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Critical eye of leadership

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Francis Fappiano
  • 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Once upon a time there was a set of twins.

Growing up they were both very friendly, outgoing and altogether high achieving.

When they graduated from high school they were named co-valedictorians.

After high school, they decided to both join the United States Air Force and serve their country.

As luck would have it, they passed basic and got the same career field. In her infinite wisdom, the Air Force even stationed the twins at the same base in the same unit where they both continued to impress their supervisors and thrive.

Then one day something happened.

The unit that the twins belonged to announced it was “Below the Zone” season and there was only one Senior Airmen stripe to give out.

Both Airmen buckled down and studied hard for the board. They practiced answering questions with their supervisors and honed their customs and courtesies to a razor’s edge.

One of the supervisors pulled their Airman aside and decided to give some special advice.

“Look,” said the supervisor. “You are pretty much tied with your twin. You have the same ribbons, the same physical training scores and both are excelling at your positions. Here is what I want you to do. Tonight, when you go home, I want you to polish the oak-leaf cluster on your ribbon rack. That may be the difference that earns you that stripe.”

The twin went home and took the supervisor’s advice. After prepping all aspects of the uniform, the twin pulled out some metal polish and made the small bronze oak-leaf gleam.

The day of the board was upon the twins.

Wishing each other luck, each went before the board in turn. The supervisor was waiting for the second twin when the board convened.

The twin came out of the office looking pensive, perhaps considering what just occurred and mulling over responses and answers.

The supervisor asked, “How did it go?”

The twin responded that it went well.

“Great,” replied the supervisor. “What did they say about that shiny gem of an oak-leaf?”

The twin met the gaze of the supervisor. Disappointment was reflecting obvious on the twins face.

“You know,” replied the twin. “They never even noticed.”

Team Shaw, leadership is hard.

Would you have noticed? If you saw a polished oak-leaf, would you have cared?

Within the list of duties and traits leaders must execute and exhibit is the ability to not miss details. Part of this is ensuring things like enlisted performance reports are error free, but more importantly, it is about knowing your Airmen so well that you can tell when something is off or different.

You may miss a detail here and there, but as you grow, you should strive to miss less and less. Our Airmen depend on leaders that care enough to know them.

Not sure if you are meeting muster? Then ask yourself; do you think of the same few people during quarterly award season? Do you continually task one or two Airmen whom you know can get it done? What are your troops doing this weekend?

Leaders, I am here to tell you without casting a critical eye on all of our Airmen, we are going to miss some diamonds in the rough.

We will perpetuate climates where a swath of Airmen feel unappreciated and undervalued.

There are tons of star performers just wanting to be seen, challenged and duly recognized.

By continually using the same people, you will also miss the opportunity to build the fundamental piece of excellence critical to our successes as a wing: a team.

Teams need star performers, plural, and not a single shiny penny.

I get it. This is not easy. Leadership, like many other skills, can be developed and refined.

As you grow as a leader, actively look for easy to miss details.

Leaders should get to know all of their people, not just the “type-A” outgoing ones.

They should also not rely on reputation. Reputation is tainted by another’s perspective, so one should bring a fresh view to sections.

So, who earned the stripe? That does not matter. What matters is leaders honoring a critical eye, giving every member of the team a chance to succeed, and teaching themselves to recognize those polished oak-leafs peaking out in a sea of normal ribbons.