May 30, 2012 Power of a Positive Attitude "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude," Zig Zigler is quoted as saying.Recently, while meeting with the 55th Wing's group commanders, Brig. Gen. Donald Bacon, 55th Wing commander, mentioned he was considering recognizing one of the wing's civilian gate guards for being so
May 11, 2012 Getting Smart about Emotional Intelligence - For Your Airmen and Your Children I often find myself comparing my responsibilities as a commander to my responsibilities as a parent, and sometimes even find myself thinking of, or referring to, my Airmen to my kids. I know I'm not alone in this, and I don't mean to belittle any Airmen as childish. Rather, I see this as a natural
April 30, 2012 Education and Character in the Air Force "To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society," President Theodore Roosevelt.We are blessed to be in the United States Air Force where great emphasis is placed on education. Opportunities for basic or advanced degrees, professional military education, on the job
April 17, 2012 Tactical Excellence "Tactical Excellence" is quickly becoming the celebrated flagship phrase for Air Force security forces, a mantra that encompasses everything from training to spiritual wellness to air mindedness. Although the phrase carries several connotations, it can be used with the largest of problems or
March 29, 2012 Living the Core Values Where did you learn right from wrong? Your parents? Your grandparents? Church? School? Most of us learned right from wrong as we grew up. It happened all around us by our exposure to choices. When we made good choices, we were either rewarded, and when we made the wrong choice, we were "redirected"
March 13, 2012 Communicating with technology "An email sent is not an email received." A group commander said those words to me not too long ago. Effective communication is essential for any organization to function properly and we cannot accomplish the mission without it. However, we must utilize it properly. We are an Air Force heavily
Feb. 28, 2012 Individual and TEAM Leadership Principles Former U.S. President and Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership." While specific leadership techniques are situationally dependent, personnel respond much better if they are empowered and do not
Feb. 14, 2012 From resolution to resolute I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions. I enjoy the nostalgic look back at the end of the year to review what has been accomplished, milestones passed, historic achievements and the human interest stories, but that's where my participation in the New Year's "accounting" generally comes
Jan. 31, 2012 The Most Important Weapon System: The Human Weapon System Per Brig. Gen. Donald Bacon, 55th Wing commander, "over the past year, we have continually strived for excellence and compliance, to do things the right way, instead of the easy way. Our hard work and dedication were validated through our performance in 37 inspections, including our astounding 99
Jan. 17, 2012 Leading in challenging times Are you ready to lead? You might say, "Of course I am. I've been a leader since I became an NCO or lieutenant or supervisor." I contend our leadership challenges are, with the exception of some contingency deployments, minor compared to what we are likely to face in the coming years. I also contend