Leadership key to success

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Earl Scott
  • 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Have you ever wondered what makes a person a great leader? What enables someone to remain calm and focused when calamity and chaos are all around them? What innate trait or ability is ingrained in someone to motivate, drive and lead a collective group of unknowns to unimaginable heights?

Remember all the accomplishments of the Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990s? Critics consistently said that the Bulls didn't have any business winning so often, and they could never explain how one man could drive his team to six NBA championships. How about when Phil Jackson became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and led the Lakers to three straight NBA championships? The previous coach had the same key players, but for some reason couldn't push the right buttons to motivate his team to reach the next level. What about one of the greatest leaders of all time - Gen. George S. Patton? A quick history lesson - General Patton was a leading U.S. Army general in World War II and led campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany. Many of our nation's historical scholars tout him as the pre-eminent commanding officer, simply the best our nation has ever seen. His leadership in battle was unmatched and the legacy he left behind is unparalleled, with museums, tanks and barracks named after him.

As defined in the dictionary, leadership can refer to those entities that perform one or more acts of leading; the ability to affect human behavior so as to accomplish a mission; influencing a group of people to move toward its goal setting or goal achievement. As can be inferred from the aforementioned definitions, leadership involves interacting with others on a personal level to accomplish a task. President Harry Truman put it another way, "a leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do, and like it." I know we've all been in organizations where we didn't think there was any way we could ever accomplish what the boss was asking, but lo and behold you hit the water line and achieved greatness. In my humble opinion, it was because of outstanding leadership throughout the unit, from the slick sleeve Airman to the eight-stripe chief, and not just the leader on the top of the "org chart" which enabled you to reach the pinnacle.

As a squadron commander, I am the identified leader of the 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, but I'd submit that we're all leaders in our own right regardless of rank, grade, position or duty title. Leadership responsibilities aren't reserved for a certain race, color, creed, sex or religious affiliation. We have a responsibility to each other, because we're all members of an organization trying to accomplish the same mobility mission. We should all be extremely proud of the accomplishments our wing has achieved in the past year, from winning more than 50 percent of the AMC Rodeo trophies, to the accolades received from the Air Mobility Command Unit Compliance and Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Program inspectors. We continue to answer our nations call day and night, rain or shine and it's because of the leadership exhibited by each of you.

I encourage each of you to consistently challenge yourselves, look for those leadership opportunities and continue to make Team Travis the best in AMC!

Thanks for all that you do in defense of our great nation.