Transforming the Air Force: Bridging the Gaps with Servant-Leadership

This research paper provides a brief look at the Chief Staff of the Air Force (CSAF), General Norton A. Schwartz' vision for a transformation and his call for every United States Air Force (USAF) members wisdom, insight, innovation, and leadership. After an examination of the CSAF's transformation quest, the paper encourages the practice of Servant-Leadership to meet his challenges. A historical look at one influential leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., demonstrates how his servant-leadership philosophy facilitated greatness among the various people he led. Additionally, highlighted is a focus on how many leaders, military and civilian, assert that we as a nation have trained an enormous manager population but have failed to educate authentic leaders. This arrangement centers on how to get beyond the current USAF learn-leadership-on-the-fly mentality and focuses on mentoring the next generation's leaders. Finally, this paper provides possible solutions to the problem of balancing the challenges issued by the CSAF with the creation of wise as well as insightful future USAF leadership.