of fear

Tim Fargo

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Cadet Brigade Commander Scott Seidenberger presents Vice Provost Judith Appleton with a gift from the Tri-Service ROTC Brigade. Navy ROTC Commander Capt. Jim Horten, Army ROTC Commander Lt. Col. David Barber and Air Force ROTC Commander Lt. Col. David Schrader stand behind Appleton.

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Anyone can become angry – that’s easy.  But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy.

Aristotle

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Secret Traits Of Championship Teams

Exceptional leaders know they are responsible for setting the conditions for their teams. Just get in the boat and start rowing.

It’s pretty basic...

1. Great leadership 2. Lack of ego 3. No old guy vs. new guy mentality 4. Honest and Open Feedback

Go read the whole thing.

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This story exemplifies why I love our Air Force.

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Do we get it?

As a young Lieutenant I took leave to attend a college roommate’s wedding.  I was about a year into my first assignment as a missileer operating nuclear ICBMs at F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming. 

During the weekend of the wedding, I found myself riding in the car of a college friend. His name was Jake. Jake was, in my mind, the quintessential fraternity boy: He joined a fraternity his freshmen year. His grades were subpar. He took five years to complete his degree. He partied often. He drank to excess and enjoyed getting high.  His family was well off and he had few if any real needs or wants.  He was like the Chris Farley character “Tommy Boy”.

During that car ride Jake asked about my assignment.  He had remembered I had been an AFROTC cadet and knew I was now an officer. I spoke about how much it was a “pain” to be a missileer. I complained about the training and testing requirements which I thought were excessive…three different training sessions per month totaling six to ten hours; the closed book tests for each of these three classes and the pressure to pass them; the four hour monthly trainer “ride” simulating the operating of the weapon system.  I whined about the threat of no-notice evaluations and the pressure to always be on your game and ready to go all the time.  I must have spoken for ten minutes or so about all this.

When I was done there was a brief, awkward moment of silence and then Jake turned and said to me, “Yeah, but you’re working with nuclear weapons.”  It was like being hit by a ton of bricks.  Here was “Tommy Boy” wondering why I was complaining when I was operating one of the most powerful weapon systems ever known to man. If he could understand why all the training and assessments were important why couldn’t I? That conversation changed me.  It focused me. It reminded me of the awesome responsibilities entrusted to me as a missileer and officer in the United States Air Force.  Later in my career when I was counseling and mentoring a new generation of missilleers who were feeling the same stress that I had, I would think of Jake and what he taught me that day. Tommy Boy “got” it. And he and all our fellow citizens expect us to “get” it too.

Though most of you will not be missileers, the responsibilities you will have will be no less significant. Do not fall into the mindset I had before I was reminded by Tommy Boy. Make sure you “get it”.

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A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough.

Ronald Reagan

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Chinese Control over its Military

Take note on Chinese thinking on control and authority over its military...

“... centralizing command authority at the very top, discouraging initiative-taking, and flexible maneuverability of combat units; all reforms are accompanied by the strengthening of the role of the Political Commissars in the PLA at all levels, whose job it is to indoctrinate and mind control at the expense of military professionalism.” (Source)

Can you imagine such oversight and authority over our actions? Because of this kind of thinking we will always have an advantage over the Chinese.

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If you have never read Dr King's letter or have not done so in awhile, go read it. An excerpt that should humble us all... 

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; 

Dr King's letter was in response to several white ministers who were advising caution and a slower approach from Dr King. He brilliantly shows them why he could not "wait" any longer. As leaders we need to be ready to explain our actions, especially when they may not be popular.