U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. -- Thousands of cadets and more than 40 speakers took part in this year’s National Character and Leadership Symposium at the Academy Feb. 25-26.
The symposium focused on professionalism in the profession of arms and featured a variety of speakers who discussed the importance of leadership and overcoming challenges.
Simon Sinek, a strategic communicator with the Rand Corporation and business author, and Army 1st. Lt. Shaye Haver, one of the first two women to graduate from the U.S. Army Ranger School, shared their stories with the large crowds in Arnold Hall.
“The single greatest skill you can learn as a leader is empathy,” Sinek said in his Feb. 25 presentation. “The desire to see them [subordinates] grow and achieve more than they thought they were capable of and build other leaders [is what makes a great leader].”
Sinek talked about his journey and how he lives with purpose.
“I have a clear vision of the world I want to live in, but it’s a world that does not yet exist,” he said.
Sinek said a goal is something achievable in a lifetime, but a vision is something greater.
“A vision is outside of your lifetime, but you can affect the momentum and advance that vision,” he said.
During an interview with KAFA FM, the Academy’s radio station, Sinek praised cadets he’d met during NCLS.
“I learn more from the military than I do from any other company,” he said. “There is a self-awareness, honesty and willingness to say what they see.”
Haver, an AH-64 Apache Helicopter pilot, said she didn’t think becoming a Ranger would help her do her job better, but she had the full support of her chain of command to train in the school’s pilot program for women. She said she wanted to do something meaningful and become a more tactically-competent leader. At the school, she was recycled three times and endured more than four months of rigorous training.
“Ranger school puts complete stress on your body so you find your personal limits and true grit,” she said. “The key is to become an asset to your team and prove you can be trusted.”
When she was at her breaking point, Haver said the names of family members and soldiers she’d served with as she marched through the dark at Fort Benning. At one point, she said she was so physically and mentally exhausted she convinced herself that she was alone, blind and deaf. Then the dawn broke, she said. She graduated from Ranger school August 21.
“You can always do one more: one more step, one more breath, one more mile,” she said. “I hope I’ve inspired others to seize opportunity. Truly ordinary people can do extraordinary things if they are willing to rise to the occasion.”