Advanced Topics in Leader Development: Personality, Ethics, and Organizations

ADVANCED TOPICS IN LEADER
DEVELOPMENT: PERSONALITY,
ETHICS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
SYLLABUS
AY 22
JOINT PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION PHASE I INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
COURSE
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE
Twenty-first Century Leaders for Twenty-first Century Challenges
Current as of 22 July 21
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AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE
MAXWELL AFB, AL
FOREWORD
This syllabus for the Leader Development Course for the Air Command and Staff College,
August-October 2021, provides both an overview of the course narrative, objectives, and
questions, as well as a detailed description of each lesson to assist students in their reading and
preparation for lectures and seminars. Included herein is information about course methods of
evaluation, the course schedule, and the fulfillment of joint professional military education core
goals.
Daniel A. Connelly, Ph.D.

Course Director
Leader Development
James Forsyth, Ph.D.

Dean
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................. 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ 3
COURSE OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 4
COURSE DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................... 4
COURSE QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................. 4
COURSE OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 4
COURSE MANDATES .............................................................................................................. 5
COURSE NARRATIVE ............................................................................................................. 6
JOINT LEARNING AREAS AND OBJECTIVES (JPME-1) ................................................... 7
COURSE REQUIREMENTS ..................................................................................................... 8
COURSE ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................................. 9
PHASE I THE PERSONAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP ................................................. 10
DAY 1 – PURPOSE AND PROFESSION ............................................................................... 10
DAY 2 – PERSONALITY ........................................................................................................ 12
DAY 3 – EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE .............................................................................. 14
PHASE II THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP ................................................... 15
DAY 4 – ETHICS AND ETHICAL REASONING ................................................................. 15
DAY 5 – CHARACTER ........................................................................................................... 17
DAY 6 - PRUDENCE ............................................................................................................... 18
DAY 7 – ETHICAL PROBLEMS ............................................................................................ 20
PHASE III THE ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP ............................... 22
DAY 8 – ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ............................................................................ 22
DAY 9 – ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE II (BIASES) ....................................................... 24
DAY 10 – BUILDING TRUST ................................................................................................ 26
PHASE IV THE CHALLENGE DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP ........................................... 28
DAY 11 – CHANGE AND CREATIVITY .............................................................................. 28
DAY 12 – FOSTERING CONNECTIONS .............................................................................. 30
DAY 13 – EMPOWERING OTHERS...................................................................................... 31
DAY 14 – LEADING THROUGH CRISIS ............................................................................. 33
DAY 15 – DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY ................................................. 35
APPENDIX: COURSE FACULTY ............................................................................................. 36
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LEADER DEVELOPMENT
COURSE OVERVIEW
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores the facets of leadership most critical to successful contributions in military
service at the operational level, whether in command or staff positions: mental agility, moral
composure, and skillful relational authenticity. The course is designed to assist in creating self-
aware, authentic leaders who lead ethically, make good decisions, understand organizational
behavior, and can lead in complex, uncertain, and ambiguous circumstances. In this course,
students explore how certain foundational precepts can develop them as operational leaders and
prepare them to think strategically. Students will also practice habits of mind in two ACSC-
mandated areas—making ethically sound decisions and navigating complexity and
uncertainty. The course is not about the specifics of command, although it offers excellent
development for command’s leadership challenges. Joint doctrine distinguishes leadership
from command, stating that command is authority lawfully exercised with its unique
responsibilities, while “the art of command resides in the commander’s ability to use
leadership to maximize performance.” Our Leadership and Command Elective addresses the
specifics of command, while this course focuses on the broader concepts and challenges that
contribute to leadership.
Leadership comprises the mental habits to maximize performance in constantly changing

circumstances, not as prescription, but as wisdom in applying the right ideas the right way
to changing circumstances. Thus, there is no leadership formula, nor is there ever going to be a
single, perfect list of tools suited for every leader in every situation. Complex and uncertain
environments demand something more. They demand leadership that is both unswerving and
agile, each toward the right things; authentic, virtuous, and ethical in character even amid great
uncertainty and hazard; and critical-, creative-, and strategic-thinking rather than process- or
compliance-based. Harmonizing constancy and agility to fit changing and unanticipated contexts
grows trust, teamwork, readiness to sacrifice, courage, and resolve both in the leader and in those
around them. This ability reflects the demands of twenty-first century leadership, and it reflects
the following mandates regarding course content.
COURSE QUESTIONS
Following are the original questions that influenced the course’s objectives and phased structure:
1. What are the demands and challenges of twenty-first century military operations in the
era of great power competition? (addressed in Phase IV)
2. What attributes of organizational leadership are required to meet these challenges?
(addressed in Phase III)
3. How do we cultivate these leadership attributes without losing our purpose and
humanity? (addressed in Phases I and II)
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The emphasis of this course is upon habits of mind and patterns of inquiry—supporting the
cultivation of the underlying qualities that equate to great leadership. The goal of this course is to
foster deeper thinking about the purpose of effective leadership, rather than presenting the
attributes of effective leadership as ends in themselves. Our course objectives are:
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1. Comprehend your purpose as a leader in the profession of arms.
2. Apply ethical principles in light of the shared values of the profession of arms.
3. Apply reflective thinking to organizational leadership at the operational level.
4. Comprehend qualities related to the concepts of surprise, complexity, and uncertainty that
optimize leadership for twenty-first century warfare and the context of great power
competition.
To this end, the course follows four phases, each of which may be characterized through the
following phase questions:
1. Phase I: The Personal Dimension of Leadership – How does who you are affect how you
lead and how you grow as a leader?
2. Phase II: The Ethical Dimension of Leadership – How do leaders interpret and apply the
ethical demands on them to mission accomplishment?
3. Phase III: The Organizational Dimension of Leadership – How should leaders interact
with their organizations and teams?
4. Phase IV: The Challenge Dimension of Leadership – How should leaders approach what
they do not yet know or have never seen.
COURSE MANDATES
The Department of Defense requires that leaders be “ethical and effective.” Joint doctrine
(JP 3-0) includes “courage, ethical leadership, judgment, intuition, situational awareness, and the
capacity to consider contrary views” among the qualities that comprise leadership. The Joint
Staff/J-7 manages the US military’s educational programs, and from higher headquarters
provides the most detailed description of elements of ideal leaders in guidance, calling them the
desired leader attributes (DLAs). Found in the pages of Joint Force 2030 and in the J-7’s Officer
Professional Military Education Program’s guiding document, the DLAs are:
1. The ability to understand the security environment and contributions of all elements of
national power.
2. The ability to anticipate and respond to surprise and uncertainty.
3. The ability to anticipate and respond to change and lead transitions.
4. The ability to operate on intent through trust, empowerment, and understanding.
5. The ability to make ethical decisions based on the shared values of the profession of
arms.
6. The ability to think critically and strategically and apply joint war fighting principles and
concepts in joint operations spanning all levels of warfare.
At the level of ACSC, our command guidance has condensed the above into two of its five
Program Outcomes, asserting that the program will enable graduates to:
Make ethical decisions based on the shared values of the profession of arms; and
Comprehend the relationship among surprise, complexity, and uncertainty as they pertain to
leadership and the profession of arms.
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COURSE NARRATIVE
Leaders need to cultivate mental agility, moral composure, and skillful relational authenticity to
lead well in contemporary and future environments. This is our way of capturing the essence of
the mandates in the above DLAs and Program Outcomes. Leaders should assess where they
stand relative to these attributes, make sure they possess them in some measure, and ensure their
abilities in these attributes are increasing. The whole ACSC curriculum addresses the totality of
the DLAs, but the Leader Development course directs most of its effort toward DLAs 2-6.
Leaders should be self-aware individuals who lead ethically, make good decisions, understand
organizational behavior, and maintain flexible composure in complex, novel circumstances.
The course follows a four-phase structure in response to that proposition: the first three phases
study the leader as a person (self-awareness), the leader as a decision-maker with moral agency
(leading ethically/making good decisions), and leadership as a condition dependent upon the
context of an organization and team (understanding organizational behavior); the final phase
studies leadership as an act, examining challenges leaders often face while leading in complex
and ambiguous circumstances.
In Phase I: The Personal Dimension of Leadership, students inquire into their nature as leaders.
This phase asks what leadership is and what its purpose is, then turns to who you are as a leader.
Knowing yourself and leading yourself is the first step to leading others. Leaders need to find
ways to be authentic to themselves while emulating best practices and continuing to learn and
grow. Self-assessment for the leader can be about things that are comparatively fixed, like
personality, and things that one can learn, like emotional intelligence.
This look within continues in in Phase II: The Ethical Dimension of Leadership. Here the course
builds habits of mind to practice ethically sound decision-making. Other instruction on ethics is
often couched in negative terms: what not to do, a checklist of “don’ts” to memorize. But ethical
reasoning, the ability to relate situations, ways, and means to professional and moral ends, is a
core function of effective leadership decision-making. Ethical character, formed by habit over a
lifetime, is the most effective path to both leading in general and to the ability to make ethical
decisions when circumstances do not permit careful reflection.
Leadership is not a property of the leader alone, however, so Phase III: The Organizational
Dimension of Leadership, studies the leader in the context of group dynamics. It takes the
approach of diving into an organization, perhaps a new one—an experience we all have had and
will have—and studies how organizations function through two days on organizational culture.
Learning and understanding organizational culture is a priority task for leaders. The last day of
Phase III turns to building trust.
These studies permit a turn in the last quartet of class meetings, Phase IV: The Challenge
Dimension of Leadership, to the challenges of the unknown. Every leader will, at some point,
need to exercise creativity, lead change, foster connections, empower others, and lead through
crises small or large. Those in authority who avoid deep reflection on these actions risk
becoming mere maintainers of the status quo, which is a weak hand with which to address the
unknown. Leaders must exercise multiple attributes of leadership in concert to lead ethically and
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effectively through complexity, ambiguity, surprise, and uncertainty.
LEADER DEVELOPMENT COURSE MAP
JOINT LEARNING AREAS AND OBJECTIVES (JPME-1)

The Leader Development Course addresses Intermediate Joint Learning Areas (JLAs) and
Special Areas of Emphasis (SAEs) for Joint Professional Military Education (JPME), established
by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff via the Officer Professional Military Education
Policy (OPMEP), CJCSI 1800.01F, signed 15 May 2020. The course supports the following
JLAs and SAEs through the course content listed below them:
Joint Learning Area 1 – Strategic Thinking and Communication:

• LD-507/508 “Ethical Reasoning”; LD-511/512 “Prudence”; LD-513/514 “Ethical
Problems”; LD-517/518 “Organizational Culture II”; LD-521/522 “Creativity and
Change”; LD-525/526 “Empowering Others”; LD-600E “Leadership Reflection Paper:
Personality and Purpose”; LD-601E “Case Study: Ethical Reasoning Paper”; LD-602E
“Personal Leadership Philosophy with Reflective Commentary Paper”
Joint Learning Area 2 – Profession of Arms:

• LD-501/502 “Purpose”; LD-503/504 “Personality”; LD-505/506 “Emotional
Intelligence”; LD-507/508 “Ethical Reasoning”; LD-509/510 “Character”; LD-511/512
“Prudence”; LD-513/514 “Ethical Problems”; LD-515/516/517/518 “Organizational
Culture I/II”; LD-519/520 “Building Trust”; LD-521/522 “Creativity and Change”; LD-
523/524 “Fostering Connections”; LD-525/526 “Empowering Others”; LD-527/528
“Crisis”; LD-529 “Leadership Philosophies” LD-600E “Leadership Reflection Paper:
Personality and Purpose”; LD-601E “Case Study: Ethical Reasoning Paper”; LD-602E
“Personal Leadership Philosophy with Reflective Commentary Paper”
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Joint Learning Area 6 – Globally Integrated Operations:
• LD-507/508 “Ethical Reasoning”; LD-511/512 “Prudence”; LD-513/514 “Ethical
Problems”; LD-517/518 “Organizational Culture II”; LD-521/522 “Creativity”; LD-
523/524 “Connections”; LD-525/526 “Empowering Others”; LD-527/528 “Crisis”
SAE 1: The Return of Great Power Competition: LD-508/512/513/514/517/518/522/526/528

SAE 3: Strategic Deterrence in the Twenty-first Century:
LD-508/512/513/514/517/518/522/526/528
SAE 6: Ability to Write Clear Concise Military Advice and Recommendations: LD-601E
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. READINGS. Students are expected to complete all assigned readings and videos for the day
prior to lecture (if applicable) and seminar. Students are encouraged to review the lesson
objectives and overviews provided in the syllabus before reading the assigned texts.
Readings marked as optional will be addressed at the discretion of the seminar instructor.
2. LECTURES. Students will attend assigned in-person lectures (if applicable) by faculty and
external speakers relating to assigned readings and seminar. These presentations complement
the readings and seminar discussion, and therefore enhance knowledge of course concepts.
3. SEMINAR PARTICIPATION/CONTRIBUTION. Student participation in seminar

discussions is vital to the individual learning and success. Each member of the seminar is
expected to contribute to the discussion.
4. METHODS OF EVALUATION. There are three written assignments for this course:
LD-600 (E): LEADERSHIP REFLECTION: PERSONALITY AND PURPOSE

Students will write a two-page paper relating your unique personality and the common
purpose of military (or government) service. This assignment should draw from Day 1-
2 course material. This assignment is worth 20 percent of the final grade.
LD-601 (E): CASE STUDY: ETHICAL REASONING PAPER

Students will write a three-four-page paper on ethical reasoning and military leadership.
Students should incorporate one or more of the four ethical systems from Day 4 of the
course. Students should select a case study from Day 6-7 course material in consultation
with their instructor. This assignment is worth 40 percent of the final grade.
LD-602 (E): PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY WITH REFLECTIVE

COMMENTARY
This assignment has two parts. Part one is a two-page paper on your Personal
Leadership Philosophy (PLP). Part two is four-five pages relating your PLP to each
phase of the LD course. The combined deliverable is worth 40 percent of the final
grade.
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Note: Students will be expected to present their leadership philosophy during seminar
on Day 15 of the course. This is not a graded event.
COURSE ADMINISTRATION
There are two types of readings in this course: 1) readings from books issued by ACSC; and 2)
selected electronic files posted on Canvas indicated as “[EL]” (electronic). Students can access
the syllabus, lecture videos, electronic readings, and other supplemental materials online through
Canvas.
ACSC provides students with copies of the following course books, which must be returned at
the conclusion of the course:
• Aurelius, Marcus. The Emperor’s Handbook. Edited and translated by Scot Hicks,
and David Hicks. New York: Scribner, 2002.
• Daso, Dik. Hap Arnold and the Evolution of American Airpower. Washington
DC: Smithsonian Books, 2012.
• DeGraff, Jeffrey. The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive
Conflict. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2017.
• Fischer, David Hackett. Washington’s Crossing. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004.
• Grayling, A.C., Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the
WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan. New York: Walker &
Company, 2006.
• Hughes, Thomas A. Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of
Tactical Air Power in World War II. New York: The Free Press, 1995.
• Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Macmillan, 2013.
• McChrystal, Stanley. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex
World. New York: Penguin, 2015.
• McChrystal, Stanley. Leaders: Myth and Reality. New York: Penguin, 2018.
• Schein, Edgar & Schein, Peter. Organizational Culture and Leadership (5th ed.).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2016
Please refer questions to Dr. Dan Connelly, Course Director (daniel.connelly.2@au.af.edu) or

Maj Shawn West, Deputy Course Director (shawn.west.2@au.af.edu).
A righteous person, a person attached to his or her humanity, does not seek life at the expense of
his or her humanity.
--Confucius
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PHASE I
THE PERSONAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP
DAY 1 – PURPOSE AND PROFESSION
DATE: 10 August 2021
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend military service as a profession endowed with sacred trust.
2. Comprehend the demands on contemporary and near-future military leaders.
3. Relate purpose to military leadership and professionalism.
LESSON OVERVIEW
What a bad man cannot be is a good sailor, soldier or airman. Military
institutions thus form a repository of moral resource that should always be a
source of strength within the state.
-- Sir John Winthrop Hackett
Trustworthy military leaders know their own strengths, limitations, and their purpose in service.
They demonstrate consistency in words and deeds, and exhibit professionalism by knowing what
to sacrifice and what not to. They lead by guiding, motivating, and providing purpose to achieve
shared ends. In an era of technological expansion and demands for technical proficiency, and
concurrent impetus for maintaining continuing advantage, leadership and professionalism can
fade into the background. Instead, these qualities should be more important than ever.
Excellence in leadership rests upon the cultivation of habits of reflection, patterns of inquiry,
humility, and composure. In a technological environment where time for deliberation may not be
afforded, how can leaders be “always on” to fulfill their purpose as professionals endowed with
the nation’s sacred trust? Finally, how do leaders navigate when confronted with two conflicting
“right things to do” or when the “right thing” is not clear?
LD-501 (L): The Purpose of Leadership. VADM William Lee, USCG, retired, will open the
course with a question: how do leaders choose between two right things to do? He will also
explore where leaders can turn for clarity and determination.
CONTACT HOURS: 1-hour lecture.
LD-502 (S): Leading in the Profession of Arms

1. Stanley McChrystal, Leaders: Myth and Reality, 1-15, 367-408. Context: General
McChrystal argues that most thinking on leadership organizes around three myths that
only confuse or distort clear thinking on how to develop as a leader.
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2. Martin Dempsey, CJCS White Paper, The Profession of Arms, 1-6. [EL] Context:
General Dempsey, former CJCS, warns of the importance of the US military not losing
its bearings as a profession while striving to adapt to change and hold onto technological
advantages.
3. Martin Cook, “Moral Foundations of Military Service,” Parameters 30.1 (Spring 2000),
117-29. [EL] Context: Dr. Cook asks us to consider why we exist as a military, and how
the answer can inform our purpose and goals as a service and as individual leaders.
4. William Deresiewicz, “Solitude and Leadership,” The American Scholar (Spring 2010),
1-10. [EL] Context: Dr. Deresiewicz challenges conventional thinking on the best means
of leadership growth in the transcript of an address to cadets at West Point in 2010.
CONTACT HOURS: 2-hour seminar.
DELIVERABLES
1. The following task is for Air Force military and civilian members (Active, Guard,
Reserves) only. In Canvas, there are instructions to take a short, official Air University
survey to better understand ethical leadership practices and behaviors. Please read the
instructions in Canvas under day 1 and complete the survey.
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DAY 2 – PERSONALITY
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend personality typologies.
2. Explore your own personality and relate it to the task of becoming a better leader.
3. Explore how personality type impacts the relationship between leaders and followers.
LESSON OVERVIEW
How critical is self-awareness regarding factors such as one’s personality and emotional control
to effective leading? How much does your leadership reflect your unique personality? Should
leaders consider how to adjust the effects of their personality on their leadership – how practical
or worthwhile is that effort?
The study of personality is a subfield of psychology and attempts to identify the orientation of a
person’s innate preferences. The model employed in this course, derived from the Jungian school
of psychology, is just one of many ways to study personality, but is scientifically verifiable with
some caveats. If someone takes a personality study in the mindset of their leadership or
professional persona, their results are likely to reflect those elements. Someone may experience
proficiency in some things but preference for others, struggle with a baked-in persona nearly
indistinguishable from personality or possess moderate and mixed preferences. For these and
other reasons, results in personality tests are not meant to tell you who you are, but to guide you
in reflecting on and self-assessing your personality. The study of personality type is also one way
to grow appreciation for cognitive diversity, even within otherwise homogeneous populations.
This level of diversity and personalization raises many questions about how we lead, how we
follow, and how we should continue to grow as leaders. What role should personality play in our
development as leaders? Is it of vital importance, is it largely irrelevant to the demands of
military leadership, or is the truth somewhere in-between?
LD-503 (L): Bringing Personality to Practice in Military Leadership. Lt Col Jason

Newcomer, USAF, DBA, will cover briefly the fundamentals of personality theory and then
discuss how the complex interactions resulting from typology create opportunities for educated
leaders to capitalize on personality to improve multiple areas of organizational effectiveness.
LD-504 (S): Leadership Personas and Typological Diversity

1. Tasha Eurich, “What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It),” Harvard
Business Review Digital (4 Jan 2018). [EL] Context: Dr. Eurich, an expert on self-
awareness, warns that most leaders are not self-aware, and typically deceive themselves
on this very point–they are much less self-aware than they profess! This state can
significantly hamper their growth in most areas of leader development.
2. Lt Col Jason M. Newcomer, USAF, DBA and Lt Col Daniel A. Connelly, USAF, retired,
PhD, “Personality and Leadership: The Potential Impact to Future Strategic Thinking,”
Air and Space Power Journal 34.2 (Summer 2020): 36-54. [EL] Context: This reading
presents a review of personality assessment at Air Command & Staff College. What
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implications here can inform our use of knowledge about personality in our development
as leaders? What are the limitations of personality theory?
3. David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 1-30. Context: This reading permits a
study of diversity within groups that, at the surface, may appear homogeneous. The
distinctions here are not about personality preferences but about what sort of personality
may appeal to different constituencies, and the types of challenges this poses for the
leader, who must seek to unite them all in community and common purpose. Finally,
what qualities in his personality and background aided or hampered his ability to lead
such a heterogeneous military? Looking ahead to the next lesson, this challenge will also
test Washington’s emotional intelligence.
DELIVERABLES
2. Bring results (electronically or printed) from the NERIS Type Explorer®/16 Personality
Types assessment for discussion during seminar. Instructions on how to take this
assessment are in Canvas under day 2.
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DAY 3 – EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend emotional intelligence and its contributions to your leadership.
2. Explore the linkages between emotional intelligence and effective leadership.
3. Explore emotional intelligence concepts in military leadership scenarios.
LESSON OVERVIEW
It is commonly accepted that aware, highly perceptive leaders perform better than disengaged
leaders. But how necessary is it for these leaders also to be very emotionally intelligent? This
third day of the course examines the significance of links between emotional intelligence (EI)
and effective leadership. What does it mean to have emotional intelligence? How do you use
emotional intelligence in acts of leadership? Are there risks in leading without it? Emotional
intelligence recognizes that emotions influence our thoughts, actions, and attitudes. It comprises
self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship-management. It challenges
leaders to be aware and intentional. And yet, are there obstacles to cultivating or exercising EI in
military leadership? How can leaders grow their facility with EI, and should they – is it really
worth the investment? Finally, do you as a leader need to apply more EI as the severity of the
crisis increases, or less, because emotions get in the way of clear thinking?
LD-505 (L): Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Practice in Military Leadership. Lt Col

Megan Allison, USAF, retired, will relate the demands of military leadership and command to
the concepts in the field of emotional intelligence.
LD-506 (S): Emotional Intelligence

1. Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Unleashing
the Power of Emotional Intelligence, 3-18, 33-52, 253-256. [EL] Context: This excerpt
lays out Goleman’s and his co-authors’ case for the indispensability of EI to better
leadership.
2. Stanley McChrystal, “Walt Disney,” in Leaders: Myth and Reality, 49-68. Context: This
chapter reveals how Disney’s emotions affected his organization.
3. David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 81-114. Context: This reading follows
the fortunes of a younger, less mature Washington faced with multi-faceted challenges.
His demanding command context is familiar to us today: do more with less; lead with
imperfect, inadequate information; and face-off against a well-equipped, well-financed,
advanced, and formidable conventional adversary. Did his level of emotional control play
into enemy hands, and if so, how? What could Washington have done differently?
DELIVERABLES
1. 17 Aug: Submit the first assignment - LD-600 (E): LEADERSHIP REFLECTION:
PERSONALITY AND PURPOSE - in accordance with instructions on Canvas.
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PHASE II
THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP
DAY 4 – ETHICS AND ETHICAL REASONING
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend normative ethics.1
2. Compare Western ethics systems to Taoist ones and relate them to the demands of great
power competition.
3. Explore ethical reasoning through various dilemmas.
LESSON OVERVIEW
Save the moment by doing what is reasonable and right.
-- Marcus Aurelius
How do we think ethically when moral dilemmas present themselves in life and the profession?
How much of this thinking can we improve with learning from experience, study, and reflection?
From another point of view, why study ethics in the military? When we have orders in hand,
what is the point of such a personal investment? Finally, how does the reality of competing
systems of ethics separated by different cultures inform a prudent conception of great power
competition?
According to USAF special operations pilot, Lt Col John Huntsman, the influences of ethical
education in the US military and our guiding documents such as the Joint Ethics Regulation are
totally inadequate for proper ethical formation. Nor does he accept the idea that “how you are
ethically” upon accession is the best you will ever be at ethically sound leadership. Instead, he
argues “the preponderance of evidence has shown that, within the breadth of a human life, a
person’s capacity for moral development does not expire.”2 His solution includes enhancement
of the teaching of philosophical ethics both in military education and in the force more generally.
Turning to the discipline of leadership studies, much of leadership literature is not fundamentally
moral or immoral, but amoral (unconcerned with rightness or wrongness), devoted to skills
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Ethics, generally speaking, is the study of moral standards and foundations; normative ethics is the study of
conducting one’s actions in accordance with moral standards. It is the branch of ethics that investigates the questions
that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking; that is, it is concerned with right and wrong
action, determined according to a moral standard.
2
John Huntsman, “Getting to Ethical Readiness,” War on the Rocks Digital, 8 Feb 2021.
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useful for directing or influencing others in more or less efficient or effective ways. Phase II of
the course is committed to the idea that military leadership, endowed with the sacred trust of the
nation and profound responsibilities, is fundamentally a moral act. Ethics is the study of moral
principles; normative ethics is the study of how to conduct one’s life in accordance with a
consistent moral standard that applies across diverse contexts and circumstances. The military is
literally devoted to ends, ways, and means. The study of the ends, and how ways and means do
and should align with ends, is ethics. Military leaders who lack facility in ethical reasoning are
susceptible to being lapped in crisis or lapsing into amoral or immoral decision-making which, in
turn, harms our services, our followers, and, ultimately, ourselves. The below lecture will serve
to demonstrate how leaders can put ethics into practice across a host of situations.
LD-507 (L): Ethical Reasoning. Daniel Strand, Air University Ethics Chair, will lecture on how
to integrate ethical reasoning into real world decision making in life in general, as well as
operational and combat situations.
LD-508 (S): Ethics and Leadership

1. George Lucas, Military Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know, 1-52, 100-118, 227-230.
[EL] Context: Dr. George Lucas, US Navy ethicist, covers the basics on the topic of
military ethics. He also addresses two fundamental questions: should ethics even apply
to the use of military force once decided upon and how does ethics apply to military
service outside the realm of combat?
2. Stanley McChrystal, “Martin Luther King,” in Leaders: Myth and Reality, 329-360.
Context: This chapter opens up discussion on the reasoning King employed in ethically
achieving the civil rights movement’s goals. What role did ethics play in King’s decisions
and actions toward protecting the movement? How did he define success?
3. Department of Leader and Research Development (ACSC), “Systems of Ethical

Reasoning for Advanced Topics in Leader Development.” [EL] Context: This document
briefly compares the following four ethical systems: rules-based, results-based, virtues-
based, and Taoist. The fifth entry is a logical thinking process developed for ACSC by
the Air University Ethics Chair, Dr. Daniel Strand, and is intended to offer one version of
a step-by-step approach to logically work through any ethical dilemma.
4. [Optional Reading] Daniel Strand, “Ethical Reasoning and Military Leadership,” ACSC
curriculum. [EL] Context: As background to his lecture, and a written summary of his
lecture points, Dr. Strand presents the basics on ethical reasoning, reducing the
complexity for today’s military and professional leaders. This is provided also for
citations, based on the lecture content if applicable to student papers.
16
DAY 5 – CHARACTER
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend the primary moral facets of character.
2. Explore personal strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, preferences, and blind spots.
3. Explore how character and integrity relate to leading well.
LESSON OVERVIEW
We do not hold the common view that a man’s highest good is to survive and
simply continue to exist. His highest good is to become as virtuous as possible
and to continue to exist in that state as long as life lasts.
-- Plato
Your character is your unique collection of habituated attributes (virtues and vices guiding our
treatment of others) that affect your attitudes, reasoning, and action – in short, it is your moral
self. Because character informs all three, leaders must determine how to develop their character
to meet future challenges. Traditionally, good character means a coherence or integrity across
virtues predominates within a person, built up through, in the words of James Wilson, the
“regular repetition of right actions” (On Character, p. 108). In ancient Mediterranean and Near
Eastern tradition, virtues derive from three categories of moral behavior: justice, courage, and
self-governance (temperance), with the intellectual virtue of practical wisdom—prudence—to
govern them. Are these behaviors requirements or pre-requisites for leading? Is it sometimes
necessary to put them aside to be a successful leader? Can these behaviors be exercised in a
moment of crisis, if not habituated in times of freedom?
LD-509 (L): Lt Col Joseph Chapa, USAF, will discuss how character can form a bridge of moral
soundness that allows the leader to stay connected to purpose and mission accomplishment,
while remaining above the difficulties that threaten one's purpose and moral composure.
LD-510 (S): Cultivating Character and Moral Virtue

1. Philip McCormack, “Virtues or Values?” Military Virtues (2019), 15-30. [EL] Context:
One’s character and what they value are highly personal subjects. When it comes to
military professionals, perhaps the adoption of specific military virtues, versus an
individual’s personal values, is a better foundation for which to grow their character.
2. Malham Wakin, “Ethics, Leadership and Character,” AU-24, 67-73. [EL] Context: Brig
Gen Wakin, USAF, retired, PhD asks if “moral” and “military” always stay together, or
part company at some point?
3. Stanley McChrystal, “Zealots,” in Leaders: Myth and Reality, 151-199. Context: These
studies look at commitments to a virtue system unmoderated by humanism. Does
ideological purity turn virtue into vice, or did a willingness to accept means irreconcilable
with ends turn these leaders into failed zealots?
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DAY 6 - PRUDENCE
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend the virtue of prudence.
2. Compare and contrast competing interpretations of what it means to lead with prudence.
3. Explore the potential effects of a leader's exercise of prudence on great power
competition.
LESSON OVERVIEW
…prudence is love choosing judiciously between the helpful and the harmful…it
“steers”all the other virtues…helps us determine the right from the wrong, the
helpful from the hurtful, the virtuous from the vicious…prudence is about knowing
and doing what is just, courageous, and temperate.
-- James Toner
The Greek word phronesis is often translated as “practical wisdom” or prudence. Prudence
entails situational awareness and the application of abstract wisdom to see and know how in
given circumstances to connect ways and means toward the right ends.
Prudence’s purpose in leadership is to help the leader move from moral knowledge to moral
action, particularly when the pathway connecting moral principle, situational obstacle, and moral
action is unclear. This lesson is committed to comprehending practical wisdom and its practice
within military leadership. Today’s military leaders require excellent judgment, as do any leaders
responsible for many lives and resources. But what is involved in possessing this excellent
judgment? Surely, we expect our leaders to use resources effectively and efficiently. Yet many
bad decisions began with good intent but fell apart because of a failure to anticipate long-term
negative effects or consequences, the accumulation of harms–or to put it another way, a failure to
acknowledge the decision’s moral component.
What mental habits can leaders cultivate to see their way through to make effective and efficient
decisions resistant to such harms? It is said wisdom includes the habit of connecting the best
means to the best ends. But what does this mean today? After all, sometimes the best means to
achieve certain ends might be wrong in themselves or repugnant. Are there circumstances which
might call on leaders to do terrible things for desirable reasons, such as personal or unit survival,
or national interests? How do leaders navigate situations in which the right answer is elusive?
LD-511 (L): Practical Wisdom and Deliberating Well. Paul Johstono (ACSC) will lecture on
practical wisdom from the perspectives of two major camps, the Aristotelian and Machiavellian,
using a historical case study to explain what practical wisdom is, how it is cultivated, and why it
matters.
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LD-512 (S): Prudence and Pragmatism
1. Reed Bonnadonna, “Two Readings in Prudence,” The Strategy Bridge Digital (2017).
[EL] Context: Via a range of historical examples and competing views of prudence, the
author distinguishes between moral prudence as a virtue related to the teachings of
scholars such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and a modern prudence understood as
either hesitation or cunning, or some combination of these two.
2. Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, VI, XV, and XVIII, 14 pages [EL]. Context:
Machiavelli’s pragmatism informs an alternative view of prudence to the above reading,
and a contrasting conception of power and its relation to the goals of the political leader.
The prince must have ready access to power, including power that comes from the fear of
others (enemy cities and ones’ own citizens), or that prince will lose control of the city
and bring chaos, to its citizens’ detriment. From the timeless passages and Machiavelli's
plan for the restoration of Italian political autonomy from European rivals found in The
Prince, the author challenges modern readers with a question. In the pursuit of what is
ethical and effective and efficient, what is to be done when it seems one must choose to
reject at least one of these criteria?
3. A.C. Grayling, Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the WWII
Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan, 1-20, 101-123. Context: This reading
prepares us to discuss this case in the next seminar, and opens an examination of the
WWII Allied aerial bombing of civilians. Was it necessary? Was it just? Was it prudent?
4. CASE 1: USS Theodore Roosevelt COVID-19 [EL] Context: This collection of primary
documents includes Captain Crozier’s leaked letter about the viral outbreak on CVN-71,
the transcript of Acting Secretary of the Navy Modly’s speech to the crew of the carrier,
and analysis pieces written about the event. What are some of the implications of Captain
Crozier’s range of decisions, especially regarding the US’ position of global influence
and power relative to China’s? How must we consider such dilemmas in terms of great
power competition?
5. [Optional Reading] Marcus Aurelius, The Emperor’s Handbook (VIII.1-17 and IX.1-31)
91-110. Context: These excerpts from Aurelius’ Meditations are informed by a view of
prudence as “proper ends-directed resolve” that was characteristic of Classical Greek and
Roman tradition from Socrates to Aristotle to the Emperor. Power is firmly relegated to
the role of only a means to serve higher ends, specifically ends beyond survival or
continued access to power. Is such a view of power appropriate, or merely antiquated?
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DAY 7 – ETHICAL PROBLEMS
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend ethics as a component of decision-making at the operational level.
2. Comprehend present and future challenges to ethical military leadership.
3. Explore various ethical reasoning approaches with respect to contemporary leadership
scenarios, such as facing adversaries, including great power rivals, who may operate
under different ethical systems.
LESSON OVERVIEW
We are impaled on the horns of a very difficult dilemma. On the one hand,
soldiers are supposed to obey orders; on the other hand, they are supposed to
disobey illegal orders. Soldiers are expected to have the decency and the moral
power to distinguish, even in combat, orders that are “good” from those that are
“bad”…We thus leave our soldiers in the intractable position of having the
responsibility of disobeying illegal orders when they have never been instructed
how to recognize such orders.
-- James Toner
Ethical reasoning is difficult to master, so much so one can wonder if it is worth the effort or
reflection to try. First, how do we get our bearings on a foundation from which to reason in the
first place? After all, different cultures have different ways of looking at right and wrong, and
those same differences often exist within a culture. Second, what do we do when the urgency of
the crisis seems to suggest that any means be considered to achieve it? In those cases, how do we
know how far is too far? Third, technological advances have produced ethical questions never
faced, seemingly, by earlier militaries. Do we need a new set of ethical rules to respond to these
circumstances? This lesson concludes Phase II of the course by addressing via case study method
two significant, enduring challenges in the field of military ethics. Where do we need to draw a
line regarding the methods typically accompanying COIN operations? What are the definitive
ethical standards regarding air warfare and protecting civilian life? The first challenge considers
the use and consequences of certain methods to contain the local population in a proto-
counterinsurgency campaign, specifically the British suppression of New Jerseyians during the
Revolutionary War. The second continues our study of the Grayling book on WWII Allied aerial
bombing of civilians. Included in the discussion will be the reality of facing great power rivals
potentially operating under ethical systems with which US personnel are unfamiliar.
LD-513 (V): The History of Aerial Bombing in WWII. There will not be a lecture on this day.
Instead, students will view the video as defined in Canvas prior to seminar. It is a debate about
whether the WWII aerial bombing campaigns against Germany were justifiable. For those
interested in reading more about the background of the bomber war, pages 20-68 in the Grayling
book provide a brief history. This is optional reading.
CONTACT HOURS: 1-hour of videos.
20
LD-514 (S): Ethical Problems in Military Leadership
1. CASE 2: George Lucas, Military Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know, 167-188. [EL]
Context: The author examines the ethics of unmanned offensive platforms. While the
current use of unmanned platforms is not of much ethical concern; what happens when
unmanned machines become autonomous?
2. CASE 3: A.C. Grayling, Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the
WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan, 181-235. Context: The rest of
chapter 4 and the concluding two chapters of this reading make cases for and against the
aerial bombing of civilians. Which points are more persuasive here? What do modern
advances in war change about this debate? How is the actor’s mindset relevant?
3. CASE 4: David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 160-181. Context: The

occupation of New Jersey by British forces provides an opportunity to study prudence
and the other virtues examined in this course in the relation between the means and ends
of an historical case, and how miscalculation here, or imprudence, can destroy long-term
ends.
4. CASE 5: Martin Cook, “Revolt of the Generals: A Case Study in Professional Ethics,”
Parameters 38.1 (2008), 4-15. [EL] Context: Dr. Cook provides analysis of the behaviors
of some senior military leaders in reaction to the early stages of the Global War on
Terrorism and proposes a way ahead on how to view these behaviors ethically.
21
PHASE III
THE ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION OF

LEADERSHIP
DAY 8 – ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
DATE: 7 September 2021
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend Schein’s theory of organizational culture.
2. Explore organizational culture theory with respect to American military service cultures.
3. Explore organizational culture theory with respect to your own organizational
experiences.
LESSON OVERVIEW
It is easy to think of any organization as a collection of individual people joined by a hierarchy
and organized to accomplish collective goals. But we recognize there is something deeper here,
something about the nature of all organizations that leaders must grasp to be truly successful. If
organizations are not simply collections of individuals, what are they? They are cultures.
Comprehending organizational culture helps explain why organizations can be hard to lead and
especially hard to improve. Edgar Schein, in his classic work on organizational culture, defined it
as the “an accumulated shared learning of that group as it solves its problems of external
adaptation and internal integration which has worked well enough to be considered valid, and
therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, feel, and behave in
relation to those problems” (Organizational Culture and Leadership, p. 6).
This lesson opens Phase III of the course, which is committed to the context or operating
environment of leadership. This phase begins with diving into an organization to understand and
assess its culture and foundational beliefs, then shifts to leading the people within an
organization through building trust. This lesson is focused on Edgar Schein’s theory of
organizational culture, utilizing American service cultures as exemplars. How do the services
exhibit organizational culture, and how do their cultures shape their leaders? How can leaders
influence their cultures? Organizational culture spans from the service level to the squadron
level, or within specializations across services or even nations. The study of cultural theory helps
leaders know what to look for to understand the cultures of organizations they already inhabit or
those they may enter in the future. How are cultures shaping you, and how are you shaping
them?
LD-515 (L): American Service Branch Cultures. Col Jeffrey Donnithorne, USAF, PhD, will
lecture on the organizational cultures of American military services, how organizational culture
gives demand signals for leadership qualities, and the relation between service cultures and the
culture of the joint environment.
22
LD-516 (S): Organizational Culture
1. Edgar Schein and Peter Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 5th ed., 3-29,
149-205. Context: Earlier editions of Schein have been influential in organizational
studies for decades. The authors begin their introduction to culture with a surprising
definition of what culture is and explain the three levels of culture. The next excerpts
address the elements that describe and influence the establishment of culture, and the
leader’s role in this process, especially in embedding and transmitting culture.
2. Dik Daso, Hap Arnold and the Evolution of American Airpower, 1-6, 101-150. Context:
The interwar experiences of Arnold provide a lot of insight into his theory of airpower
and priorities as the leader that would later shape the independent Air Force. With
Schein as an examining tool, what did Arnold pass on that we can still find in today’s
USAF?
3. [Optional Reading] Maj Jason M. Newcomer, DBA, USAF and Lt Col Daniel A.
Connelly, PhD, USAF, Retired, “Elements of an Effective Squadron: An Air Force
Organizational Study,” Air & Space Power Journal, 32.1 (Spring, 2018), 65-79. [EL]
Context: Lt Col Newcomer, DBA and Dr. Connelly use a phenomenological study to
interview 30 graduated commanders of various squadrons from across the Air Force.
They explore seven areas of organizational culture, including: leadership teams, training,
customer service, performance improvement, change management, communication, and
employee relations. They conclude with a diagram that connects complex organizational
relationships for future commanders to capitalize on as they enter command.
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DAY 9 – ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE II (BIASES)
LESSON OVERVIEW
1. Comprehend how Schein’s concepts of basic underlying assumptions, external
adaptation, and internal integration function in cultures of military organizations and
political states.
2. Comprehend Kahneman’s system 1 and system 2 theory of critical thinking and bias.
3. Explore how system 1 and system 2 thinking impact military leaders with respect to great
power competition.
LESSON OVERVIEW
Every culture, organizational or national, has basic assumptions that comprise a significant part
of the culture’s foundation. These assumptions are useful biases: they are lubricant for normative
thought and behavior within the culture. And yet leaders need to be aware of these useful biases
and be able to put them under critical scrutiny from time to time to weed out harmful biases,
prune those that outgrow their purpose, and further develop those that are helping the
organization. Identifying an organization’s shared basic assumptions is one of the most important
and challenging tasks any leader faces, and a vital step towards guiding organizations toward
morally sound and effective practices, and diagnosing and treating slides into immoral and
ineffective practices. Leaders must monitor their own biases that may predispose their judgment,
especially those inherent in how humans process information. Military leaders can also learn
from studying adversaries’ cultures as well.
LD-517 (L): Winged Defiance: The USAF, Preventive Nuclear War in the Early Cold War,
and Technological Bias. Col Edwin Redman, USAF, retired, PhD, will lecture on underlying
assumptions, external adaptations, internal integration and biases that shaped airpower culture.
LD-518 (S): Organizations and Overcoming Bias

1. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 19-30, 79-88, 109-155. Context: This
celebrated investigation of human cognitive biases helps us to uncover and question those
biases in ourselves and others, and to examine their effects. These are crucial steps for
organizational leaders, especially when leading a culture, and when trying to read their
own or a competitor’s culture for behavioral insights.
2. Edgar Schein and Peter Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 5th ed., 81-123.
Context: This excerpt examines the power of macrocultures, which is a study of the
effects of the national culture of a political state on its behavior and on the behavior of
sub-elements under the state. The assigned text then describes two powerful forces that
shape both cultures and macrocultures: external adaptation and internal integration.
Understanding these forces helps us see into the motivations of military organizations at
the unit and branch level, of political states, and helps in the development of predictive
models.
24
3. [Optional Reading] Tony Kern, Darker Shades of Blue [EL] Context: Lt Col Tony
Kern, USAF, retired, reviews the organizational factors behind the Fairchild AFB B-52
crash in 1994.
DELIVERABLES
1. 10 Sep: Submit the second assignment - LD-601 (E): CASE STUDY: ETHICAL
REASONING PAPER - in accordance with instructions on Canvas.
25
DAY 10 – BUILDING TRUST
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Incorporate Phase I and Phase II material into a discussion on building trust.
2. Explore how leadership style— especially in interpersonal relationships, managing risk and
anticipating change, surprise, and uncertainty —relates to trust.
LESSON OVERVIEW
If you cannot create harmony—even vicious harmony—on the battlefield based on
trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across
civilian/military lines, you really need to go home, because your leadership style
is obsolete.
-- James Mattis
Like organizational culture, the importance of trust is a no-brainer for most. As such, it is
important to study it. Trust presents in different forms. Different people build trust for different
reasons, and trust may exist in different facets. Competence, composure, and a moral compass
often contribute to trust. Relational skill and communication often do as well. What can we do
to build trust? What are the things that erode it? What happens when there is a lack of trust?
Taking a moment to study this topic more in depth will help us not take it for granted (as if it’s
easy to do) or talk about it in the abstract (as if it’s only a feature of relationships and we either
have it or don’t).
LD-519 (L): Building Trust. Brig Gen Gwyn Armfield, USAF, retired, lectures on the
significance of trust and forging trust in military leadership.
LD-520 (S): Building Trust

1. Lt Col Jesper Stubbendorff, USAF, and Robert Overstreet, PhD, “A Commander’s First
Challenge: Building Trust,” Air & Space Power Journal, 33.2 (2019), 15-25. [EL]
Context: The authors, from interviews and empirical studies, propose a definition of
trust grounded in shared vulnerability, in emotional intelligence and in relationship.
Their action plan to build trust swiftly is based on “engaging, connecting, serving and
leading.”
2. Chip Bell, “The Vulnerable Leader,” Leader to Leader, 38.3 (2005), 19-23. [EL]
Context: The author questions the model of the superior leader as detached and
unemotional, and examines the role of vulnerability in building enduring trust. His
conclusion is at odds with the natural inclination of many rising leaders to build walls of
self-protection.
3. Dik Daso, Hap Arnold and the Evolution of American Airpower, 226-233, 169-197.
Context: The course team recommends reading the epilogue first, then chapter 10. The
epilogue explains how Arnold trusted his ability to make decisions, his commanders,
26
and others in industry and academia. It also points out that he avoided people he didn't
trust. In just a few pages, Daso attempts to persuade the reader that Arnold “did” trust
well. With that backdrop in mind, the lessons contained in chapter 10 become much
clearer. As you read, try to spot where Arnold was doing things that increased trust.
4. Stanley McChrystal, Leaders: Myth and Reality, “The Power Brokers,” 245-300.
Context: These cases examining the records of Boss Tweed and Margaret Thatcher bring
up questions about the sources and operation of trust among leaders, the followers, and
the public. What combination of competence and character earns and keeps trust?
27
PHASE IV
THE CHALLENGE DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP
DAY 11 – CHANGE AND CREATIVITY
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend the value of creative thinking in uncertain, complex, and ambiguous
situations.
2. Comprehend the contribution of cognitively diverse teams to the creative process.
3. Explore the connection between leading creativity and leading through change,
particularly as it relates to great power competition.
LESSON OVERVIEW
Living is more like wrestling than dancing; you have to stay on your feet, ready
and unruffled, while blows are rained down on you, sometimes from unexpected
quarters.
-- Marcus Aurelius
Creativity is recognized as one of the most desirable attributes of successful leaders. Why is
creativity important? What is creativity for? Is creativity even compatible with military
leadership? Finally, what are the demands placed on us when leading through change, and how
can lessons on leading creativity in our organizations enhance our response to these demands?
The culture of the military tends to create impediments to creativity, but the security
environment inherently produces surprise, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, conditions for
which creative solutions are well-suited. Joint doctrine says that the “ability to think creatively
enhances the ability to employ operational art” (JP 3-0 II.3.d). However, military organizations
often end up with heavily bureaucratized, incremental innovation rather than rapid, radical
change derived from creative thinking. How problematic or even fatal might that be to a modern
military today or tomorrow? Also, how is creativity related to prudence/practical wisdom? How
can leaders discern between principles requiring resolve and topics demanding lots of flexibility,
developing a leadership style suited to both these functions? Finally, in the era of great power
competition, this context will demand responses from leaders to changes in the external
environment and requirements for internal reorganization to optimize readiness for such conflict.
What lessons on leading creativity best situate leaders to handle leading through change?
LD-521 (L): Creative Teams and Cognitive Conflict. Jeff DeGraff will lecture on a structural
concept for creativity and innovation.
28
LD-522 (S): Creativity and Change in Military Leadership
1. Gen Charles Brown, USAF, “Accelerate Change or Lose,” CSAF Strategic Assessment
(August 2020), 2-7. [EL] Context: Our current Chief of Staff of the Air Force warns of
the high cost of failing to change rapidly to address today’s global context, especially
regarding great power competition. He offers a challenge that staying ahead of threats
will require leading creativity on an unprecedented scale when compared to recent US
military experience.
2. John Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” Harvard Business
Review (2007), 1-9. [EL] Context: This article looks at Dr. Kotter’s phased approach to
leading change despite typical organizational barriers that resist such transformation.
3. Milan Vego, “On Military Creativity” Joint Forces Quarterly 70.3 (2013), 83-90. [EL]
Context: Dr. Vego deals with the historical tendency of military organizations to stifle
creativity and the costs.
4. Teresa Amabile and Mukti Khaire, “Creativity and the Role of the Leader,” Harvard
Business Review (2008), 1-10. [EL] Context: The authors ponder how leaders can
possibly promote creativity instead of stifle it as a typical consequence of the practice of
directing and controlling people and resources.
5. Jeff DeGraff, Innovation Code, 1-48. Context: The author helps readers isolate their
unique creativity profile and understand how to fuel creative thinking given certain
realities of group dynamics.
29
DAY 12 – FOSTERING CONNECTIONS
LESSON OVERVIEW
1. Comprehend the challenges of leading outside organizational hierarchies and authorities.
2. Comprehend a model for using connection and influence to lead inside, outside, and
beyond organizational hierarchies and authorities.
3. Explore how fostering connections can reduce the challenges associated with leading in
joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and/or multinational environments.
LESSON OVERVIEW
Command involves the exercise of given authority. How should one lead in the absence of or
outside of given authority?
All leadership does not take place within the confines of command, and commanders must often
lead outside their specific authorities. Leadership takes place within broader networks, up, down,
across, and beyond. The joint and coalition operating environment dramatically compounds the
importance of leadership outside of command. How should leaders lead outside of authority,
across organizations, or across services? How should leaders prepare themselves in advance for
these sorts of changes and challenges?
LD-523 (L): Meta-Leadership. Col Bill DeMarco, USAF, retired, will lecture on networked
leadership, building connections, and employing influence outside strict chains of authority.
LD-524 (S): Connection and Influence

1. Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams, 1-8, 135-154, 172-198. Context: These excerpts
introduce the book and offer insights on a methodology they used to generate shared
understanding internally, within their own team, and externally, with other teams.
2. Stanley McChrystal, Leaders: Myth and Reality, “Harriet Tubman,” 222-241. Context:
This section explores Tubman’s extraordinary leadership that she exercised without legal
or positional authority.
3. Thomas Hughes, Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air
Power in World War II, 1-19, 111-140. Context: In 1943-44, General Quesada applies
meta-leadership as he makes preparations for the biggest crisis yet in his career—
creatively leading air forces into battle on D-Day, with so much at stake and so little in
his control. How did his personality and iconoclastic style relate to his ability to lead up,
down, and across? What relevance did his character have on his success as an
organizational leader as well as a combat leader?
30
DAY 13 – EMPOWERING OTHERS
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend the purpose, merits, and risks of mission command in military leadership. 3
2. Comprehend various forms of follower development activities directed toward building
leaders and how it relates to mission command.
3. Comprehend successful mission command and empowerment of others as the fruit of
trust.
LESSON OVERVIEW
Have you ever experienced micromanagement as a form of centralized command, or experienced
a lack of guidance as a form of decentralized execution? Why do you think that occurred? How
should leaders invest in creating more leaders? How do leaders know how and when to empower
other leaders?
Mission-type orders typically empower lower echelons with limited decision-making authority.
Empowering junior leaders shoulders one kind of risk (that they are not ready) because the risks
and opportunities of the situation make it worthwhile. The effectiveness of this approach hinges
upon the competence of junior leaders and the senior leader’s willingness to trust while
providing guidance and accountability. Will the junior leaders possess understanding of the
leader’s intent, the leader’s trust, and the leadership and decision-making abilities to align ways,
means, and ends to fulfill intent? How can a leader develop others to assume this level of
responsibility and achieve productive and meaningful outcomes? What leadership tools can
contribute to building up other leaders and make decentralized leadership more effective? How
does the era of great power competition present new challenges regarding the successful exercise
of mission command?
LD 525 (L): Developing Leaders. Daryl Watkins will describe when and how to use coaching,
mentoring, advising, and other forms of follower development.
LD 526 (S): Developing Leaders and Mission Command

1. Martin Dempsey, CJCS White Paper, Mission Command, 1-8. [EL] Context: General
Dempsey, former CJCS, defines mission command, extending this definition to show the
vital links among commander, communication, intent, trust, and empowerment.
3
Mission Command is “the conduct of military operations through decentralized execution based upon mission-type
orders. Successful mission command demands that subordinate leaders at all echelons exercise disciplined initiative
and act aggressively and independently to accomplish the mission.” (JP 3-31, Command and Control for Joint Land
Operations). Air Force doctrine contains a similar idea in centralized command, decentralized execution: “Execution
should be decentralized within a C2 architecture that exploits the ability of frontline decision makers (such as strike
package leaders, air battle managers, forward air controllers) to make on-scene decisions during complex, rapidly
unfolding operations” (AFDD 1).
31
2. Niklas Nilsson, “Practicing Mission Command for Future Battlefield Challenges,”
Defence Studies, 20.4 (2020), 436-452. [EL] Context: Using great power competition as
the specific context of future challenges in warfare, the author identifies several critical
enablers that concretize the influence and success of mission command. These enablers
reach back into all three course phases, and develop and extend the content in the fourth
phase.
3. Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams, 201-251. Context: These excerpts suggest a means
by which to empower subordinates and an alternate way of leading that enhances the
benefits of empowerment.
4. Col Jim Thomas, U.S. Army, retired and Lt Col Ted Thomas PhD, U.S. Army, retired,
“Mentoring, Coaching, and Counseling: Toward A Common Understanding,” Military
Review (2015), 50-57. [EL] Context: Empowerment is not something leaders “fire and
forget;” rather, it requires follow-up and adjustments as required. This article defines
three of the most common ways to develop followers, explains how they differ, and how
each of the four services uses these terms.
32
DAY 14 – LEADING THROUGH CRISIS
DATE: 1 October 2021
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend the circumstances of leading through crisis.
2. Comprehend the demands on the leader during times of crisis.
3. Comprehend aspects of optimal crisis leadership, e.g., self-awareness, moral sensitivity,
advance preparation, and resilience in the face of the novel—in short, “flexible
composure.”
LESSON OVERVIEW
By welcoming an obstacle and by calmly adapting your action to it, you will be
able to do some other thing in harmony with your goals and the sort of life you
are seeking to build.
-- Marcus Aurelius
When facing whatever happens outside your control, be calm; when taking
actions for which you are responsible, be fair. In other words, whether acting or
reacting, make your aim the aid and betterment of others, in fulfillment of
nature’s laws.
-- Marcus Aurelius
How should leaders prepare for crisis? What should leaders do in crisis, and learn from crises?
Since the end of the Cold War the United States has enjoyed relative global hegemony, despite
the violence and hardship of counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and other recent missions. As
critical vulnerabilities become both more critical to the nation and to the American-led world
order and more vulnerable, and great power competition once again looms larger, a generation of
supremacy could be coming to an end. How will a health crisis like COVID-19 affect American
security and hegemony? The lecture for the day offers a municipal case study in crisis leadership,
when a powerful tornado ripped a town to pieces. How should leaders respond in moments that
move from normalcy to crisis with no warning? How do the facets of leadership and habits of
self-development studied in this course bear on leading well in crisis? In that moment, do animal
instinct, technology, and routine reign, or does the leader’s humanity get a vote?
LD-527 (L): Crisis: The Tuscaloosa Tornado. Mayor Walter Maddox reflects on leading
through the Tuscaloosa Tornado in 2011.
LD-528 (S): Crisis and Leadership

1. David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 263-276, 308-323, 363-379. Context:
These excerpts are contrasting studies in leadership through crisis. What differences in
decisions and actions between the American commanders on one side and the British and
Hessian commanders on the other produced in the former a decisive military advantage?
Fischer also chronicles Washington’s maturation from early privilege and a desire to
control, to trust and then an increasing talent for empowerment as a leader of leaders, and
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finally his handling of change and crisis that would ultimately lead America to victory.
The author wraps up his study of General Washington by proposing that despite his many
flaws and failures, and from the strengths and limitations of his personality and
leadership style, he had achieved victory over a superior force while inventing a “new
American way of war.”
2. Thomas Hughes, Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air
Power in World War II, 141-203, 304-314. Context: General Quesada is tested to the full
as he leads tactical air power in the assault on continental Europe in June and July 1944,
working endlessly to capitalize on early successes to support the gains of the land
invasion and to keep the Allies moving forward. Was his crisis leadership primarily a
result of imposing his will on circumstances, or of quickly capitalizing on unforeseen
realities beyond his control, or a subtle combination of both? How much can any of us
“plan” to lead well in a future crisis? How can we learn from historical great power
competition experience?
The author concludes his study of General Quesada’s leadership in crisis and its meaning
for the future of airpower. How General Quesada’s career ended is also a reminder of the
need for military leaders to deeply analyze the truths and utility of the platforms their
branch provides, truths of how those platforms work within the joint fight, and how to
clearly articulate these truths as part of a leadership style that serves the military as a
whole and best achieves its true purpose.
Finally, what lessons for leaders can we uncover when studying leadership in crisis
across these three examples—Maddox, Washington, and Quesada—separated by time
and very different contexts?
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DAY 15 – DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
DATE: 5 October 2021
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehend challenges of leadership and how they inform developing a leadership
philosophy.
2. Compare leadership philosophies among military professionals in seminar.
LESSON OVERVIEW
You have to decide what you’re willing to die for. Until you know that—you’re
negotiable.
-- Clarence Thomas
Without a leadership philosophy, it becomes increasingly challenging for leaders to take charge
of their development. Think of your own leadership philosophy as a means of organizing your
memories as a leader. Crystalizing what you know and believe as a leader this way helps you
know who you are as a leader, what you want to become, and what for you is non-negotiable.
There will not be a lecture on this day.
LD-529 (S): Studies in Leadership Style and Philosophies.

1. No required readings.
2. [Optional Reading] Maureen LeBoeuf, “Developing a Leadership Philosophy,” Military

Review (1999), 28-34. [EL] Context: Leadership philosophies are personal and no one
philosophy is the same. This article provides food for thought and things to consider as
students develop and/or refine their own leadership philosophy.
3. [Optional Video] Col Jon Rhone, USAF, retired, offers his perspective on the
importance of a personal leadership philosophy and the willingness to change it as you
progress in rank. This video is located in Canvas on Day 15.
DELIVERABLES
1. 5 Oct: Seminar members will share their own leadership philosophies and field comments
and questions from classmates and the course instructor.
2. 6 Oct: Submit the third assignment - LD-602 (E): PERSONAL LEADERSHIP

PHILOSOPHY WITH REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY - in accordance with
instructions on Canvas.
3. The following task is for Air Force military and civilian members (Active, Guard,
Reserves) only. Similar to day 1, there are instructions in Canvas to take a short, official
Air University survey to better understand ethical leadership practices and behaviors.
Please read the instructions in Canvas under day 15 and complete the survey.
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APPENDIX: COURSE FACULTY
Course Director:
Dr. Daniel A. Connelly is Assistant Professor in the Department of Leader and Research
Development at Air University’s Air Command and Staff College. He is a retired U.S. Air Force
intelligence officer whose background includes operational tours at headquarters and flying unit
echelons and deployments to Southwest and Far East Asia. He teaches courses in International
Security, Leadership Studies, Air Power Theory, the Just War Tradition, Russian Studies and
Educational Methodology. He holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from Auburn University,
and Master’s Degrees in Strategic Intelligence and Russian Culture. He has published on topics
ranging from leadership theory to higher education to Former Soviet Union affairs, and has
participated in multiple empirical investigations related to these topics. Previously, Dan served
as Dean of Academic Affairs at Squadron Officer College.
Deputy Course Director:

Maj Shawn West is an instructor in the Department of Leader and Research Development at the
Air University’s Air Command and Staff College. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer
Engineering, a Master of Information Technology Management, and a Master of Military
Operational Art and Science. He is a 17D Cyber/Communications officer in the USAF and has
served in a variety of leadership roles in the AF as well as within other government agencies.
Prior to ACSC, Maj West was a Detachment Commander for an intelligence unit and has
experience in both tactical communications and intelligence operations.
Lt Col Megan Allison, (USAF, retired), serves as the Deputy Director of Leadership
Development within the Eaker Center for Leadership Development, Maxwell AFB, Alabama and
as the Deputy Director of Air University’s Quality Enhancement Plan, Leadership & Ethics
across the Continuum of Learning, and has co-authored two journal articles on the topic. A
command pilot with more than 3,000 hours, she served in various squadron, group and wing
positions, flying the C-21A, C-17, MQ-1, MQ-9, and C-146. She commanded the 27th Special
Operations Support Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base, was a DARPA Service Chief Fellow
and served on the Strategic Command Staff. She is a 1998 graduate of the Reserve Officer
Training corps program at the University of Virginia, holds two masters degrees (Masters of
Business Administration and Masters of Science in National Security & Strategic Studies), and is
a graduate of the USN’s College of Naval Command & Staff. She is MBTI Step II certified,
Emotional Intelligence Level I & II certified, and trained in Giant’s 5 Gears, 5 Voices and
Design Thinking at Stanford University’s dSchool.
Dr. Amber B. Batura is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies in the
Department of Leader and Research Development at Air Command and Staff (ACSC) College in
Montgomery, AL. Prior to joining ACSC in March 2021, she was an Instructor at Texas Tech
University in Lubbock, Texas. She also taught online courses for Texas Tech Costa Rica and the
University of Texas Permian Basin. Dr. Batura graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in History
from the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas in 2009, a Master of Arts (2012),
and a Ph.D. (2018) in History from Texas Tech University. Her specialization looks at the
intersection between war and culture and war and society, with a special focus on gender and the
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military. She has published articles in The New York Times, the Journal of American-East Asian
Relations, and has contributed to edited volumes on the Vietnam War. She is currently working
on a manuscript on the importance of Playboy magazine to soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Dr. Lisa L. Beckenbaugh is the Chair of the Leader and Research Development Department at
Air University’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). Dr. Beckenbaugh received her
bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. Cloud State University and her PhD from the
University of Arkansas. Dr. Beckenbaugh has taught at a variety of undergraduate and graduate
civilian institutions. Her book, The Versailles Treaty: A Documentary and Reference Guide for
ABC-CLIO, was published in 2018. Dr. Beckenbaugh also serves as the faculty advisor for the
Gathering of Eagles elective and has edited five of their published books, most recently, Why We
Stay: Stories of Unity and Perseverance. Dr. Beckenbaugh’s current research is on the 1st
MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), later redesignated 8209th MASH, during the Korean
War.
Lt Col Mary (Molly) Braun is an instructor in the Department of Leader and Research
Development at Air University's Air Command and Staff College. She holds a Bachelor’s
Degree in Computer Science from Drake University, a Master's Degree in Curriculum and
Instruction from the University of Phoenix, and a Master's Degree in Military Operational Art
and Science from ACSC. Prior to her current assignment, Lt Col Braun commanded the 42nd
Communications Squadron at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, where she led 140 military, civilian, and
contracted personnel responsible for operating and maintaining communications and information
systems supporting 13,000 users across two installations.
Maj Kristi Buczek is an instructor in the Leadership and Research Department at Air
University’s Air Command and Staff College. She instructs Leadership and Airpower and is a
faculty advisor for Gathering of Eagles. She is an 18A, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Pilot, in
the USAF with more than 1,300 flying hours and has served in a variety of leadership roles
within Wing and MAJCOM organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, a Master
of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Military Operational Art and Science, and a
Diversity and Inclusion Certificate.
Maj Ivonne Charbonneau is an instructor in the Department of Leader and Research

Development at the Air University’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). She teaches
Leadership and International Security II. Maj Charbonneau holds a Bachelor’s Degree in
Management from the United States Air Force Academy and Master’s Degree in the same
concentration from American Military University. Maj Charbonneau recently graduated ACSC
as part of her Air University Fellow A program, where she had the opportunity to instruct at
Squadron Officer School. She is an Acquisitions officer with a specialized background in Space
Operations. In her first assignment, she served as a satellite systems operator, evaluator, and
mission commander. From there, she went on to acquire space weapons systems and manage
various programs—from launch vehicle capabilities to ground systems modernization. Most
recently, Maj Charbonneau served as the Kill Chain Integration Branch portfolio manager at
Hanscom AFB, MA.
37
Dr. Melvin G. Deaile is the Director of the School of Advanced Nuclear and Deterrence Studies
(SANDS) and an Associate Professor in the Department of International Studies at Air
University’s Air Command and Staff College. He teaches classes on nuclear deterrence, nuclear
strategy, joint warfighting, and classical military thought. Dr. Deaile hails from Fresno, CA
native, and is a retired Air Force Colonel, where he served two tours in the B-52 Stratofortress
and a tour in the B-2 Spirit. He has flown combat operations as part of Operations Desert Storm
and Operation Enduring Freedom, including a record setting 44.3 hour combat mission, and
deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Flying
Cross and a distinguished graduate of the USAF Weapon School. Dr. Deaile recently published
his first book, Always at War, which chronicles the development of SAC’s organizational culture
under Gen Curtis LeMay. He is the author of multiple articles, editorials, and book reviews on
nuclear weapons and their role in national security.
Major Chay M. Derbigny is an Air University Fellow B and serves as an Instructor at the
United States Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). He teaches Leadership and
Airpower II courses and is an OIC for the Commandant’s Speaker Series. Maj Derbigny
graduated from the ACSC In-Residence program in May 2021. Before ACSC, Maj Derbigny
was an NSAv Pilot and Chief of Tactics at Duke Field in FL. Prior to NSAv, Major Derbigny
was an Evaluator Pilot on the T-53A at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA),
inspiring and motivating Cadets to pursue a rated career in the AF. Before USAFA, he served as
an Instructor Pilot on the U-28A at Hurlburt Field, FL. Overall, Maj Derbigny deployed eight
times to Africa, Middle East, and the Pacific, amassing over 1600 combat hours with over 3400
total hours. Maj Derbigny earned a top performer award from U-28A and C-146 Qualification
Training and is a distinguished graduate from Squadron Officer School. He graduated with a BS
in Systems Engineering from USAFA in 2008 and received an MSA from Ohio University in
2012.
Major Janel Egana is the Deputy Director of Education Support, Air Command and Staff
College (ACSC). She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the United States Air
Force Academy and Master’s Degree in Secondary Education from the University of Central
Oklahoma. Prior to ACSC, she was a dual-qualified platform instructor / evaluator of USAF and
RCAF officers in E-3 Initial Qualification Training at Tinker Air Force Base, OK. Maj Egana
has served in a variety of leadership positions at the group and squadron levels as well as within
two air operations centers and an air defense sector. Besides being a certified Joint Interface
Control Officer, she is a Senior Air Battle Manager with over 2,300 hours in the E-3B/C
AWACS and 1,500 hours in the BC3 system supporting Operations SOUTHERN WATCH,
NOBLE EAGLE, IRAQI FREEDOM, and ENDURING FREEDOM.
Dr. Michael L. Grumelli, (USAF, retired), is an Associate Professor in the

Department of Airpower at the United States Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College. He is
the son of a thirty-year Army non-commissioned officer, earning his PhD in military history
from Rutgers University in 1991. Since earning his doctorate, he has been assigned to the faculty
of the United States Air Force Academy, as the Deputy Director of Military History, and as an
instructor with the Air War College’s Department of Strategy, Doctrine, and Airpower in
addition to teaching with the School of Advance Air and Space Studies.
38
Dr. Robert S. Hinck is an Assistant Professor of Leadership at Air University’s Leadership
Institute, Air War College, where he currently leads Air University’s Quality Enhancement Plan
efforts related to Strategic Ethical Decision Making. He has a PhD in Communication from
Texas A&M University and over eight years of teaching experience, including courses on:
Leadership, Organizational Communication, Negotiation, and Small Group Communication. He
is lead author of the book “Global Media and Strategic Narratives of Contested Democracy:
Chinese, Russian, and Arabic Media Narratives of the US Presidential Election,” and has
published widely in the areas of strategic narratives, political communication, and international
relations.
Major Tyler Hughes is an Air University Fellow and Instructor in the Department of
Leadership and Research Development. Prior to attending Air Command and Staff College
(ACSC) Maj Hughes served as Commander of the 569th United States Forces Police Squadron
at Vogelweh Air Station, Germany where he led over 300 Airmen, Soldiers and German-national
personnel conducting security and law enforcement operations throughout a 1,100 square-mile
area of responsibility. Maj Hughes is a 2x graduated Squadron Commander and has served in
multiple leadership roles within the Security Forces career field, with expertise in airbase and
integrated defense, airfield security, nuclear security, and law enforcement. He has also held staff
positions to include Executive Officer to the 21st Space Wing Commander and Weapons
Systems Security Action Officer for the Directorate of Security Forces at the Pentagon. Maj
Hughes received his commission from The Citadel in May 2007 after earning a degree in
Criminal Justice. Maj Hughes was a member of the Air Command and Staff College’s (ACSC)
first leadership concentration, the Davis Scholars, in Academic Year 21 and earned
Distinguished Graduate honors.
Lt Col John Isacco is an instructor in the Department of Leader and Research Development at
Air University's Air Command and Staff College. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics
from the United States Air Force Academy, a Master's Degree in Public Administration from
Oklahoma University and a Master's Degree in Operations Analysis from the Air Force Institute
of Technology. Prior to his current assignment, Lt Col Isacco commanded the 82nd
Reconnaissance Squadron at Kadena AB, Japan, where he led 95 personnel across 26 AFSCs in
supporting deployed RC/WC-135 operations. Lt Col Isacco is a Command Pilot with more than
3,500 hours in E-3, RC-135 and trainer aircraft, including over 900 combat hours during
Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
Major Ben Johnson is an Instructor in the Department of Leader and Research Development at
the United States Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). Prior to instructing at
ACSC, Maj Johnson was a member of ACSC’s AY21 class. He is a prior enlisted Civil
Engineering troop. He received his commission from OTS and after graduating pilot training at
Columbus AFB, MS, Maj Johnson was assigned to fly the KC-135 while stationed at MacDill
AFB, FL followed by an assignment as a T-1A Instructor Pilot at Vance AFB, OK. Most
recently, he was the Chief of Command Post at MacDill AFB, FL. Maj Johnson graduated with a
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BS in Criminal Justice and MS in Public Affairs from Park University. He is a senior pilot with
more than 3,000 flying hours in the KC-135 and T-1 aircraft.
Dr. Paul Johstono is Associate Professor of Leadership Studies at the Air Command and Staff
College (ACSC), in Montgomery, AL. Prior to joining ACSC in January 2019, he was Associate
Professor for History of Warfare at The Citadel, in Charleston, SC. Dr. Johstono received his
Bachelor’s Degree in History from Furman University in Greenville, SC (2005), and a Master’s
Degree (2008) and Ph.D. (2012) in History from Duke University. His articles on popular
political organization and violence in antiquity have appeared in Ancient History Bulletin and
Archiv fϋr Papyrusforschung, and chapters on ancient insurgency and the impacts of military
defeat on warrior classes and military institutions have appeared in volumes of the Brill
Companion series on War in the Ancient Mediterranean. He is on the editorial board for the Brill
series on War in World History. He is completing his manuscript on the military history of
Ptolemaic Egypt, and developing projects on leadership in ancient warfare.
Lt Col Tonya Klempp is an Instructor in the Department of Leader and Research Development
at the Air University’s Air Command and Staff College. Lt Col Klempp graduated from
California State University with a B.S. in Business (Strategic & Ops Management). She holds
three Master’s degrees—an MBA from Troy State University, M.A. in National Security Studies
from the Naval Postgraduate School, and an M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from the National
Intelligence University and is pursuing a Ph.D. (ABD) in International Relations from Claremont
Graduate University. Lt Col Klempp is a career intelligence officer and has served in various
operational and staff positions. She has deployed four times, most recently in 2019 as the Special
Mission Wing – Special Operations Advisory Group’s Director of Intelligence, Kabul,
Afghanistan. The working title of her doctoral dissertation is Foreign Policy and the Strategic
Value of Satisfaction—Examining Military Arms Transfers as a Measure of Trust.
Major Aaron “NotSOE” Knight is an Air University Fellow and Instructor in the Department
of Leader and Research Development at the United States Air Force’s Air Command and Staff
College (ASCS), Maxwell AFB, AL. Prior to his fellowship, Maj Knight taught at the A-10C
Formal Training Unit as an Instructor Pilot in the 357th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan
AFB, AZ. Prior to that, he flew the A-10C at Osan AB, Republic of Korea and was also a First
Assignment Instructor Pilot in the T-6 Texan II at Columbus AFB, MS. Maj Knight is a Senior
Pilot with over 2,500 hours in the A-10C, T-38, and T-6, Flight Command, Wing Executive,
Assistant DO, and Wing Staff experience. He holds a Masters of Military Operational Arts and
Science from Air University as a distinguished graduate, a Master of Arts in Adult Education
with an Aviation Specialty from Trident University International, and a Bachelor of Science in
Paper Science and Engineering from Miami University in Ohio.
Lt Col Morgan D. Mackey is an instructor in the Department of Joint Warfighting at the Air
Command and Staff College. He serves as an Instructor for two academic courses. Lt Col
Mackey is a Weather Officer with career broadening experiences as a wing Inspector General, a
Combat Aviation Advisor, and as a previous Air University faculty and staff member. Most
recent to his arrival at ACSC, he was the Air Combat Command Deputy Director, Weather
Requirements Division, assigned to an operating location at Offutt AFB, NE. He was
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commissioned in 1994 after receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from the United
States Air Force Academy, and he subsequently earned a Masters Degree in Meteorology from
Texas A&M University in 1996. Lt Col Mackey is an ACSC in-residence graduate, where he
earned a Master of Military Operational Art and Science in 2007.
Dr. Gregory D. Miller is Full Professor of Military and Security Studies at ACSC, where he
teaches core courses on Leadership and International Security, as well as electives on Terrorism,
Science Fiction and Strategy, and Arctic Strategy. Prior to joining ACSC, he was Chair of the
Strategy Department at the Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS), in Norfolk, VA. His
research focuses on a broad range of topics in the areas of international relations, terrorism,
strategy, and more recently space. His articles appear in more than a dozen journals, most
recently in Air & Space Power Journal (2019), Perspectives on Terrorism (2019), Joint Force
Quarterly (2019 and 2020), and Space Policy (forthcoming), he contributed a chapter on the
methods and ethics of teaching about terrorism to the Oxford Handbook of Terrorism (2019),
and he currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Perspectives on Terrorism. He
previously held faculty positions at the College of William & Mary, the University of Oklahoma,
and Oklahoma State University. Dr. Miller received Bachelor’s Degrees in Political Science and
History from the University of California, Los Angeles (1996), a Master’s Degree in Security
Policy Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University
(1998), and a Master’s Degree (2000) and Ph.D. (2004) in Political Science from The Ohio State
University.
Lt Col Thomas Moore is an instructor in the Department of Leader and Research Development
at Air University's Air Command and Staff College and Course Director for the Leadership and
Command Course. He holds an advanced academic degree with Honors from Embry Riddle
Aeronautical University and is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and Air War
College. Prior to his current assignment, Lt Col Moore was the Commander of the 36th
Electronic Warfare Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, where he directed a 172-person
squadron responsible for the operational Electronic Warfare capability of $15B in resources
installed on Combat Air Force aircraft. Lt Col Moore is a Master Navigator with 2,000+ hours in
both fighter and trainer aircraft, including 500+ combat hours during Operations Iraqi Freedom
Enduring Freedom.
Lt Col Jason M. Newcomer, D.B.A. is the Associate Dean of Education for Diversity and
Inclusion efforts at the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL. He leads
diversity, equity, inclusion, and access efforts for the 500-student and 140 faculty/staff resident
college. He is an assistant professor of leadership studies and has numerous publications and
conference presentations in the leadership, management, and aviation fields. He holds a
Doctorate in Business Administration specializing in leadership, a Masters in Military
Operational Art and Science, a Master of Science in Aeronautics, an Associate of Applied
Science in Aircraft Maintenance Systems Technology, and a graduate certificate in Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace.
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Lt Col R. A. Orozco is an Instructor and Deputy Course Director in the Department of Airpower
at the US Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). Along with the Leadership
course, he teaches Airpower I and Airpower II. Prior to this assignment, he served as Political-
Military Affairs Strategist and Director of Operations, 571st Mobility Support Advisory
Squadron at Travis AFB, CA. He is a prior-enlisted KC-135 Boom Operator, an F-15E Weapon
Systems Officer, an Air Ground Operations School instructor, an Undergraduate Combat
Systems Officer Training instructor, and a senior Air Advisor. During his operational
assignments, he deployed in support of Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, as part
of a Theater Security Package detachment to the Korean Peninsula, and numerous security
cooperation engagements within SOUTHCOM. Lt Col Orozco received a Bachelor of Science
degree from the US Air Force Academy. He also holds a Master of Arts in Human Relations
from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Military Operational Art and Science degree
from ACSC in AY18.
Dr. Joseph E. Osborne is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies in the
Department of Space Power at the Air Command and Staff College. He is also a retired Army
Special Forces Colonel who has served in Command and Staff positions at every level. His
culminating assignment was as the J3, Director of Operations, at Special Operations Command
Central (SOCCENT) where he also served as the J5, Director of Plans, Policy and Strategy. He
has a PhD in International Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University and a Master’s
in National Security Affairs from the Naval Post Graduate School. He also has a Bachelor’s in
Criminology from Florida State University where he was a Distinguished Military Graduate. He
was also the Distinguished Officer Graduate from the Special Forces Qualification Course. He
has published a case study on the Rojava Kurds and is currently finalizing both a journal article
and a monograph based on his dissertation; Strategic Consequences: How Executive and
Organizational Decision-Making Impacts the Outcome of Unconventional Warfare. His military
assignments have included operations and deployments throughout Africa, South and Central
America, Asia and the Middle East. He has served as a Company Commander, Battalion S3 and
Deputy Group Commander in the 3d Special Forces Group.
Major Johann “JP” Pambianchi, USSF, is an Air University Fellow, Instructor, and Deputy
Director of the Schriever Space Scholars (SSS) concentration at the United States Air Force’s
Air Command and Staff College (ASCS), Maxwell AFB, AL. Prior to his fellowship, Maj
Pambianchi was the Director of Operations (DO) of the 30th Operations Support Squadron,
Vandenberg AFB, CA performing the space launch mission. Prior to his time as DO he gained
joint and inter-agency experience at the National Space Defense Center, Schriever AFB, CO.
Maj Pambianchi is an experienced Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) operator and Senior
Space Operator of space lift and satellite C2 weapon systems, with Flight Command, Ops Group
Executive, Assistant DO, and Wing Staff experience. He holds a Masters of Military Operational
Arts and Science from Air University as a distinguished graduate, a Master of Aeronautical
Science with a specialization in Space Studies from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with
distinction, and a Bachelor of Science in Space Operations from the United States Air Force
Academy. He also completed the Advanced Leadership Coaching Course from Vanderbilt
University’s Owen Graduate School of Management and the Advanced Digital Education and
Engaged Learning Seminar at Columbia University.
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Major Ben Peacock is an Instructor and the Director of Staff in the Department of Airpower at
the United States Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). Prior to instructing at
ACSC, Maj Peacock was a member of ACSC’s AY20 class. He received his commission from
OTS and after graduating pilot training at Vance AFB, OK, Maj Peacock was assigned to fly the
C-17 while stationed in Charleston, SC followed by an assignment as a MC-12W Pilot and
Mission Commander while stationed at Beale AFB, CA. Most recently, he trained USAF and
international student pilots as a T-1 Instructor Pilot at Columbus AFB, MS. Maj Peacock
graduated with a BA in Communications from Elon University and also received a MAS in
Aviation Aerospace Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is a senior
pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours in the C-17, MC-12, and T-1 aircraft.
Dr. Allen G. Peck, Lt Gen, (USAF, retired), is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security
Studies at the Air Command & Staff College’s Department of Airpower. Prior to joining the
ACSC faculty, Dr. Peck served as director of the Air Force Research Institute. During his 36
years on active duty, Dr. Peck commanded an air operations group in Germany, an air
expeditionary wing in Saudi Arabia, the Air and Space Expeditionary Force Center at Langley
AFB, the LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education, and the Air University at
Maxwell AFB. He was a key planner for NATO’s Kosovo operation and later served as Deputy
Combined Force Air Component Commander at Al Udeid Airbase, Qatar. As an aviator Dr. Peck
was qualified as aircraft commander and instructor in the air-to-air and air-to-ground variants of
the F-15. He holds a BS in Mathematics from the US Air Force Academy, an MS in Operations
Research from the Air Force Institute of Technology, an MA in International Relations from
Salve Regina College, and a Ph.D. in Aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Dr. Jim Powell teaches Schriever Space Scholars as Assistant Professor of Military and Security
Studies in the Air Command and Staff College’s Department of Spacepower. A retired U.S.
Army colonel and strategic planner, he has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and has served in
the Pentagon as speechwriter for the U.S. Army chief of staff and as military advisor to the
director of net assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. His previous teaching
experience includes postings at the U.S. Army War College, the School of Advanced Military
Studies, as well as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Powell holds a Ph.D. in history
from Texas A&M University. He has published Learning under Fire: The 112th Cavalry
Regiment in World War II and served as a principal author of the U.S. Army’s two-volume study
on the Iraq War.
Lt Col Steven Quillman is an instructor and Deputy Director of Electives for the Department of
Leadership and Research at Air University’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC), since
2012. He has instructed Airpower Studies, Airpower I, Airpower II, Joint Airpower, Joint
Warfighting, and Leadership in Warfare. Lt Col Quillman also co-teaches a course on irregular
warfare from 1830 to the present. Lt Col Quillman graduated from Louisiana Tech University
with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He holds a Master’s of Business
Administration from Touro University International. Lt Col Quillman has published multiple
entries in Conflict in the Modern Middle East (ABC-CLIO, 2020), The Encyclopedia of Cyber
Warfare (ABC-CLIO, 2017) and Russia at War (ABC-CLIO, 2015). Lt Col Quillman’s previous
experiences include propulsion engineer with the C-17, C-130J, and F-22A, weapons integration
43
engineer with the F-16, Education with Industry tour with National Institute of Aerospace,
aircraft battle damage assessor for Joint Combat Assessment Team (2007–OIF), and as a
program manager with AOC System Program Office.
Lt Col James Slear is an assistant professor in the Department of Leader and Research
Development at Air University's Air Command and Staff College. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree
in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech, a Master’s in Computer Engineering from the Air
Force Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Auburn University.
Prior to his current assignment, Lt Col Slear was the Dean of Squadron Office School where he
oversaw curriculum and faculty development for 3900 students and 70 instructors. As a
developmental engineer, he had lab tours in Avionics and Space Surveillance and served as a
flight commander in a cyber tactics development squadron. Prior to earning his commission
through the Airmen’s Education and Commissioning program, he served as an enlisted weather
observer and forecaster with tours in Military Airlift Command, Eighth US Army, and
Headquarters Air Force Global Weather Center.
Chaplain, Lt Col Richard “Rick” Steen is an instructor in the Department of Leader and
Research Development at Air University’s Air Command and Staff College. He holds a
Bachelor’s Degree in History from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC (1998), a Master of
Divinity from The Master’s University and Seminary in Sun Valley, CA (2003), and a Master of
Military Operational Art and Science from Air University (2019). Prior to ACSC, Lt Col Steen
served 14 years as a staff chaplain and Wing Chaplain at the 134th Air Refueling Wing, an Air
National Guard Wing in Knoxville, Tennessee. Additionally, Lt Col Steen has served as Deputy
Wing Chaplain, and a Clinical Pastoral Resident at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Major Jason E. Steinlicht is an Instructor at the United States Air Force’s Air Command and
Staff College (ACSC). He teaches Leadership, Airpower I, and Airpower II courses and is the
Deputy Department Chair for Airpower. Maj Steinlicht graduated from the ACSC In-Residence
program in June 2019. Prior to ACSC, Maj Steinlicht was a C-130J Instructor Pilot and Assistant
Director of Operations at Dyess Air Force Base, in Abilene TX. Prior to Dyess, Major Steinlicht
was an Evaluator Navigator on the KC-135 Stratotanker. During his time at Dyess and
McConnell, he instructed and commanded missions in support of Operations Enduring Freedom,
Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Odyssey Dawn, and Freedom Sentinel logging over 650 combat
hours. His most recent deployment in 2018, he served as the Director of Operations for the 75th
Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti. Maj Steinlicht received Magnum
Cum Laude honors and was a 2nd Team ESPN National Academic Award Winner from the
University of Dubuque in Iowa. Maj Steinlicht is a Distinguished Graduate from Joint
Undergraduate Pilot Training, C-130J Initial Pilot Qualification, and Squadron Officer School.
He graduated with a BS in Flight Operations from the University of Dubuque and he also
received a MS in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as well as a
MS in Military Operational Art and Science from Air University.
44
Kenneth “Tot” Tatum, Jr., (USAF, retired), serves as the Director of the Air University
Leadership Institute, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, AL. The mission of the Institute is to
develop and deliver a continuum of leadership education across the Air Force. He also serves as
the Director of the Air University Quality Enhancement Plan, an AU-wide effort focused on
ethics and leadership. A command pilot with more than 3,900 hours, Mr. Tatum flew the F-
117A, B-1B and A/T-38A/B/C. He commanded the 9th Fighter Squadron, was the vice
commander of the 7th Bomb Wing, the vice commandant of the Air War College, and the
Commander of the Ira C. Eaker Center for Professional Development. He also served on the U.S.
Central Command and Office of the Secretary of Defense staffs. Mr. Tatum is a 1989
distinguished graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Samford University,
and is a graduate of the USAF Air Command and Staff College, the USAF School of Advanced
Air and Space Studies, and the U.S. Army War College. His military awards include the Defense
Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (OLC), Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor, Bronze
Star Medal, and Air Medal.
Lt Col Aaron “Camel” Tillman is an instructor of Joint Warfighting at Air Command and Staff
College (ACSC) at Maxwell AFB. He serves as an instructor for two academic courses. Lt Col
Tillman is a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy where he received a Bachelor of
Science in Electrical Engineering. Lt Col Tillman is a 2014 Distinguished Graduate of ACSC
with a Master of Military Operational Art and Science. He holds a Master of Aerospace Science
from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, where he graduated with Honors. Prior to his
current assignment, Lt Col Tillman commanded the 37 Flying Training Squadron at Columbus
AFB, Mississippi, where he led 80 personnel to create 1,190 Air Force military aviators from
Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training for the U.S. and 30 allied countries. He is a Command
Pilot with more than 3,300 hours in the B-52, T-6, and T-37, including 300 combat hours. Lt
Col Tillman served on staff in Air Force Global Strike Command’s Strategic Plans, Programs,
and Requirements Directorate and deployed in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM
and Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.
45

Advanced Topics in Leader Development: Personality, Ethics, and Organizations

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Advanced Topics in Leader Development: Personality, Ethics, and Organizations

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ADVANCED TOPICS IN LEADER

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

Daniel A. Connelly, Ph.D.

James Forsyth, Ph.D.

Leadership comprises the mental habits to maximize performance in constantly changing

LEADER DEVELOPMENT COURSE MAP

JOINT LEARNING AREAS AND OBJECTIVES (JPME-1)

Joint Learning Area 1 – Strategic Thinking and Communication:

Joint Learning Area 2 – Profession of Arms:

SAE 1: The Return of Great Power Competition: LD-508/512/513/514/517/518/522/526/528

3. SEMINAR PARTICIPATION/CONTRIBUTION. Student participation in seminar

LD-600 (E): LEADERSHIP REFLECTION: PERSONALITY AND PURPOSE

LD-601 (E): CASE STUDY: ETHICAL REASONING PAPER

LD-602 (E): PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY WITH REFLECTIVE

Please refer questions to Dr. Dan Connelly, Course Director (daniel.connelly.2@au.af.edu) or

THE PERSONAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP

DAY 1 – PURPOSE AND PROFESSION

DATE: 10 August 2021

LD-502 (S): Leading in the Profession of Arms

DATE: 13 August 2021

LD-503 (L): Bringing Personality to Practice in Military Leadership. Lt Col Jason

LD-504 (S): Leadership Personas and Typological Diversity

DATE: 17 August 2021

LD-505 (L): Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Practice in Military Leadership. Lt Col

LD-506 (S): Emotional Intelligence

THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP

DAY 4 – ETHICS AND ETHICAL REASONING

DATE: 20 August 2021

LD-508 (S): Ethics and Leadership

3. Department of Leader and Research Development (ACSC), “Systems of Ethical

DATE: 24 August 2021

LD-510 (S): Cultivating Character and Moral Virtue

DATE: 27 August 2021

DATE: 31 August 2021

3. CASE 4: David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 160-181. Context: The

THE ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION OF

DATE: 7 September 2021

DATE: 10 September 2021

LD-518 (S): Organizations and Overcoming Bias

DATE: 14 September 2021

LD-520 (S): Building Trust

THE CHALLENGE DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP

DAY 11 – CHANGE AND CREATIVITY

DATE: 21 September 2021

DATE: 24 September 2021

LD-524 (S): Connection and Influence

DATE: 28 September 2021

LD 526 (S): Developing Leaders and Mission Command

DATE: 1 October 2021

LD-528 (S): Crisis and Leadership

DATE: 5 October 2021

There will not be a lecture on this day.

LD-529 (S): Studies in Leadership Style and Philosophies.

2. [Optional Reading] Maureen LeBoeuf, “Developing a Leadership Philosophy,” Military

2. 6 Oct: Submit the third assignment - LD-602 (E): PERSONAL LEADERSHIP

Deputy Course Director:

Maj Ivonne Charbonneau is an instructor in the Department of Leader and Research

Dr. Michael L. Grumelli, (USAF, retired), is an Associate Professor in the

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