COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– After a five-decade career in the Air Force, a retired general shared with a credit union audience here not his triumphs or how he got his ribbons, but instead all the ways he believes he could have been a better leader.
Speaking to the Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) annual meeting here, Gen. Robin Rand, whose accomplishments included serving on the Joint Chiefs staff, with the Secretary of Defense, and in the Air Force’s headquarters, said there are numerous areas where he believes he could “have done better.” Rand did not mention his more than 5,100 hours flying F-16s or his 480 combat hours. Instead, he shared example after example of where he now looks back and sees the lessons he has learned.
During his career among those who served under Rand was Tony Hernandez, president and CEO of the DCUC, which was holding its meeting in Colorado Springs, home to the Air Force Academy.
Timeless Traits
“I think leadership traits are timeless,” said Rand. “What applied 3,000 years ago still applies today and will apply 3,000 years from now. I think good leadership traits are agnostic to the profession. And I think it’s critical to the success or failure of organizations. Organizations can survive average to mediocre leadership, but they can only thrive with good leadership.”
The traits desired in leaders, according to Rand, include:
- Ability to communicate effectively
- Adherence to corporate stands
- Humility and treatment of people with dignity and respect.
There are two ways to learn, Rand noted, and those are:
- Personal experience. This is “hard knocks, learning the hard way,” he said
- Through the transfer of knowledge, including mentoring, coaching, teaching.
Rand said his goal was to share the latter in lessons drawn from his career.
Those lessons include:
I’d Have Been More Thick-Skinned
While stationed in Korea, Rand shared lessons of hosting an Air Force legend, Brig. Gen. (Ret) Robin Olds, known as “the Wolf,” a nickname given to all following leaders in the same command.
“At 80 years old he came to visit us and was larger than life. He’s jet-lagged and he likes scotch. At nine at night, I’m worried about him. I said, ‘I don’t know about you, but this wing commander is tired. Maybe we should hit it’,” Rand said. “You never interrupt General Olds when he’s holding court. And he said, ‘Good night, sweetheart.’ That hurt my feelings. I said, ‘He better be up and at ’em tomorrow morning’ and he was fine.
“Seriously, one of the leadership traits we desire are people who are bold, who are courageous, who are brave,” said Rand. “Not necessarily brave on the battlefield, but brave in doing the unpleasant things worth standing up for and doing what’s right. I should have been more of a bold leader in my journey. I should have faced the unpleasant and not shown fear.”
Rand shared several stories of members of the military whom he said where bold because they had the courage to speak truth to power, which is additionally difficult in the military.
I Should Have Emphasized More Our Organizational Core Values
Rand pointed to the Air Force values: “Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do.”
“I know as a leader I didn’t always adhere to those values the way I should have,” Rand said. “Without action, they are just words. I would submit they are the beacon, the guiding light. If you adhere to integrity, service, excellence, you are going to be OK. I wish I had emphasized those values earlier in my journey. I think the DCUC values are just right. People who are part of this organization should be able to spit them out and recite them.”
Rand said there are many organizations that don’t have a good mission statement, a vision statement, and don’t have organizational values. And they suffer as a result, he said.
“One of the things you are required as a leader, to do to have an organization function properly, is to have people fit in. The other way to describe that is to ‘comply with our standards.’ Some believe ‘fitting in’ has a negative connotation. I disagree violently with that. We tell our young airman they will fit in, they will comply, or they will not be part of our service.”
‘Bigger Than Themselves’
Rand said that it’s equally important that people not just fit in, but that they feel they belong to something bigger themselves.
“Inherently, people want to feel that they matter,” he said. “Leadership requires you to ensure people fit in and meet standards and you inspire them to belong. I didn’t always do that. Sometimes, I looked away, I ignored the problem, for whatever reason. There were times I didn’t do what I could do to inspire people.”
Rand shared the story of three airmen who worked at disposing of ordnance and bombs in Afghanistan who ignored orders and didn’t send a robot to inspect a car. As a result, they were killed. “I have asked myself, as their commander, what did I possibly do or not do that would give them the impression they could willfully not comply? It still gives me nightmares.”
I Should Have Been a Better Wingman
“Wingman” is a term of endearment in the Air Force.
“I wasn’t always the wingman I should have been, but I have had plenty of good wingman in my life.
Rand shared the story of one airman injured in a blast in Baghdad whose first thought coming out of surgery was to ask about his wingman.
I Should Have Accepted Feedback Better. Our Subordinates Have Our Back
Rand asked the assembled credit union leaders, “Do you let subordinates speak to power. The older I got the more thin-skinned I got. I thought I had all the answers. People would ask me questions and before they finished speaking I would give them the answer. How rude is that? You have to be able to accept feedback and take criticism.”
Rand shared how when he took over Air Force leadership it was at a time the branch of the military was “in kind of a bad place.”
“A week into the job I went to a graduation ceremony. I wanted to meet the training instructors who were part of this amazing ceremony. I said, ‘I am so motivated by you. I wanted my picture taken with you.’ They said they’d be honored, once I fixed my hat. I kind of said to myself, ‘I can flare up here or I can say fix my hat.’ Fortunately, I had become a little more mature. I never wore my hat like that for the next five years. Subordinates have our backs.”
I’d Have Been more Vulnerable
In reality, vulnerability for a leader is “very, very important,” said Rand.
“Leaders need to get out of their comfort zone and expand their depth and be willing to do things they are not good at,” said Rand. “Maybe they don’t want to get on a stage and give a presentation. For me, a vulnerability I had was going to a theater military hospital in combat, because when I went there there were a lot of broke-up people. People were missing arms, legs, eyes. It really left me off my game. But I had 480 airmen assigned to that hospital. And I had 8,000 airmen around Iraq I had to be on my game for. I would go back and pout. What’s the tendency? Avoid it. Don’t go. How fair would that have been to those medics?”
I Should Have Communicated Better. I Should Have Listened More
Rand admitted, “I am the world’s worst communicator; I am a terrible listener. I know it, I’m not proud of it, and I’m still trying to get better at it. Your people want to be heard. I learned this from my grandson, Eli. I was deployed and I had waited all day to call home. They handed Eli the phone; he’s two years old. He can talk up a storm. I said I love you. He said ‘I love you.’ And then he hung up. I thought that little crapper needs to listen better. And then I thought, what was my excuse?”
I Should Have Laughed and Smiled More
Rand said he did not laugh or smile enough during his career. He shared the story of one airman who had lost his legs and he said, “My legs were a deposit for a country I love.” “Smile. Your airmen, your employees, your family need to see you have a sense of humor.”
I’d Have Been More Mindful of ‘My Way’
“Know your why. Share your why’s,” Rand advised.
I Should Have Always Remembered What’s most Important
“Some of you are busy people,” Rand told his audience. “You carry the burden of your organization and the people you serve and with and over. One of the areas where I probably failed is I didn’t always keep the right work/life balance. Organizations will suck the life out of your marrow. You have to be the ones who turn the meter on or off.”
Would Do It Again
Despite all the challenges and time away from family and more, Rand said, “I still have my uniform hanging in my closet and if they called me back, I’d do it all over again. I’d just do it better.”