Power of Moments

Thank you for that awesome “Air Force Into”

But let’s do this again…

• The intro I wanted … lights, smoke machine, All I do Is Win ….
• Because it’s all about moments

TRANSITION: And maybe letting you see a glimpse of who I am will help drive home that the status quo is the opposite of my intent today.

Speaking of intent, here’s what I have in store for you

• Why I’m Here
• It’s More than Fixing Problems
• The Power of Moments
• Thinking in Moments
• E.P.I.C
• EPIC Examples
• What If

• I am here because I do not fit the standard “Colonel” model!
• Mustache joke
• High and Tight

I believe none of you would want to hear from me if I was just going to give you a standard China China China brief!

I’m here because I’m extremely ORANGE & BLUE!

Who knows what that means?

• Who has been through the 4-lenses?
• I’m here to tell you that it’s OK to be Orange & Blue!

Doesn’t matter! If you have no idea what I’m talking about you'll eventually take the test and see my point.

EVERYONE can perform in EVERY color, when needed, but we all have our comfort colors!

Most leaders in the military are most comfortable as GREEN and GOLDS!

Think about it….Loyalty, rules, authority, organization, focused, efficient, analytical.

But that’s not me at all! I’m Emotionally driven, enthusiastic, creative, sympathetic….adventurous, and impulsive!

• Does that mean I can’t operate in the Gold and green fields?
• Of course not! As an Operations Group commander I respect authority, organization, logic, and efficiency! I push for it, I NEED it, I value it!

But I AM HERE because I can teach you to BLUE and ORANGE a few things, despite the fact that military service will always push you to GOLD and GREEN.

TRANSITION:  EMBRACE that blue and Orange if you want a connection with Airmen…if you want them to have PRIDE in your Squadron…if you want them to LIKE their jobs….you have to create PEAK MOMENTS for them! But the problem is….

When you are driving down the road and don’t hit potholes-- are you overwhelmed with joy? 

Of course not! Driving on a road with no potholes WHELMS people…it never ever OVERwhelms them, and it never UNDERwhelms them. It just IS!

• Do you want your leadership style to be “Just….WHELMING?”
• How do you go beyond WHELMING people?

• It what’s you remember
• It’s a feeling that stays with you
• It’s the stories you still tell to your family years after the event

TRANSITION: Because life is remembered in moments AND


** Brenda please remove the orange bar

• HS Graduation
• 18th Birthday
• 21st Birthday
• First Kiss…first love

These are pre-loaded moments…they are built into our lives, built into law, built into our culture, and built into our hearts

You could always do things to make these events a little more special, but we don’t need help creating these moments. They are already created for us.

But how do you CREATE moments for your Airmen out of nothing at all?

• How do you take the ordinary and make it extraordinary?
• How do you take “a thing” that happens and turn it into a memory they will remember forever?

How do you reach into an Airman’s heart on a random Wednesday and touch it?


TRANSITION: The way you do that is by creating DEFINING MOMENTS which tend to share four “EPIC” elements

EPIC – I didn’t title this briefing because I’m some random cocky dude who thinks my leadership style is epic. It’s a way to remember the four elements that can help you create powerful moments for your people.

Elevation

Pride

Insight

Connection

With nothing to stand out, with nothing to define our daily grind, we fall flat.

A word to the wise – everyone around you will try to put you in a box, they’ll set expectations of what’s reasonable, what you should and should not do, but...

Resist the soul-sucking force of reasonableness!

ELEVATION:

You can bring a cupcake to work, but a candle, or better yet, a 100 candles on that cupcake …that added touch…the singing of happy birthday– they ELEVATE the moment.  Sugar, Fat & Flame all in one little package!

Moments of Elevation make us feel engaged, joyful, surprised, & motivated

They Rise Above the Everyday

Boost Sensory Appeal

Provide an Element of Surprise

Transcend the Normal Course of events

One of the best ways to create moments of Elevation is to BREAK THE SCRIPT!

During Christmas, do you think my office had 1 Christmas tree?  NO!!!!  We HAD 8 CHRISTMAS TREEES, and you had to walk through the Gooey Gooey Gumdrop Forest to get to my office!

PRIDE:

These moments catch us at our best!

These are moments that capture our achievement, and courage

There’s nothing more powerful than instilling pride in someone… watching pride become something tangible… like those Airmen I saw on the parade field yesterday.

Opportunities for powerful moments exist

But you have to look for them!

INSIGHT:

These are sudden moments of realization

Crystallization moments

The “AHA Moments” when you see someone finally get it

How do you help turn that light on for your Airmen?

This is where we connect our Airmen to the mission

This is where we give then a greater sense of purpose

CONNECTION:

We are social creatures and we say the military is an extended family, but are we practicing that?

Are we creating moments that capitalize on that connection?

What makes flying in the Air Force different from flying for Delta or United…it’s our connection.

Social Moments

Moments we SHARE with others

Moments that bond us

TRANSITION: All four elements are opportunities….Now let’s talk about BMT

BMT Graduation is one example that incorporates the four elements of a defining moment-- a PEAK moment

ELEVATION: That moment on the parade field, all those Airmen in formation, their guidons, their families in the stands, the Air Force Band playing

PRIDE: Receiving that Airmen’s Coin, being presented with that memento of YOU MADE IT, job well done, you’ve earned your place

INSIGHT: That keynote speaker, imparting words of wisdom, connecting those Airmen to the fact they are embarking on a journey many don’t travel

*CONNECTION: Being connected to the Airmen they just spent the toughest 8 weeks of their life with and then the connection of the families and loved ones who join them on that parade field


But we can’t rely on grand events like BMT graduation…it’s a once in a career event! Our goal is to CREATE defining PEAK Moments for your Airmen in our everyday lives.

ABSOLUTELY!  If….YOU…don’t do something about it!

Think of your last assignment, did you have a peak moment? You may not have even had a single one.  And that’s the problem...

If you did, share it, replicate it, or even better ELEVATE it.

By looking at transitions and milestones

These are prime opportunities to create moments that we often miss

Let me share some moments with you. Prepare yourself…they may not be reasonable.

Once you learn to see the world in MOMENTS, you will never be the same!

You will forever be ruined in the everyday transactions of your Air Force Life

You will FOREVER see the ordinary events of your worldview differently.

You will FOREVER see all of the missed opportunities everywhere to “CREATE a moment”.

WARNING! This might very well ruin your ability to be happy with the status quo…and there is a LOT of status quo in the Air Force.

Let me tell you about the welcome experience from one of the units I was in

• Before you even arrived at the unit you received an animated video. In that video we let you know how many awards we won and for what, we spoke about the mission and priorities, we let you know that you were family and that your family was important, we let you know about the area and what things you could do for fun, we let you know what to expect, and generating excitement before you even walked through the door.
• The delivery was non-standard and therefore to many it was MEMORABLE

Once you arrived at the unit you received a personalized folder that said “We’ve been waiting for you” You were greeted by our Transition team, you were given a tour. If you had a spouse they also came to the briefing and we gave a tour so you could see your new mission in action and then we also linked up the spouse in person with my spouse and their key spouse. We also showed and let them know that families were welcome to also tour and to spend time at the unit every family. We built connections, we elevated the ordinary , we instilled pride with letting them know the units accomplishments and gave them insight into what to expect for the tour.

• This is creating defining moments. This is what you need to think about in the everyday and what many times is the mundane.
• This set the tone for the entire assignment!

So you have this awesome welcome… now you can just kick back and enjoy the fruit of your awesomeness, right?

NO you can’t!

How do you continue? How do you get after a persistence of peak moments?

• Let me give you two.
• Letters to parents story
• Civilian stickers story

Think about what you can do in your unit.

Now these things were easier for me to accomplish because I was the commander, but what about when your boss tasks you with something 

You have a voice– Use it! Let me tell you about Ballistic Badger

Crisis Look to Ballistic Badger

Patches at warrior fest

Warrior Yell

Generated excitement, Airmen talking about it

Readiness was the purpose and we had Airman asking to go

All it took was to not be content with the status quo, embrace my blue and orange and deliberately create those moments.

• Creating a culture
• Went TDY
• Had no idea my team was going to do this
• I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to.

We have to BREAK THE SCRIPT!

We have to make the unreasonable, reasonable. We have write the story they’ll tell their families.

What if you learned to think in moments?

What if you became the author of Powerful Moments for your Airmen?

So have the Commander’s Call in a bowling alley.

Have confetti at the Commander’s Call.

Make your next meeting a Dodge Ball Tournament

Wear the white gloves when you give out those quarterly awards.

Make it fun. Make it WEIRD. Make it Powerful. Make it Count.***PLAY KELLY CLARKSON & Pop Confetti!

End