Here is a great article written by an O-6 on the short list for promotion to general officer, but who has decided to turn it down. He explains the politics behind the current general officer promotion system, which provides a huge amount of insight into why we sometimes have terrible commanders. Here are some of the main points I took away from the article, more for my reference than for yours.
An Air Force officer begins to be evaluated for their potential to one day promote to general officer at the rank of captain (O-3). The results of these evaluations are all but cemented by the time those captains promote to major (O-4).
Senior officers informally refer to early-promoted officers as “high-potential officers” because they have the potential to compete for general officer.
In every echelon of command, there is an “heir,” a “spare,” and the rest “should be happy to be there.” The heir is the high-potential officer in the most prestigious command position. The spare is typically a high-performing officer as well, but one who lacks general officer sponsorship or has a weaker record.
My Personal Perspective
In my short two years of commissioned service, I have seen some of this stuff already. There was a group of three Lieutenants who were about six months ahead of me in the pipeline at my unit. A slot opened up in a leadership position, and all three were considered for the position. Two of them would have been great for the position, but the third guy was pretty bad at his job. He made a lot of small mistakes and everyone hated working with him on the system because they were always cleaning up his messes. For whatever reason, he had found favor in the eyes of our Captain and he was selected for the position. After that, he was fast tracked to the next position.
I often ask myself how in the world that happened. We were all very vocal about our concerns, but I think we voiced our concerns after the decision had already been made. In order for the decision to be reversed, the Captain would have had to admit that he made a mistake. This is one of my tangible examples of having courage as an Airman. Courage is having the self-confidence to recognize when you made a mistake and take actions to reverse it, even when your reputation as a leader is at stake.
The second reason I think this happens is because nobody wants to derail the train on the fast track. This person was on the fast track because, in this case, the Captain sponsored him. It would have been fairly easy for that Captain to reverse his decision. When the next Captain inherits this “high potential officer,” it is more difficult for him to say, “That high potential officer isn’t ready for the next step.” That second Captain would be subverting the system and announcing to the world that the fast track for that individual was a mistake. In reality, if a person isn’t ready for the next step, the person isn’t ready.
Building Your Foundation
My third point is more about the person than the promotion. The reason he was a terrible leader is because he didn’t have a solid foundation. Prior enlisted officers have a foundation of their prior experience to lean on… the larger that foundation, the more the officer has to work with. Non-prior enlisted officers with professional experience in the private sector have a similar but different foundation to work with. Brand new accessions straight out of high-school/college have a much smaller foundation of experience… their only foundation is what they obtain as an officer. This person is from the latter group of officers. Instead of spending time becoming a technical expert in the system, his time on console was rushed. He didn’t have time to build his foundation as an officer so he was already in over his head after his first promotion.
I am NOT trying to say that prior enlisted officers are the only ones who can succeed. What I’m trying to point out is that you need to know where you need to grow as an officer and ensure you stay there before you get in over your head. It is easy to think every promotion or every next position is a good thing for you, but maybe you need more time where you are at. Ask yourself, are you ready to move on? This introduces the entirely new topic of turning down opportunities as an officer. In some cases there are huge implications to doing so, but I will save those for another post.
As Lieutenants, our sole purpose in life is to build our foundation. It doesn’t matter what our lives looked like prior to our commissioned, being a Lieutenant is our only opportunity to build and finalize this foundation. Once we make Captain, similar to how the author of this article describes, things move fast. If we aren’t ready for whatever path we are on as a Captain and Major, there is really no turning back.
The Article
This article basically taught me that what I have experienced at the CGO level is a smaller version of what happens at the General Officer level. People are often placed on the fast track who are not ready, so they are pulled upward until they are in over their heads. THIS is how you hear those stories about this or that O-6 who was removed from command because their boss lost confidence in their ability to lead.
Here is the link to the article.
A Call for Senior Officer Reform in the Air Force: An Insider’s Perspective
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