The Air Force Officer’s Guide: Leadership and Unselfishness
Continuing on in our series, we take a look at a few more sections from the classic 1951 version of, “The Air Force Officer’s Guide.” The topic of leadership is discussed by many and understood by few. The military relies on it everyday and trains it’s officers to lead men and women in day-to-day tasks as well as in combat. More than any other environment, the military is the greatest leadership laboratory. And intimately connected to leadership is it’s partner unselfishness.
Many mistakenly view leadership as an opportunity to control others and use them to serve one’s own purposes. Nothing could be further from the truth. True leadership is found in serving others rather than being served. Only someone who is unselfish can grasp the true meaning and power of great leadership.
Here’s what the guide has to say on leadership and unselfishness:
Leadership. The officers is trained to lead. From his earliest days the tradition is ground into him. He becomes accustomed to receive and execute missions. This requires him to plan work, assign missions to others, and then to see that their work is done skillfully and in cooperation with others. As he grows older his training and experience broadens and increases his capabilities; this is generally accompanied by greater responsibilities. Thus the tradition of leadership deepens. Just as he is trained to lead others, he is trained to be led by others. For no military person can rise so high, or attain so great a position, that he is not responsible to another. The Chief of Staff reports and is responsible to the Secretary of the Air Force who in turn reports to the Secretary of Defense. Military leadership requires ability to develop teamwork and at the same time to be part of a team.
Unselfishness. The officer is confronted constantly with putting someone or something ahead of his personal likes or dislikes or preferences. When he is in command of men he must see to it that their needs are satisfied before he cares for his own comforts. If his assignment takes him east when he prefers to go west, he goes east. If he wishes a course at a service school and is sent to an obscure post on duty of small appeal, he forgoes the school. When the good of the Air Force or of his unit requires him to do or forgo doing something which he wants, the proper officer takes the action which is for the good of the service. These examples with countless others emphasize the life of unselfishness which is the life of the officer.
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2 comments
I love the last few lines on leadership that expresses one of the ultimate truthes on leadership. No person (I love that back in the 50′s they were trying to be pc) can rise so high as to not be responsible to another. What’s interesting is that as you pointed out in your post on the Art of Manliness, pride is a killer.
For most it seems that as they rise in an organization, those that are not humble begin to slowly but surely start to use their power to control and manipulate people. We’ve all heard those one-liners like, “Well I’m so and so and I’m making the decision.” In essence they are saying it’s my way or the highway so get out of my way. We need a return of humility and accountability at every level of society, and particularly in leadership. Of late, the one example that comes to mind is how did so many companies make poor financial decisions? The easiest answer is a lack of leadership…at the end of the day a leader has no-one to blame but himself. They cannot blame a presidency, an economy, terrorist attacks, or a weak dollar, that’s like saying, “I ran out of gas because I was listening to the Jonas Brothers on the radio.”
My band director had a sign above his podium that read, “A lack of planning on your part, does not necessitate an emergency on mine.” Leaders to need to acknowledge that an abuse of power shows a blatant disregard for dignity. They need to be better prepared and like the expert said to plan.
Lastly pairing leadership with unselfishness is like pairing wine and cheese, it’s a great combination. Unselfishness means that as you rise in leadership, you don’t start to use your power to control, but to enable and promote others. Ultimately an Officer will never be successful unless he is a gentleman as well. Take that Richard Gere.
It’s like opening a tomb of unearthed arcana.
It sounds like the guide is full of practical nuggets for improving effectiveness.
I know there’s been significant learnings in leadership since the 50′s. What stands out for you as key deltas between then and now in terms of leadership training? What do you think should continue to carry forward?
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