{"id":25454,"date":"2023-05-01T14:29:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T14:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=25454"},"modified":"2023-05-01T14:37:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T14:37:08","slug":"u-s-air-force-chief-of-staff-gen-cq-brown-jr-encourages-auburn-students-to-drive-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/alabama\/u-s-air-force-chief-of-staff-gen-cq-brown-jr-encourages-auburn-students-to-drive-change\/%20","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr. Encourages Auburn Students to Drive Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, visited Auburn University\u2019s School of Aviation<\/a> on April 20 to inspire the next generation of change-makers in aviation by advising them on sound leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As chief of staff, Brown leads the organization and training\nof more than half a million active-duty Airmen at home and abroad. He advises\nthe Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council and president on\nmilitary matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown shared several keys of good leadership with students,\nincluding relationship-building, delegation and driving change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can believe it, we can achieve it,\u201d Brown said.\n\u201cThat\u2019s the job that I have as the chief, to set the path, the pattern for the\nAir Force to move us forward, and for all those who are going to come into our\nAir Force well after I\u2019m gone, to make sure we\u2019re on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to becoming the Air Force chief of staff, Brown\ncommanded the Pacific Air Forces, the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, a fighter\nsquadron, two fighter wings and U.S. Air Forces Central Command. His command\npilot experience includes more than 3,000 flying hours, including 130 combat\nhours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown warned students that change is hard, and that\nleadership comes with adversity. He advised them to be able to lead themselves\nbefore they lead others, protect their credibility, know the power of their\nwords and enact change before it is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you wait to change and you have a crisis, you\u2019re too\nlate,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAs the chief of staff for the Air Force, what I\u2019ve been\nfocused on is driving change. What I tell our Airmen: If you feel comfortable\nwhile we\u2019re driving change, we\u2019re not changing. You\u2019ve got to get comfortable\nbeing uncomfortable, because I\u2019d rather be uncomfortable today than lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his outstanding service across nearly four decades,\nBrown has earned medals and decorations in distinguished service, national\ndefense service, global war on terrorism service, aerial achievement, combat\nreadiness, Korea defense, nuclear deterrence operations and more from U.S. and\ninternational organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a Texas Tech University scholarship student to the most\nsenior uniformed member of the U.S. Air Force, Brown\u2019s biggest inspiration is\nthe Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black Airmen to serve and fly in the U.S.\nmilitary during World War II who helped lead the desegregation of the U.S.\nArmed Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown said it\u2019s important to share stories of inspiration across\ngenerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery single one of us has something that inspires us or\nwhy we do what we do,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI really believe young people are inspired\nto be what they see. If we don\u2019t ever have a chance to share those stories and\ntalk about what inspires us \u201c\u2026 that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown addressed School of Aviation students and university\nleadership, Auburn Mayor Ron Anders Jr. and representatives from the Auburn\nAviation Industry Advisory Board. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald L. Burgess, executive\nvice president of Auburn University and former director of the U.S. Defense\nIntelligence Agency, introduced Brown to a full house in the Foy Hall\nauditorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou ought to listen to what he says, because this is the\nmeasure of a senior leader in my mind,\u201d Burgess said. \u201cThat is the ability to\nbe candid in your introspection of yourself and the organization to which you\nbelong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aspiring pilots and aviation managers from Auburn\nUniversity, Alabama State University, Tuskegee University and Troy University\nattended the event, along with student veterans from across a variety of\nmajors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selah Fields, a professional flight senior and director of\nthe Striped Wings aviation ambassadors, said hearing from such a high-caliber\naviator and seeing his shared passion for aviation will improve leadership\nskills across the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all have a passion for flying, and that\u2019s represented by\nGen. Brown, so having someone with that authority, that experience and that\nwisdom come and speak to us really means a lot to me and all the students at\nthe School of Aviation,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI think as pilots, we all have\nleadership that is instilled within us, and so going forward, the leadership\nthat he\u2019s displayed and talked about today is something I will definitely take\nwith me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The School of Aviation in the College of Liberal Arts offers\nprograms in aviation management and professional flight. Each program focuses\non business acumen, leadership, global awareness, technological expertise and a\ncommitment to advancing the field of aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College of Liberal Arts Dean Jason Hicks said the talk will\nhelp students in the School of Aviation visualize their own successful futures\nand continue to reach new heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGen. Brown\u2019s visit was a real opportunity for these\nstudents to learn from someone who\u2019s in an amazing leadership position,\u201d Hicks\nsaid. \u201cIt\u2019s really inspirational, hearing in person about how to deal with\nadversity, how to motivate yourself and others and how to learn from failure.\nSeeing and hearing in person how someone goes through the ranks and has the\nattitude and aspirations to keep them driving forward was a great message for\neveryone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, visited Auburn University\u2019s School of Aviation on April 20 to inspire the next generation of change-makers in aviation by advising them on sound leadership. As chief of staff, Brown leads the organization and training of more than half a million active-duty Airmen at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,26,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aerospace-education","category-alabama","category-aviation-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25455,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25454\/revisions\/25455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}