The United States Air Force Requires Leadership At All Levels

As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several

The Right to Lead Assessment Model (RLAM) is a useful construct for analyzing one’s own ability to lead at the strategic level in a Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental and Multinational (JIIM) environment. I will briefly describe key RLAM components, assess my personal strengths and weaknesses (in each component), and then prescribe a strategy to improve weakness while attending the Air War College (AWC). My overall objective is to have people follow me because I earned their commitment and confidence (also RLAM components) as opposed to automated, unearned respect associated with my rank or job title. The RLAM, which I use as a reflective self-assessment, consists of roughly 12 components. However, I focus on five of these components, which are most critical for strategic leadership: character, competence, personality, drive, and relevance. Character is the most important RLAM component.

I am Joseph Maruska, I am currently a Major in the United States Air Force. This essay will introduce you to my personal command philosophy. It will also summarize and analyze a brief interview recently conducted with a current squadron commander using my own leadership philosophy as a guide. Throughout this essay I will draw upon my own personal experiences and thoughts, lessons discussed throughout the Leadership and Command Course, as well the discussion with a current squadron commander. Leadership and command styles come in many different forms and there is not necessarily a correct or incorrect way to lead depending on your organization or current turn of events. This essay is simply my thoughts after being in the Air Force for the last eleven years.

Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines culture as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization” and leadership as “the act or an instance of leading.” The United States Air Force, like any other large organization, relies on leadership at all levels to effectively operate its mission. Further, the United States Air Force since it’s inception in 1947 has had a continuously evolving set of cultures unique to the organization. Joining these two concepts together has directly lead to the United States Air Force being held as the “Best Air Force in the World.”

The US Air War College is indisputably among the best senior military schools for preparing future strategic leaders. Due to its worldwide reputation, it is a challenging issue for all partner nations to get a spot at the college. For the selected international officers the residence program is a great chance to attend a wide variety of educational activities led by world-class faculty members. While taking advantage of this unique learning environment, my personal commitment throughout the academic year will be focused on achieving the following two goals: developing an advanced strategic mindset and expanding my view of the world conflicts. This essay will examine the specific objectives which lead towards accomplishing those two goals and which might help addressing some shortfalls in my leadership skill set.

From day of training zero, the significance associated with our self-assessments was very clear to me. It provided an opportunity to put definitions behind behaviors. Allowing me to see myself from different perspectives, all of my attributes, both good and bad. I also found many lesson concepts relatable to assist me moving forward with my Air Force career. Over the next few pages, I will go into further detain regarding my five focus areas within our personal leadership development plan entries. I will link these entries to aid in the creation of my 5-year plan, while considering how I wish to be perceived by my leaders, peers, and subordinates.

Becoming a strategic leader in the Armed Forces is an exciting but challenging goal. This prestigious role involves many responsibilities. A Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment also characterizes the complex context in which military forces operate. Therefore national security senior leadership requires precise key skills and knowledge, beyond the ones needed at tactical and operational level, in order to be successful. This paper is my personal critical self-assessment of the ability to lead at the strategic level as it stands today, at the beginning of the Air War College (AWC) course. Gaining self-awareness is my first step to maximize the outcome of this course that is just focused on educating the future joint strategic leaders. In the paper, I will also include my personal strategy, while attending the Air War College, to strengthen my identified shortcomings and to reinforce my identified strengths. The Right to Lead Assessment Model (RLAM) is the reference tool I used to conduct this self-analysis in a more structured form.

The environment we work in is always changing, our processes and programs are always evolving, which requires us as leaders to be both transformational and transactional. In order to flow with our battle rhythm we must be willing to change and encourage followers to change along with the organizations vision, strategy and culture. You cannot get too comfortable in the way our organization is set up, to be effective you

Many do not take the time to sit and reflect on ourselves. However, understanding yourself and identifying personal strengths and weaknesses will help you to develop as a leader. Often times it is easier to point out other’s strengths than to point out your own. Chapter four of Exploring Leadership by Komives describes tools to discover your traits and how to use them. The most important points discussed was mindfulness, managing your nonstrengths, and values.

I think that Personal Power is the most important concept from the “Leadership Influence” lesson.

MBE-A would seem less useful in an office environment where the stakes are not nearly as high and human life is not routinely at risk. The United States Department of the Air Force actually teaches FRLD to Non-Commissioned Officers as they prepare for greater leadership responsibilities. In the Air Force Professional Development Guide they teach the following when on the topic.

This leadership interview was conducted with Jarrod Schell, a mechanical engineer who leads teams of 5-10 individuals tasked with designing and producing aviation products to fulfill government contracts. The intent of the interview was to identify common themes of leadership that emerged. Very quickly in the interview process, Jarrod identified a common theme that was referred back to quite often as the interview progressed. Essential to effective leadership is having a clear vision to guide interactions between team members and the decision making process. Once a vision is identified, then additional elements of successful leadership, such as keeping yourself and your team motivated and working to improve effectiveness as a leader, must be

I believe my two biggest weaknesses as a leader are trying to please everyone and being too tedious. Trying to please everyone causes indecisiveness and usually ends with everyone unhappy. I often put the task at hand after the people it will affect. For example, I made a workout plan for my outfit. While drafting the plan, I asked for input from a lot of different people in the outfit. I was looking for everyone’s fitness goals and exercise preferences. I planned on making a great, comprehensive workout plan everyone would like. However, trying to fit everyone’s goals and favorite workouts into the plan was unrealistic. The first workout plan I came up with was confusing and ineffective. It was useless. After realizing how impractical it was to make everyone happy I rewrote the plan in the way I thought would be most effective for meeting most people’s goals. Additionally, I incorporated as much as the input as possible and omitted it when not possible. I learned that leading people towards their goals is not

The second strength I feel that I portray as a leader is the ability to “synergize”. I feel that cooperation and team work are at the heart of every successful organization. Good leadership is not only a science, it is an art. It involves collaboration and cooperation. A good leader wants to ensure that the best possible outcome is reached. This typically doesn’t happen only using one idea or opinion. Many times, it involves the combination of more than one idea or theory. The most successful leaders are able to pick and choose and then combine all of the best possible solutions to reach a positive outcome. I feel that I possess the ability to collaborate well with others. I feel that no one person can know everything there is to know about any subject. I feel that in order to achieve the best results, it is wise to seek council and knowledge from all sources available. This means collaborating with others and tweaking solutions to contain all of the best possible resources. (Pater)

My personal leadership effectiveness is mainly dependent on my own strengths and abilities that how effective I am to manage different kind of situation. Also, it is necessary to know about my own weaknesses and those areas in which I feel myself unconfident or threatened, so that, I can overcome such issues to improve my personal leadership effectiveness.