In this age of downsizing, reorganization, moving units, base closures, frequent deployments, outsourcing and privatization, change is everywhere. Such major changes to the way we've always done business in the Air Force have left many people feeling disoriented and lost.
Major transitions unleash powerful conflicting forces in people.
The change invokes simultaneous positive and negative personal feelings of fear and hope, anxiety and relief, pressure and stimulation, leaving the old and accepting a new direction, loss of meaning and new meaning, threat to self-esteem and new sense of value. In times like these, it is appropriate to take a few moments to look again at leadership and what it takes to lead in tough times. Unfortunately, scholars who have studied leadership have produced a range of conflicting theories. In other words, there is no single all-purpose leadership style which is universally successful. Thou shalt be consistent.