Dominic J Bernardi

USAF Leadership Development and Transformation Dominic J Bernardi

As the USAF addresses today's environment of transformation, and the DoD goal of creating a lasting environment in which new ideas can flourish, each service must address the leadership requirements created by these demands, and ensure an enduring is in place to develop future leaders. In the last few years, the USAF has begun leadership development efforts in earnest, and is tailoring plans to focus on creating leaders who can adapt to the future demands of the force. One of the challenges faced within the service is that "most military transformation strategies still pose the central problem of getting laggards to realize that breaking out of longstanding behaviors is vital" and even beneficial.1 Looking specifically at Officer Force Development efforts through the prism of transformation, the central question becomes whether or not the AF is creating leaders who can foster transformation and will the efforts last?