JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. – More than four dozen new and future Air National Guard commanders recently gathered in the national capital region for a whirlwind week of networking, leadership training and mentoring with senior military leaders to set them up for success in their new commands.
The ANG director’s Commander Leadership Course is known in Air Guard circles simply as the “CLC.” During the course, new group and wing commanders can engage with national leaders and their priorities to ensure greater strategic alignment between national and local Guard initiatives.
For Brig. Gen. David B. Johnson, chief of staff for the Ohio Air National Guard and interim CLC director, the opportunity to align priorities is critical for these new leaders.
“We have the chief of staff of the Air Force priorities, then we blend those with the ANG priorities, and then they go and they get chopped up at the state level, and again down at the wing level, “Johnson said. “So it’s very easy in this big construct to lose sight of the big picture. Having firsthand conversations with these senior leaders really connects those dots and solidifies that strategic alignment.”
These face-to-face engagements were considered so critical by Johnson and CLC organizers that they rejected making the course virtual during COVID – opting to remain flexible and adapting quickly to evolving health protection requirements and restrictions.
“With the OMICRON variant of COVID-19 surging over the winter, we really didn’t know up until about three weeks ago if we were going to be able to have this course,” Johnson said. “It had a pretty significant impact on our planning process, but we were committed to doing this course in person or not at all. We don’t feel there is a virtual option for this course.”
As COVID restrictions loosened around the nation, Johnson’s team was able to move quickly, putting together a jam-packed week of training and senior leader engagements that drew nearly 50 students representing 26 states to this iteration of the CLC. Asked if he felt the course was getting “back to normal,” Johnson was optimistic.
“We’re close,” he said. “Planning for this course, we had to keep the numbers under 50 … but typical courses are going to be about 60 to 65. So we’re close to the mark, but just not fully there yet.”
Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, the director of the Air National Guard, was on hand the first day to welcome the Air Guard’s future leaders to the national capital region and strongly encourage them to take full advantage of the opportunities their new positions afford them.
“This is your organization,” Loh said, pointing around the room at the assembled officers. “Here are the priorities, sure, but it’s up to you to take these priorities and make your organization what you want it to be — you’ve got to drive that change internally.”
Bold leadership, taking chances, and a class rallying cry of “We Make Progress Unhindered by Custom” served as themes as the new leaders progressed through different training iterations based in part on leadership lessons of the heroes of American military aviation.
“One of the taskers that we gave the class was they were to read the book, ‘The Bomber Mafia’ by Malcolm Gladwell, and his book really gets into bold leadership at the root,” Johnson said. “‘The Bomber Mafia’ talks about World War II aviation giants like Curtis LeMay, who were revolutionary in their efforts to modernizing warfare in the face of popular opinion at the time. That’s the message we want to get back to our folks is bold leadership, and that we need their creativity in these turbulent times.”
Continuing the theme of bold leadership, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr. met with the class and discussed the importance of stepping up to the challenge of leading when the going gets tough.
“It is really easy to lead in comfort and convenience,” Brown said.” As a matter of fact, that’s probably not even leadership by my definition. It is in challenging controversy where the real test of leadership occurs.”
Brown suggested that Airmen are searching for strong and bold leadership in times of stress.
“When things are not going well — either for the organization or for them — they are looking for how you are going to respond,” Brown said. “If you are cool, calm and collected when you have challenges, your Airmen are also going to be cool, calm and collected. They’ll worry a little bit, but they’ll know you got it.”
Despite the breakneck pace of the CLC and numerous briefings at multiple locations around the Washington area, Johnson is confident the core theme of the course will be the lasting takeaway for the new commanders.
“There are so many hopes that we have for these commanders,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, we want the senior leaders within our structure, these group and wing commanders, to be confident that they will be supported in their decision process.”
Ultimately, the leadership examples of LeMay and the “Bomber Mafia” of the World War II-era of military aviation, analyzed and modernized through Brown’s challenge for Airmen to “Accelerate Change or Lose,” serves as the core thread of bold leadership needed to face 21st-century threats.
“We want them to make bold decisions because the current environment demands that of them,” Johnson said. “So just walking away [from the CLC] with the confidence of knowing that their senior leaders support them holistically and with all their might - I’m fully expecting that this is going to be a great confidence builder for them.”