Leaders can unleash greatness of Airmen Published Feb. 27, 2015 By Lt. Col. Ash Cannon 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- As Airmen, we are all part of an elite fraternity of warriors who hail from an extremely small and often disadvantaged demographic in society. Despite that distinct lineage, each member on our team possesses a level of personal greatness that is the lynchpin to our collective success as a fighting force. I recall reading a 2013 New York Times article titled "Americans and Their Military, Drifting Apart," which illustrated that those serving in the armed forces constitute "less than one half of 1 percent of society" and that collectively, most of us were "disproportionately recruited from the disadvantaged" across our nation. Those two facts alone not only reiterate the unique lineage I mentioned previously and the extremely small demographic from which we hail in the Air Force, but they also speak volumes about how incredible our Air Force actually is. More specifically, our Air Force's ability and wherewithal to transform the unbelievable talents, of allegedly "less-than-average Americans," into varying degrees of personal excellence. It's this harmony of talent and excellence that makes us the most feared and respected air and space fighting force ever known to mankind. Undoubtedly, we have a lot to be proud of and even more to be grateful for and preserve, as Airmen and Americans, regardless of where we came from in society or the grave responsibility that accompanies voluntary service as our nation's sentry, avenger, sword and shield, enabling our way of life. But I believe despite our insurmountable successes to this point in history, the odds each of us have overcome individually and collectively as well as the excellence we've perfected mastering our technical craft and the profession of arms, there is still a level of greatness resident in all of us we've yet to unleash. Likewise, the chief of staff made a similar observation in the foreword of his latest strategy document "America's Air Force: A Call to the Future." The chief said, "We must pursue a strategically agile force to unlock the innovative potential resident in our Airmen and turn a possible vulnerability into an enduring advantage." You see, one of our greatest advantages as a professional Air Force is the natural structure and discipline that buttresses our institution. Examples include training, specialization, organization, a chain of command, law, instruction, policy, supplements, technical orders, job guides, commander's intent and supervisor expectations. Although essential to maintain good order, discipline, standardization, et al., these trademarks can, in fact, become barriers to optimizing personnel contributions if applied inappropriately. Consequently, the level of greatness in each Airman becomes compartmentalized, to differing degrees, depending on individual maturity, competence, confidence, courage, longevity and position within the force structure. Similarly, leadership's ability to set the conditions and climate conducive to calculated risk taking or demonstrating leadership or even simply innovating beyond the confines of a specialty, functional arena and/or precedent within the service or force structure is also imperative to prevent quelling the greatness of Airmen. Inspiring the ability to innovate beyond the status quo of tradition, insignificant competing interests or otherwise, is pivotal to removing the barriers that can unintentionally sequester greatness, condition the force to lie dormant within the ranks or remain hidden behind the shadows of legacy policy, paradigms, leadership approaches and processes. The point is that just as the chief goes on to state in his strategy, "as the pace of change quickens across the globe, many of our processes and paradigms will be made obsolete," we no longer have the luxury of not recognizing capability at our fingertips already resident in our Airmen. Neither can we fail to unleash the greatness each Airman possesses and allow ourselves to remain hostage to diminishing capabilities and increasing requirements. The conditions we will certainly face in the future necessitate a faster Air Force response and adaptation to meet the challenges on the horizon that will require the full potential of Airmen. Likewise, the "employee-to-stakeholder" transition all of us experience at different points in our careers, usually later rather than sooner, can be expedited by finding an optimum balance between the structure and cornerstones that makes us a professional force and the climate and conditions that will enable us to unlock the full potential resident in our Airmen. If we can accomplish this earlier, wrangling greater commitment and fulfillment as a result, we won't peak prematurely or fail to align mission needs with Airmen desires when it is completely possible to do so. This approach will allow us to transform ourselves beyond the clutches of those traditional barriers. It will also allow us to change our daily business model to deliberately target legitimate requirements while fully leveraging every Airman to their full potential, perhaps in ways that depart from traditional utilization, specialization and organization. Ultimately, this is arguably the best time in our Air Force history to lead courageously and influence necessary change. Now is the time of our prime opportunity to unleash the greatness of Airmen. Just as external ambassadorship is important to community relations and an all-volunteer force, prioritizing internal ambassadorship to champion our Air Force and more importantly, the greatness of our Airmen, should start today. This internal championship is the springboard to transform the capability requirement equation that is arguably out of balance, to be prepared to dominate in the inevitable conflict that lies ahead while weathering the litany of fiscally driven mandates and challenges looming in the present. Think bigger. Think more broadly. Start now.