Leader Identity Narrative

Jacob M. McCombie
Arizona State University
OGL 482: Organizational Leadership Professional Seminar II
Professor Andi Hess
June 6, 2022
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Throughout my life, I have been heavily involved in sports. The camaraderie, the

storylines, and the passion shown by fans and players alike have all enamored me since I was

little. So, it's no surprise that some of the most fundamental lessons that I have learned about

myself, and good leadership came from my coaches. Sports also allowed me the opportunity to

develop leadership qualities and test myself in an environment that in some respects mimics my

professional environment today. As an air traffic controller, and more importantly as an NCO

(Non-Commissioned Officer) in the Air Force I've found that the team dynamics present in many

sports teams are similar to that of the military environment.

My very first lesson in leadership came from my 5th-grade band instructor. Like most

aspects of life, the lesson to be learned was complex. He was an individual who was incredibly

passionate about his job, and not just about teaching music. He spent many lessons teaching us

critical thinking skills and presented information in a way that far surpassed that of many of the

teachers that I had up to that point and even beyond into middle and high school. He was my

band instructor for 3 years and I grew, not just as a clarinet player, but as a person while I was

his student.

Uncontrolled passion can be destructive, and he was also unfortunately destructive. I can

remember many times when he would become frustrated at a lack of progress on a piece and

would throw chairs across the room into the metal lockers at the back. He damaged percussion

instruments on more than one occasion and would also yell at individual students about their

performance. Many times, I saw my peers brought to tears by him, he was certainly not a perfect

person. Even with all of that taken into account, I’m still grateful to him for the lesson that he

taught me. He showed me one aspect of leadership that I wanted to emulate, and another that I

hoped I would never embody.

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In the eighth grade, right as my band instructor was leaving the school for a new

opportunity, I met the next major influence on my leadership style. My football coach that year

was a middle-aged man who was nearing the end of his career as a prison guard. He had a level

of confidence that was apparent in how he carried himself, without coming off as arrogant. He

demanded effort above all else. Of course, he wanted us to produce, but there was nothing more

heinous to him than to quit on a drill. The team should be placed above all else, to quit on a drill

was to quit on the team, and that was unacceptable.

As you might expect, he had a rigid sense of morals and beliefs about our responsibilities

as members of the community. When a teammate of mine was caught graffitiing a local business

while wearing a team hoodie the information got back to my coach. He had us go as a team and

scrub that building clean, and then we all ran wind sprints until he felt we’d made up for it. I

mention that not because I agree with group punishments, but because I respected the strong

moral sense that he demonstrated. We were going to fix “our” mistake, and then we were going

to get stronger together.

When I looked at him, I saw someone who could walk the walk, and I respected that. I

wanted to be that person who others would look to when they needed help or guidance. He

instilled in me the idea that work ethic was of the utmost importance. I knew that it was crucial

that others believe you are capable of performing. It wasn't enough to just be in the middle of the

pack, if you wanted to be a leader then you needed to work harder and be better. Crucially, you

must do it every time. Failure will happen but quitting never should.

At this point, I wanted to be a leader from the front. I wanted to be the best that I could be

in whatever endeavor that I pursued, and I wanted my teammates to join me. I am not, nor was I
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a vocal leader, I needed for people to follow me because they saw that what I was doing was the

right thing.

In the 9th grade I signed up for basketball tryouts, I had played in the 7th and 8th grades but

had never had to compete for a roster spot before. I suppose that's a benefit of going to a small

school. I didn't find out until much later, but my coach later recounted to a local newspaper that

he only gave me the last roster spot because I worked harder than the other players. He never

said as much to me directly, but that sentiment was apparent in how he approached coaching.

That coach followed my class from junior varsity ball through varsity and so I spent four

years learning from him and being molded by his leadership style. Like the previous coach that I

mentioned, success was important to him, but the effort was paramount. We would shoot free

throws at the end of practice and if we made less than 80% we would run timed suicides. If you

missed the time for the run, you would continue running until you made time and then go back to

the free-throw line. As you can imagine, there is a limit to how much anyone can realistically

run, and you’ll shoot worse as you get more tired. He would run us to the brink of exhaustion

and let us go even if we didn’t shoot 80% but you could expect a conversation on the side if he

saw you not giving full effort.

In that same year of high school, I was elected to the student council and had my first

experience in a real leadership role. Organizing fundraisers, partnering with other student

organizations, establishing, and monitoring the progress of committees were all new

responsibilities for me. I took the lead on setting up a blood drive and seeing first-hand how

much work goes into coordinating with multiple stakeholders, organizing volunteers, and

sourcing equipment were eye-opening to me.

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The work that I did on the student council was the first experience that I had in dealing

with project management and was much different than the types of lessons that I learned in a

classroom and athletics context. I had to that point primarily learned that I needed to be a leader

out in front. I had learned to hone my skills and give maximum effort, to be ethical, and be

measured in responding to failure. The student council experience taught me that while those

lessons were applicable, I also needed to learn how to seek out and incorporate feedback into my

leadership style. Importantly, it taught me that feedback would come from multiple angles, and

consideration needed to be given to those that were following you.

I worked on becoming the best leader that I could be in the student council position, and I

held office for three years total in various positions. In my senior year, I was selected to be the

captain of the football team, basketball team, and golf team. My peers had chosen me because I

was more often than not, the best player on the team, and had good knowledge of the game. My

selection for these positions wasn’t a turning point per se, but rather served as a reinforcement of

the lessons that I had learned previously. It was a reaffirmation that I had been doing the right

things, and that my peers had noticed, and they wanted me to be in that spot.

Some of the core lessons that I learned in leadership came from my time in school. My

Air Force career has allowed me to see great leaders and absent leaders, and while the lessons

learned may not be more substantive than those I learned in school, they certainly had more

impact.

My first supervisor in the Air Force was a Technical Sergeant who was two years from

retirement. He was significantly overweight, held no facility position qualifications, and quite

often would disappear without explanation. At the time Technical Sergeant was the lowest rank

that one could retire at and generally indicated that that individual did the bare minimum
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required to collect a government pension. For context, I sewed on Technical Sergeant at 7 ½

years in service. My first supervisor had been in service for a decade longer and held the same

rank.

The first lesson that my supervisor taught me was how to advocate for my subordinates.

When I was an Airman First Class I had the opportunity to meet a board for early promotion

consideration. My Chief Controller at the time was willing to submit my package for

consideration if I met a training requirement. I exceeded the training requirement and went to

work, taking classes and CLEPs, and volunteered on and off-base to bolster my package. When

the time came to submit this package, I went to my supervisor and he told me that he simply

hadn’t written it. It wasn’t that he didn’t think I was a good candidate, he just didn’t do it for no

reason in particular.

I learned through that experience that there are people in leadership positions that don't

take their position seriously. The impact that their actions can have on another person is either

not apparent to them or are not important. I learned that I needed to be more actively involved in

recognition for my people. I now make a concerted effort to track important achievements for

myself and my subordinates so that those that have earned it are recognized.

The second lesson he taught me was the importance of remaining technically competent.

As mentioned before, he held no position certifications and so was useless as an air traffic

controller. He spent his last two years before retirement sorting unimportant paperwork. As a

result, the other NCOs did not go to him for advice, as you might expect an 18-year veteran to

typically be utilized. The Airmen didn’t respect him and would only follow orders because they

were legally obligated to. He held no real authority despite being the third highest-ranking

member in the facility. He reinforced the idea in me that one must lead from the front.
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Several years later I sewed on Staff Sergeant and began my training to become a

supervisor in a managerial sense and began my training to become a Watch Supervisor. A Watch

Supervisor is the NCO in charge of the facility. Ultimately all air traffic operations conducted,

the facility, and all personnel assigned are the responsibility of the Watch Supervisor. It’s a

massive career step and completely changes the perception that many people have of you.

This was the time in my career when I was coming into my own as a controller, I had

deployed, and attained every position qualification that my facility had to offer. I had continued

to try and embody the leadership traits that I've written about to this point. I tried to lead from the

front, to train those subordinate to me, to be the best that I could be, and now I had a chance to

work on those lessons I learned from my first supervisor.

When I was fresh out of Airmen Leadership School I was assigned four Airmen to

supervise. Three of them were great controllers and good Airmen, and I spent little time

worrying about their performance. The last Airman struggled from the very first day they were

assigned to our facility. Their issues ranged from performing poorly in training, not meeting

physical fitness standards, all the way to not maintaining hygienic standards. I employed the

lessons that I learned from my football coach, namely that I wasn't quitting on this Airman, and

that we would fail or succeed together.

To that end, I had him work out with me five days a week, I ran extra simulations on him

when I had time, and I had to teach him how to do laundry. I continued to try and lead him in the

right direction, all the while documenting his continued failures. After only a little over a year in

the Air Force, he was administratively separated for failing to adapt to military life. This could

be seen as a negative, that my effort wasn't enough. I choose to look at it as I stuck to my style,
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and I gave him every opportunity to meet standards, and it simply isn’t possible for everyone to

perform to the same standard.

As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve been given opportunities to occupy leadership roles

that traditionally wouldn’t be given to people of my rank. I am currently the Assistant Chief

Controller, a position that is billeted for a Master Sergeant. This has given me the chance to see

how operations occur at a higher level while still operating at the tactical level. It's a unique

position because while I am expected to be more hands-off in an operational sense, I still have to

remain technically proficient while learning a new skill set.

My leadership style has had to be tailored to whatever I am currently working on as a

result of this position. In my position as Assistant Chief Controller, I can't lead from the front. I

instead have to take that mentality and apply it in different ways. I don't de-conflict operations in

real-time now, I look at policy and try to poke holes in it so that we don't run into issues. I'm still

working on the behalf of my Airmen, but it isn’t nearly as transparent. I’ve needed to become

more vocal about what we’re doing in the office so that they understand exactly how we can help

them achieve.

At this point, I’m still worried about remaining technically proficient as a controller, but

now I’m also working on getting into regulations and compliance. This position and what it

requires of me from a leadership aspect are very different from my past experiences. Leading

from the front is still important to me, but I can't always do it. My moral compass remains the

same as ever, and how important the team is to me has not changed. I'm still interested in getting

and effectively using feedback. What is different for me now is that I have to find a way to coach

my supervisors to lead their Airmen. I’m still finding my way through that process.
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Attachment 1.
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