Lessons in Servant Leadership

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Visit paypal open . com Purchase and seller protections on eligible transactions only . Terms apply. See paypal dot com slash risk dash management for details. Hey, it's Jacob Goldstein from Business History. In our new series, American Genius, we tell the stories of three great writers who changed the way business works in America. Our first episode is about Benjamin Franklin, who, among many other things, was a bestselling business writer. Take a listen. He's writing this much later in his life , consciously creating this image of himself . And I do want to emphasize how unusual this model is at the time, this self made man myth because you don't want to be self made. It's low class to be self made. You know, this idea that we have today is the opposite, right? And it comes from Franklin. Today, there is the derisive term Nepo baby. Well, exactly right. And these days, if you are a billionaire, you had better have a Benjamin Franklin story about starting in a garage, coming up with the idea from nothing. And here is Benjamin Franklin inventing it right before her eyes. This has been brought to you by Odoo . To listen to more of our American genius series, listen to business history. New episodes release every Wednesday on the IHAT radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Many years ago, I was on the board of a think tank called the Rand Corporation out in Los Angeles . It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Rand does all kinds of work on healthcare, and energy and the environment, and most of all, they consult with the Air Force , which meant from time to time various Air Force dignitaries would come and brief us , and there were two I've never forgotten. The first was a Forest Star General named David Goldfein. From twenty sixteen to twenty twenty, he was chief of staff, the highest military post in the Air Force. Here's a Dave Goldfin story that sums him up. I was once in an elevator with him at some conference and we were all locked in conversation with a conference host, and there was a man in the corner of the elevator who clearly worked for the hotel, old a guy in a maintenance uniform, who, I'm ashamed to say, we all treated like he was invisible , except for General Golffin, who stopped the conversation , reached over , shook the man's hand. Hi, I'm Dave Golfeen. How was your day? In my experience, most powerful people do not notice the anonymous maintenance guy in the corner. Second memorable person who came to Rand when I was there, the secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson, the political appointee who runs the service along with the Chief of Staff . I met Heather Wilson almost ten years ago now, and my friends will back me up on this, I have not stopped talking about her. In my perfect universe, Heather Wilson would run for president. I don't care which party. It doesn't matter. And if she did, not only would she win easily , but she would restore everything about that office that has been damaged over the past generation . When we decided to look at some consequential mistakes people have made for this mini series , I remembered something that happened back when Wilson and Goldfin were running the Air Force , a tragedy that unfolded in Texas , and a story about the mistake at the center of it, or more accurately, a story about how to respond to a mistake . And I wanted to share it with you. My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood . This is my conversation with Dr. Heather Wilson General Dave Goldfin . Before we go on , am I remembering correctly? You were in the same Air Force Academy class . Yeah, we started at the Air Force Academy on the same day in the class of nineteen eighty two . And we didn't know each other really well as cadets and our careers crossed paths several times after graduating from the academy , but we came back together at the end of our federal careers as service secretary and chief. So in some ways, our values were formed at the same institution at the same time. Yeah. Now I will add that we one of us graduated in four years, became a Rhodes Scholar, Congresswoman, started her own company, became university president and secretary, and one of us didn't. You were how Dave One of us did something useful, Dave . How far down in the graduating class were you, Dave, I forgot. Well, I will tell you that I was part of the group that made the top half possible. You said something just then . I keep calling you Dave. I should call you General Gulfin. No, please call me Dave. Okay . So I just want to why do you guys just , I don't know which one of you wants to start tell me how this all this when this began, how it began, how you found out about it. Go from there. It was one of the worst days. It's still probably the worst day in my professional life. So it was a Sunday in november twenty seventeen. I was in the upstairs of my row house in Virginia. And I got a call from the inspector general And he said, I don't know if you're watching TV, but there's been something terrible that's happened in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Overnight, the quiet town of Sutherland Springs, Texas trying to come to grips with the nation's latest horrific mass shooting. More than two dozen people were killed during Sunday services at the small Baptist church, the victims ranging in age from five to seventy two years old . We also learned a short time ago that between twelve and fourteen of the dead are children . And I of course immediately went on and found out what was going on. Someone walked into a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and opened fire and killed it was twenty six people in the end. It was just awful . We are told now that the parents of the shoot er's ex wife worshiped here. They were not at church yesterday . The Inspector General, General Sam Saeed said, We're not sure but we think he was an airman . And even more than that , he may have been dishonorably discharged for a violent offense while on active duty , and we might have failed to inform the FBI , which would have if there was a way to put somebody on a list so they can't buy a weapon . And so Dave and I talked that Sunday afternoon. We agreed we would meet at nine o'clock in the morning in our conference room and find out the facts and then take it from there . But it was awful . It was just awful . Yeah, so you know as it all came together , most important thing for us was to sort of get as many facts as we could that when we gathered the people on Monday to get everybody together . And it was when we got together at nine o'clock in the morning, the inspector general general said confirmed that yes, he was an airman . Yes he had been convicted of a violent offense while on active duty and that the service had failed to inform the FBI and put him on the list so he couldn't buy a weapon . And then you think , you know, you think at that point it can't get worse, but it did because the next thing we found out in that meeting that the Defense Department Inspector General had done a review three years earlier of whether of the services were appropriately notifying the FBI and putting people on the can't buy a weapon list and and said there were problems . So we had been told that the system didn't work . There was an audit finding and we didn't fix it . So it was it was not a good day. So you have we have a case of somebody who is dishonorably discharged for a violent offense and what's the internal mechanism in which the way that case is dealt within the Air Force . When systems screw up when things fail , it's usually not because of somebody intended to make a mistake. It's because, you know, the person who did that job moved on or nobody wrote down the procedures or people weren't adequately trained. And the way it was supposed to work in the service is that a felony offenses, unlike minor offenses, felony offens es are handled by the Office of Special Investigations and a military prosecutor. Once there is a conviction , it should have been reported on a system by that office of Special Investigations to the FBI , and then it is closed out and put on file . That didn't happen . And so it was a combination of systems and processes and training and it wasn't done right. we were told that in advance when the DOD inspector general did an audit of all of the all of the services. And in fact, the air force had been doing it doing better on it than the other services, but that didn't matter . We still knew we had a problem and we'd failed to fix it. We'll be right back with more of my conversation with General Gulfin and Dr. Wilson Discover the villas at Shenandoah Valley, Westminster, Canterbury, Northern Virginia's finest life planned community. Picture this. Your new home features open floor plans, soaring ceilings, designer finishes, and your own private patio. Stroll along scenic walking paths, enjoy the indoor pool, explore the art studio and savor exceptional dining, and with our life care contract, your future is secure. Now's the perfect time to secure your villa apartment at Shenandoah Valley, Westminster Canterbury. Schedule your tour at sv c dot org slash discover. Building operations are changing, rising energy cost hybr,id work places, low occupancy and aging infrastructure are forcing owners and agencies to rethink how buildings operate. Join the Building People for a free four part webinar series, from facilities to intelligence, the future of AI buildings. 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But one of the things and this is one of the things about our relationship as service secretary and chief. The chief has an obligation to give his best military advice to the civilians appointed to run the department . As a secretary , there's nothing that says that you have an obligation to ask for it, but I generally did a much better job when I asked for it because Dave Goldfein made me a much better secretary. You said you were you guys were shaped by the same values. And this is a really important part and I want you to talk a little. But before we go on, I want you to talk about it. What do you mean by that? So each service has a set of core values that are infused into every member of the institution normally during basic training and then reinforced throughout their time in service . And so you could go to each service and find those core values. For us, it's integrity, service and excellence . And so integrity first is how we're taught to approach all things . So in terms of how we approach this, it started off with ownership because we needed to ensure that we were true to the values of the institution and that we were representing the institution correctly as its leaders . And so integrity first service before self , meaning that , you know, we look at opportunity to lead as a gift that's offered by those we're privileged to serve. And each day we ask the question, are we worthy of that trust and confidence not only of the airmen that we were privileged to lead, but also the American people that entrusted us with their sons and daughters ? And so those core values ve, you know, how we choose to handle things throughout our careers . I would say on the integrity first part , once on that Monday morning we knew the truth . We knew that he had been an airman . We knew that he had been convicted of a violent crime , and we knew that we should have reported that to the FBI and we didn't. Those were facts we knew by Monday morning. And as I said, our general counsel was out of town, but there was a more junior lawyer around the table there. And everybody was just man was just a somber meeting. But the lawyer when it kind of went around the table and said, All right, what do you think we should do next . On this one, it was very often that Dave and I came from things from slightly different perspectives. You know, we 'd see different things and we I think we made better decisions because steel sharpens steel. We'd engage a lot with each other. But on this one, there was no daylight between us from the very beginning. We knew the truth and we thought we needed to just say it . And so we made a decision at that meeting that we would release a statement by late that morning . We gave him a deadline of eleven. I think it took us till one. It always takes a little longer, but to say to say what we knew. And we also thought that that would allow our institution to focus on fixing the problem rather than denying it or delaying things or trying to duck accountability . And David and I also did a press conference or press availability with the Pentagon media the following morning , which was, you know, that wasn't fun . But some ways when we just said these are the fact we know them and this is what we're doing to fix the problem, what could they ask? You know, we weren't going to deny things. It was really unpleasant , but it was the truth. And I think Dave and I were both committed to just telling the truth. Well good afternoon . Perhaps open up with a couple of remarks . The offenses for which the shooter in Texas was court martial should have been reported . And that's why we launched a full scale review of this case and all others like it . Since Sunday night, the Air Force Inspector General has talked to about one hundred people involved in this case . We are looking at all of our databases , and if we have problems that we find , we'll fix them. Dave, Juan, can you can you give us your memory of that press conference? Yeah, so you know, it's , I think we both expected to get really tough questions . And we were prepared , you know, to own up and but it was like Heather said , right? It once we opened up with, hey, we own this , you know , we , the United States Air Force goof this up, and we as the leaders represent the institution that goofed this up . And so we take ownership and our focus is now on ensure that we understand all the facts and we are going to fix this to ensure that it can never happen again . Once we started off with that statement, you really could sort of felt the air go out of the room and then the questions at that point just more about detail . And I don't remember getting any really pointed attacks or questions. It was more okay, well tell us what you know about this and how you going to handle that? And so I think that my recollection of it was it accomplished what we were hoping it would accomplish, which was taking ownership. One of the things that somebody around that table on Monday morning said was, well, you know, you and the chief weren't the leaders of the Air Force at the time this prosecution happened and they failed to report . And both Dave and I had the same reaction was that doesn't matter . We represent the institution. And Dave couldn't take the four stars off of his shoulders any more than I could take the Airman's symbol off of my lapel when you are the leader, you own the institution and you represent the institution , and you have to take ownership for the institution and lead it forward . And so the fact that it didn't happen on our watch , that's no excuse. We're not going to make an excuse . We're not going to say it was somebody else's problem. We'll be right back The following is a Father's Day announcement from the Dad Alliance . 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For a limited time, new members get two free books when they start a free trial. Go to Everand. com slash listen to claim yours. That's EVER AND D OT COM SLAS Listen . What happens next? You have this press conference. You've just you've told the world we're looking into this. We're going to go over every single case, make sure we've done the right thing. But we still have the aftermath in Texas. This was a this was a bedroom community for Randolph Air Force Base and then some of the victims were the family of an airman who was deployed overseas. And Dave took the lead on that part . And I'll let him tell that part. So we reached out to the community and because there was a series of funerals they were holding and reached out to the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nuremberg at the time and asked if it would be appropriate and it would be acceptable for me to travel to San Antonio and attend the funeral in uniform representing the service knowing that we were , you know, we were responsible for everything we'd been talking about . Because I wanted to make sure that we weren't contributing to any increased pain by me being there. And I offered to also come and civilian tire if that's what they preferred. And they said, No, we'd appreciate if you would be here in uniform. So I met with the mayor first and we talked about all right,, how do we ensure that this is not just once and done, that we have a long term commitment to this community as the community works to recover from this tragedy ? How do we ensure the air force is continually plugged in for the long term. So that was the agenda working out with the mayor. Tell me more about going to that funeral. How did you feel on the flight down . Well it was I knew that we had an airman that was deployed and several members of his family. This is a young airman . Several members of his families were killed and there were going to be several, yes, members of his extended family. Because a member, again, Sutherland Springs is a bedroom community for Randolph Air Force Base, which is one of our largest Air Force training bases . So the number of people that come through Randolph, that's probably one of the most traveled bases . So when you talk to airmen, right and ask them of their common experiences, many of them will share a period of time when they went through Randolph Air Force Base or Laken Air Force Base in San Antonio . So San Antonio is known as Military City USA is one of the monikers that it's used because there's so much military. You can't go to the airport in San Antonio without seeing a large number of young airmen who are who are arriving for basic training or leaving . And so on the way down, I'm traveling in uniform to Military City USA . And I'm going to meet with this airman . And having had the unfortunate opportun ity to meet with a lot of airmen and families over the course of my career , especially in the two years I was the Air Component Commander for Central Command , where we lost a number of soldiers sailors, airmen, marines while I was there . I'd had experience with handling the tragedy of death and talking with the families . And so I had a good sense of what I was stepping into . I'll never forget, you know, going to the funeral . And I met with the pastor of the church, Frank Pomeroy , and it continually remains perhaps one of the most profound spiritual moments that I had as chief when you know Pastor Pomeroy stood up and started off by asking us if we would pray for the shooter and his family . And he did so while his fourteen year old daughter was in a casket because they had lost her in the shooting. I don't know if there's a better example of spiritual courage , right? We forgive those who trespass against us. I don't know that we're going to find a better example of that . And and so being there for that airmen, being there for those families , you know, both profound and also I think I think every time there's a setback or a failure in an institution , it's an opportunity for the leaders to teach the next generation how to handle failure because we all get knocked down. All institutions have fail ures . The question is not whether you're going to fail. The question is how do you handle it when you do fail ? Do you take ownership? Do you step up? Do you get back up and do you teach the next gener ation of leaders how to handle failures so that they can be more prepared when it comes to them because it's going to come to them . My concern on this particular one was would there be a hostile reaction by the community to my being there because it's a hostile reaction not to me, but a hostile reaction to the United States Air Force . And there was none of that . It was a welcoming opening Sutherland Springs is an incredible community. And again, I go back to pastor Frank Promeroy, who is just an incredible incredible an spiritual leader . I think he set the tone for all of us when he asked us to pray for the shooter. And there was there wasn't a hostile reaction because you showed up ? I don't know how much of it was because I think it was more we were all there for the same purpose . Yeah , right. I was I was not there to do anything other than to I mean, I didn't sit in I didn't sit in the front row. They tried to, you know, move me up to the front row and I said, No, I'm part I'm part of this community today. And so I want to sit with the community and I'd like to sit in an area that is, you know, with the families that are represented here and and so this was not a you know you know, we made a point, I made a point of my team. I said do not please make this a big protocol event for the chief of staff of the Air Force . This is Dave Goldfin coming here to show my respect , my love for these families and to represent the institution that let them down. So I don't think I could have done that. First of all, I think Dave was when people think about the American Air Force, they don't think about somebody in civilian clothes, the Secretary