Team Andersen conducts leadership seminar

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Carissa Wolff
  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam --  Leading, supporting, and collaborating with people is one of the greatest challenges any leader faces on their leadership journey.  Equally, leading, supporting, and collaborating with people can also be the most rewarding endeavor for any leader who is proficient with core leadership principles.

More than 50 Team Andersen members attended the 2008 Maximum Impact leadership seminar Sept. 30 aimed at further developing leaders of excellence and integrity.

The base offers the leadership seminar twice every calendar year. The seven-hour leadership series by Dr. John Maxwell complements traditional Professional Military Education while presenting current trends in leadership theory.  

"The Maximum Impact series brings useful insight from outside the Air Force that if implemented could very well change our day-to-day view of our jobs and co-workers," said Senior Airman Brian Quay, 644th Combat Communications Squadron. "We are very important and can make a difference." 

In this annual series 10 experts in the field of leadership offer their viewpoints on the concepts of leadership, but the message is always staying on top of one's leadership abilities.

The leadership seminar fosters self-improvement among Air Force members and civilians alike.

"It's a personal inventory of whom and where you are," said Master Sgt. Isaura Walker, career assistance advisor.  "It gives you the tools to be a better airman, non-commissioned officer, senior non-commissioned officer, officer or civilian."

This series is the largest leadership event in the world, annually drawing an audience of approximately 80,000 viewers from hundreds of satellite downlink locations across the nation and internationally.

"This seminar helped me realize that you can't change the people around you," Airman Quay said. "The only one that can change is you and that might sound too easy and it really is. When you do change it's powerful. It starts small maybe with a smile when you're talking to your co-workers or being more positive about work. But by doing this, you will lead in a way that will have an impact further than your work center, but in your co-workers' lives."

In the Air Force, leadership is paramount to a successful career.

"I learned that there is always room to grow and improve in our leadership skills personally as well as professionally," said Sergeant Walker. "Leadership is not stagnant. It is always growing and constantly changing. This seminar taught our members to advance at work, advance in life and advance personally."

The Maximum Impact simulcast leadership seminar will be held on Andersen Air Force Base again in early November.

"We are all leaders whether we realize it or not," Airman Quay said. "From an airman basic to a general, we are given tasks daily that give us the opportunity to lead and excel. How will you choose to lead?"