Looking forward

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Andrew Wallace
  • 22nd Airlift Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  During the past few months, I have been honored to attend my Airmen's college graduations, promoted several Airmen to the next higher grade, and retired a master sergeant after 26 years of proud and honorable military service. These events represent significant milestones in each Airman's life and reflect a series of well-executed strategic choices toward achieving their specific goals in the Air Force.

As Airmen, we develop and execute strategies to complete goals that support the mission, upcoming inspections and unit deployments. We periodically analyze and revise our strategies to maximize the effects we generate for the mission and our combatant commanders. However, each of us should take time to develop and execute our own personal strategy to achieve specific goals in the Air Force.

During a recent graduation address, Lt. Gen. Stephen Lorenz, Air University commander, gave what I thought was a compelling reason to develop a vision and long-term personal strategy. He stated, "In my office, I have a quotation framed and positioned on my desk where I can see it every day. It says, 'My biggest fear is that I will look back on my life and wonder what I did with it.'"

Living life with purpose and vision requires deliberate thought and action. Just as the military depends on a commander's vision and well-thought-out strategy to win our nation's wars, each Airman needs a personal vision of their future and a long-term strategy to guide their choices to that end. Vision is the ability to "see" and articulate a desired end state. It represents the starting point for any strategic planning. In fact, businessman and author John Naisbitt states, "Strategic planning is worthless unless there is first a strategic vision." Strategy is quite simply the way in which we utilize limited resources to achieve desired goals with acceptable risk. As in all endeavors, we must develop strategies and goals with our eyes clearly focused on the vision of the desired end state. The vision could be as simple as being a great supervisor or as complicated as how you want to be remembered as a leader in the United States Air Force.

Regardless of the desired end state, write goals down and develop a series of milestones to achieve your vision. Keep in mind the limited resources such as time and money available. Next, assess the risks associated with working toward goals and adjust your plan accordingly. Risk encompasses the things that cause setbacks, loss or injury while pursuing your goals. Finally, put the plan into action and assess your progress. Every strategy needs adjustments over time and yours will be no exception ... be flexible, but stay focused.

If you invest the time and energy into your personal vision and strategic plan, you will successfully avoid the pitfall of wondering what you did with your career as an Airman in the United States Air Force.