Occasionally, I get asked to share my thoughts on leadership with groups of leaders and other high potential people. I’ve accumulated a few lessons over 30 years, and most of them come from firsthand mistakes. That’s how leadership has historically been learned – by trial and error. There were lots of errors and a few successes mixed in over my career, and this is one of the things I did right.
What is that lesson? This may not make sense quite yet, but it will: “Listen to your Senior NCO”
I spent the first 12 years of my adult working life in the United States Air Force. The first 4 years were spent as a cadet at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, where we learned the theoretical side of leadership, amongst the various other required engineering disciplines. We had some opportunities to practice leadership, but it wasn’t real….. or “the real Air Force” as we called it. Then, following graduation, I paid back Uncle Sam for my college education by serving on active duty as a commissioned officer for another 8 years.
That’s when the real Air Force taught me Leadership Lesson #1 (“Listen to your Senior NCO”).
For those that didn’t serve in the military, the “Senior Non-Commissioned Officer” is a seasoned enlisted leader who joined as an enlisted soldier/sailor/airman straight out of high school. Then, as they got promoted over time, they became “Senior NCO’s. Among other things, a Senior NCO is responsible for training young, commissioned officers – making sure those young officers don’t do something stupid, and more importantly, learn the right way to lead. They tell the young officers appointed over them what’s really going on in the organization. Senior NCO’s technically “report to” those officers, but they really run the organization day to day. Senior NCO’s have a wealth of experience that those young officers don’t have, and often must toe the fine line between superior/subordinate. It’s an art form.
I was one of those “young officers” in the early 1990’s and this man, Chief Master Sergeant Van Ray, drew the short straw. He got assigned to guide me as a young Second Lieutenant in 1993. I’m sure he was thrilled (sarcasm intended).
I recently had dinner with Chief Ray for the first time in 30 years. I pulled out my challenge coin that he gave me 30 years ago (a token of respect given from one airman to another), and I reminded him that HE was the reason why I’ve had success in my career. He taught me the following things, many of which still apply today in the corporate setting:
- Listen to your key leaders.
- You don’t have to make all the decisions alone.
- “Praise in public and criticize in private.”
I could go on. Thank you, Chief Ray. Your words didn’t fall on deaf ears.