LEARN TO LEAD - Civil Air Patrol

which they might not have worked before. These couldinclude moving into a different functional area, acceptingjoint assignments, or working in an interagency environment.Such taskings tend to accelerate experience andbroaden perspectives. Furthermore, pursuing a formalcourse of study at senior service colleges and participatingin other education programs would broaden one’s knowledgeand conceptual ability. Self-learning is also valuable—especially reading. All strategic leaders are voraciousreaders—and they read outside their normal area ofexpertise, again, to expand their perspective and increasetheir conceptual ability. In fact, many of them are expertsin a number of unrelated fields. Becoming a “dual expert”helps one think in multiple dimensions.After committing to some or all of these developmentactivities, potential leaders should reflect on each activityas a way of mining the total benefit and seeking greatermeaning. They will also benefit from mentoring otherleaders and being mentored themselves. When mentorsshare their experiences, they help others know andunderstand them. As Tichy says, sharing experiences or“telling stories” shapes our own attitude, behavior, andpoint of view. 10 We become the story, and the story guidesour lives. Gen Dwight Eisenhower endorsed mentoringwhen he explained that the best way to become a gooddecision maker is to be around others who make decisions. 11CONCLUSIONThe many components of the strategic leadership environmentchallenge even the best leaders. The monumentalconsequences of strategic decisions call for individualswith unique performance abilities who can navigate thevolatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity inherentin the nature of those decisions. Aspiring leaders can riseto the challenge by undergoing self-assessment and personaldevelopment. Accepting the demands of strategicleadership involves a transition from the art of the familiarto the art of the possible. This is the realm of strategicleadership and the strategic environment.NOTES1. Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, 1988 ed., s.v.“strategic.”2. T. Owen Jacobs, Strategic Leadership: The Competitive Edge(Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.: Industrial College of theArmed Forces, 2000), 24.3. US Industrial College of the Armed Forces, chap. 1, “Overview,”Strategic Leadership and Decision Making: Preparing Senior Executivesfor the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: National Defense UniversityPress, 1997), on-line, Internet, September 2000, availablefrom http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/books%20-%201999/Strategic%20Leadership%20and%20Decision-making%20-%20Feb%2099/cont.html.4. Ibid.5. Ibid.6. Ibid.7. Jacobs, 46.8. Noel M. Tichy with Eli Cohen, The Leadership Engine: How WinningCompanies Build Leaders at Every Level (New York: HarperBusiness, 1997), 3.9. US Industrial College of the Armed Forces, chap. 7, “DevelopingStrategic Leaders,” Strategic Leadership and Decision Making.10. Tichy and Cohen, 77.11. Edgar F. Puryear Jr., American Generalship: Character Is Everything:The Art of Command (Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 2000),232.Col Guillot is a former cadet from Louisiana and arecipient of the Spaatz Award.From: Col W. Michael Guillot, “Strategic Leadership: Defining theChallenge,” Air & Space Power Journal (Winter 2003): 67-75. Usedwith permission.15