Improving Leadership

The military services can learn from each other to improve leadership and trust, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva said in an interview recorded for the Pentagon’s first military p?rofessionalism summit. “We can all be better as leaders. I would suggest that none of us are born to leadership; we’re taught how to be leaders, and that’s a skill we can continue to hone through our entire military career,” Selva said. The summit, held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., is helpful because it gives experts from the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard the chance to come together “to compare notes … [to] build on strengths” and to “share things that work across the whole enterprise,” Selva said. “At the foundation of military professionalism is the trust that our young men and women in service have in our ability to provide sound leadership,” he said. “We owe it to them to continue to explore what that means.”