Two weeks ago, I published “Command: A Comeback Story.”  Within 24-hours, that story had been viewed more than 2,500 times, and my inbox filled with notes from officers from across our Air Force.  Many of those officers asked me to share the “Thoughts on Leadership” document I discussed with my team in 2018.  I am happy to do that.

What follows is an unedited cut-and-paste of that document.  My name is at the top because these are my thoughts, but I cannot claim my thoughts are original.  I labored over them and drew upon my life experiences to develop them, but I also borrowed from others.

I borrowed from others in the same way I hope you will borrow from me: I hope you will read with an open mind, use what resonates to shape your thoughts, let those thoughts guide your actions, and pay it forward by sharing your perspective with others.

Thoughts on Leadership

Lt Col Paul Ferguson

(as of 11 July 2018)

What is Your Credo?

• Credo: a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide your actions
• Do you have one? Do you need one?

Things That Affect My (Evolving) Leadership Philosophy

1. Getting married, staying married, raising young people
2. Faith, family, friends
3. Learning to walk
4. 9/11 and things that followed
5. Deployments
6. Humble pie served up at AFPC and SAF/AQH
7. Command challenges
8. The circle of life

Leadership Philosophy: Servant Leadership

• “Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence in All We Do”
• Focus on why we’re here: deliver “The Warfighter’s Edge”
• Matrix organizations can work…it’s our job to make it happen!
• Ability to influence is a function of reputation
• Reputations are built one interaction at a time – they’re hard-won and easily lost
• We judge ourselves by our intentions. We judge others by the effects of actions.
• Use “sources of power” (e.g., position, charisma, information, leadership, knowledge, being right, etc.) wisely and magnanimously
  • Magnanimous comes from the Latin magnus (“great”) and animus (“soul”)
  • It describes someone who is big-hearted – a person who is generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself
• Be tough but loving…humble and self-aware…kind, approachable, and optimistic
• Be logical, predictable, and objective
• Respect yourself and others
• Be empathetic and remember nobody’s perfect – I’m certainly not!
• Sincerely take care of your people – eat last
• Bring people together – establish and maintain connections
• Information is power – it’s most powerful when shared
• Value team accomplishments more than individual accomplishments
• Make decisions/recommendations based upon facts
• Never say never…but, likewise, never say always
• Use plural first-person pronouns (e.g., “we,” “us,” “our,” “ours”) frequently
• Use singular first-person pronouns (e.g., “I,” “me,” “my”) deliberately/sparingly
• Assume noble intent…until you have reason to know otherwise
• Loyalty to the Nation, DoD, USAF, MAJCOM, leadership, and team is important
• Above all, remember oath to support and defend the Constitution

How To Lead – Leave it Better Than You Found It!

1. Set the example, act transparently, and model behaviors listed above
2. Set an imperative for the team (i.e., inspire with a vision)
3. Deliver intent to frame the boundaries, expected outcomes, timelines
4. Provide tools, training, guidance, and access (to you!)
5. Empower people to achieve goals, deliver
6. Insist on collaboration, information sharing, open communication
7. Provide and consider feedback – adjust as necessary – situational leadership
8. Follow-up, be responsive and deliver on commitments

Thoughts That Resonate With Me

• “Ego is the enemy” – Ryan Holiday
• “The one quality that can be developed by studious reflection and practice is the leadership of men.” – GA Dwight D. Eisenhower
• “Don’t be afraid of failure and don’t idolize success. Try instead to be a person of integrity and character. Success will follow of its own accord.” – Gen M. E. Ryan
• “There is no end to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
  – attributed to many…likely originating with Jesuit Priest, Fr. William Strickland
• “You can disagree without being disagreeable.” – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
  – Peter F. Drucker (both are good; one is more important than the other)
• “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain
• “Decisions may be the product of culture, but culture is the product of decisions.”
  – Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron (who spent 5+ years in federal prison)
• “Whatever challenges I face in this job, going fast will be part of the solution.”
  – Dr. William B. Roper, SAF/AQ (relayed by Maj Gen Duke Z. Richardson)
• Practice/master three disciplines: will, action, and perception
  • “Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option: to accept this event with humility [will]; to treat this person as he should be treated [action]; to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in [perception].” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.54
  • “Objective judgment, now, at this very moment [perception]. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment [action]. Willing acceptance – now, at this very moment – of all external events [will]. That’s all you need.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.6

So…What’s My Credo? True North – do the right thing and sleep well at night.

Paul Ferguson is an active-duty colonel in the United States Air Force.  He serves in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics as Deputy Director of Acquisition Career Management.