TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --
The importance of good leadership was the heart of 448th Supply Chain Management Wing Director Dennis D’Angelo’s speech during Home Away From Home’s Meet the Hero series at the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 29.
“We’re all leaders in this together and I think that spans over everyone here,” D’Angelo said.
He told Airmen and families in attendance about a senior leadership conference he recently attended where the discussion of good leadership as a necessity for the United States to maintain its place in the world was front and center. At this conference, D’Angelo also heard from the chief operating officer at SpaceX, Gwen Shotwell.
“She’s the buffer between Elon Musk’s ideas and the execution of them,” D’Angelo said. “Good leaders give you a good idea of where to go.”
D’Angelo recalled what Shotwell called signs of great leadership. These signs include giving good guidance to employees, picking the right people to make high-performing teams, managing resources well, overcoming bureaucracies to the greatest extent possible in order to get the job done and refraining from micromanaging.
With 30 years of service to the Air Force and extensive amounts of leadership experience himself, D’Angelo also gave attendees some of his own leadership tools.
“The first thing is to lead whenever you can,” D’Angelo said. “Anytime you get an opportunity, take it.”
He emphasized that any opportunity to lead, no matter how small the opportunity may seem, should be seized in order to build skills and that those very opportunities could present larger ones down the line.
“The second piece would be that we should be servant leaders. We should serve those who serve, and that’s what we see here today,” D’Angelo said.
D’Angelo’s example of good servant leadership came from a two-star general he worked with at the Pentagon.
“He was the best servant leader I’d ever seen, because you’d never know he opened the door for you,” D’Angelo said. “He never took credit for things, he’d open the door where a door could be opened and he took the bureaucracies and knocked them down at his level so that you were successful.”
The final point D’Angelo emphasized was the importance of being a happy leader.
“There’s a gentleman named Joe Votel and he used to always say that the most important thing was that you be a happy leader and that you enjoy what you do,” D’Angelo said. “It’s a fleeting thing to be in command, but it doesn’t matter; if you’re a leader you will just enjoy the things that you do and celebrate the people as they grow and as they are part of your organization.”
“You will find that if you practice your skills, give up yourself as a servant leader and enjoy the time that you’re with people and celebrate them, you will get back ten times…fifty times more than you ever give. So give, serve, lead because the nation needs it.”
The Home Away from Home program began in 2013 and has since connected more than 700 Airmen with host families to provide mentorship and a family environment. Throughout the year, there are also various events organized that allow Airmen an opportunity to connect with their “family.” There are 350 Airmen that currently participate in the program.
If you are interested in signing up for the program, either as a host family or as a first term Airman, you can visit teamtinkerhomeawayfromhome.org.
The next Home Away From Home: Meet the Hero series will take place in November at the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce and will feature retired Senior Master Sgt. Pete Piazza as the speaker.