Commentary Search

  • Reading: Why we should do it

    In recent months, I started paying extra attention to the subjects of my conversations and have noticed an interesting trend. I found an astounding number of conversations involve the latest version of an electronic device, a new video game with outstanding graphics, or the best way to upgrade this

  • Calling all informal leaders

    I attended an NCO Academy graduation to watch three members of my squadron graduate and congratulate them on their accomplishment. Some parts from the guest speaker's speech really resonated with me. He focused on the application of leadership in three ways: intervention, pride and honor. What

  • DOD program offers leadership development opportunities

    Department of Defense officials seek active-duty officers to participate in the 2012 Executive Leadership Development Program beginning in September.This DOD program is designed for officers who have demonstrated strong leadership, commitment to public service, integrity and who have an interest in

  • 52 Lines of Leadership: Resolve to be re-inspired

    All of us have heard a great line, quote or saying from someone wishing to pass on his or her words of wisdom. I propose simply one resolution -- to stop, reflect and be re-inspired by something you have heard or read that had such a profound effect on your senses it stuck with you and has shaped

  • No raise for civilian federal employees

    President Barack Obama proposed a freeze for federal employees' salaries for two years and in December 2010, Congress passed the salary freeze proposal into law. The law reads: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law ... no statutory pay adjustment which (but for this subsection) would otherwise

  • Deployments: Unrivaled leadership opportunities

    It was May 2008, and with an Air Force-wide wing re-organization pending, I was instructed to make a permanent change of assignment to an aircraft maintenance unit. In only three weeks, I was to lead them on an Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment. I had previously deployed, but the task of entering a

  • Leadership and commitment

    We are all busy keeping up with the demands of a fast-paced world - as during the holiday season and while preparing for the Installation Excellence Award judging - when the obligations seem to add up faster than the balance on your credit card. Organizations are no different. They find themselves

  • The challenge

    We often look to leaders to challenge us -- whether it is to find in ourselves talent we didn't realize we had, to simply build a new process or to find the right person for the job at hand. Ralph Waldo Emerson mused, "our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." As

  • Strong leadership is money in the bank

    I am a big "Star Trek" fan and am a little suspicious of those who aren't. On the show, there is a machine called a replicator. In theory, a replicator works by rearranging subatomic particles to form molecules and arranging those molecules to form the object. What a great concept for managing an

  • “Just Do It”

    Many discussions on leadership open with a famous quotation from some dead guy who was a military chieftain such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France; or Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, chief of staff of the Prussian army.I prefer referencing a present day hero to whom we all owe a great debt