Commentary: Role models are grown, not made

  • Published
  • By By Col. Sonny Giddings
  • 349th Maintenance Group commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  "I am not a role model. I'm not paid to be a role model. I'm paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models." -- Charles Barkley, Nike Ad, 1993

The new guidance for Mentoring was recently released in May. Reading through AFMAN 36-2643, it struck me that something was missing from the role of mentor. This very important role is influential in the career of our Airmen, and the new manual does a very good job of better defining the process. Section 6 of the new manual is Mentor guidelines. There are four roles for the Mentor: Advisor, Coach, Facilitator, and Advocate. What's missing is Role Model. As leaders and mentors, we must also be role models to those around us. That means not just filling the roles listed in the Mentoring Manual, but remembering that as we move up, we must perform and advise our mentees with the same integrity. The manual references the mentor expectations. The first item is "Exemplify Air Force Core Values." Our personal integrity is on the line every day with each decision made, and watched by everyone around us. As a mentor this is true as well. No matter what level you lead at, your mentees will evaluate you as a mentor not just based on what is in the new guidance, but also on how they see you perform your job and handle your own affairs as the role model.

Recent high profile events in our Air Force have highlighted this disconnect between the stellar performer in the technical area, and the lack of personal integrity. As we absorb the new manual into our tool box, and use it to guide our Airmen and ourselves through a career and life, we must not forget we are on stage every minute, even off duty. As Airmen, we don't have the luxury of the perspective of professional athletes. We cannot shrug off the influence we have on those that look up to us, aspiring to do more and achieve goals some of us have already attained. As you look through the new manual on mentoring remember, just because it doesn't say it specifically as a mentor and leader, you are a role model.