From other countrys militaries. Its about two hours and 20 minutes. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. All right. Well, good morning. And, maam, im honored to be able to moderate you this morning, so as she just mentioned, were going to be talking about secretary james new book. Ive read it, ive listened to it. Its absolutely amazing. I will tell you today, thats what were going to talk about. So, maam, first and foremost, just to kind of break the ice, what inspired you to tell your story. Well, throughout my life, and as you heard, be i have been at this business of our National Security for actually closer to 40 years. Time goes by since that bio was written. Ive been always a civilian and i have worked in congress. Ive been in the pentagon for several tours and ive been in private industry. Always working on defense issues. As i was making my way up and trying to figure out my career next moves through the ups and downs of life, i would always look up to the people above me and there were very few women at that point to look up to, but there were a couple and there were some men. I would always wonder to myself, wow, their lives must be perfect. That they were able to attain these great heights. Here was my life, which had some successes but had plenty of failures. I felt like a hot mess in comparison to these role models i would like up to. Of course, i know now that wasnt true. That everybody has something. So i wanted to for the next generation of women who may in some ways look to me and think, wow, she must have had this perfect career and this trajectory without any problems. It aint so. So, im trying to share some of those challenges. You learn as much from your failures in life, if not more, than you do from your successes. That was point one. The other thing was i was a great beneficiary coming up through the ranks of mentors, people who helped me along the way. I believe strongly its incumbent upon us that we need to pay it forward and mentor others, which ive tried to do. I do quite a bit of it, actually. By writing a book and putting the story out there, it was a way of mentoring at a higher level. Those were the two reasons. That and i had time on my hands. Whats the 23rd secretary of the air force to do when she gets out of office . Thank you, maam. Very good. The first thing id like to say is, when you get the book, its broken down into three main parts. The first part talks about chart and navigate your course. And so in the book, reading it, id like to ask you, what gave you insight to develop road map your road map in charting your course in your career . I want to begin by explaining that the book is laid out into three main parts and there are strategies under each one. Believe me, when i was in my 20s and 30s, this wasnt some formula that i instinctively knew about or that i followed. Rather, this is something that the ablege i am, the experience am, im looking back, reflecting, trying to put down my Lessons Learned. When it comes to some of those lessonses learned, i think some was just instink actual with me. The others came to me through trial and error of things that either i did right and they worked and lets do more of it, or as i said, failures. I tell stories of failures and what i learned from those failures. Its also from being an observer on the scene and being a careful listener and watcher of others, how others succeeded or failed. I do believe, first of all, that to chart and navigate, you have to take control of your own life. And everywhere everyone at all times, regardless of where they are in life, ought to have a plan. A plan a, lets call it. Heres where i want to go, here are my ideas. What are the steps i ought to be taking to achieve those goals . At the same time, be prepared to pivot because you may reach the goal and find out you dont like it once you get there. It may not give you the fulfillment youre searching for. Or you may not reach it, which is what happened to me in my early life. My first dream literally went up in smoke and i had to pivot. Plan b, though, whatever that pivot may be, could be even better. You dont know what youre going to be inspired by until you try. So, always have a plan a reque, but be prepared to pivot. Very good. S secretary, as you spoke about your plan a didnt quite work, can you share in the book, the secretary recounts her actually wanting to work for the state department and not being able to do that. I think you use the term, you were rejected, if you will. How did you move forward with that being able to pivot and you kind of recount wanting to Say Something to secretary kerry later, but did not. But that you said that was a big turning point big turning point in your career. Can you speak on that . So, when i was a young person, i had my plan a and i wanted to be a diplomat. I wanted to travel the world and work on Foreign Policy matters with the state department. Throughout high school, college, graduate school, i took all the right courses. I learned a foreign language. I lived abroad and became immersed for a semester. I even was able to secure a rather highly coveted internship in those days with the state department. So, when i got out of graduate sxool i moved to washington and applied, i felt i had everything going my way. What more can anyone expect of a young person who at that point maybe i was 23 or 24 years old. Well, as you say, i applied and i got rejected. It was the first big rejection that i had had in life, and i just crashing. I remember going to bed for the better part of a week and crying. I was so dejected and thought, my life is flashing before my eyes. But, of course, one has to eventually get out of bed because i needed a paycheck. Dont we all need a paycheck in life . And so i started applying elsewhere. I landed a job, only one offer did i receive, as a civilian with the department of the army. Wheres the army contention here today . All right. Now, this is very exciting except at the time, guess what . It wasnt exciting to me. Because what did i know im being truthful here. What did i know about the army or the military at large . I had had no real exposure. I never thought of it before. And i was still feeling dejected from the whole state department experience. I took the job. I did my best. After a few months the most remarkable thing started happening. It was really interesting work i was engaged in so i was feeling that sense of purpose that i was working on sort of in my own little way, these major issues of the day affecting our National Security. I had a great team that i happened to fall in with that there was camaraderie, they cared about me, i learned from them and i had a first grade boss who was my first great mentor. After that, one thing led to the next led to the next that became this, what i think, has been a fantastic and hugely fulfilling career for me, all focused on the military. As i said, capitol hill, the pentagon, the Business World but supporting defense, and before you know it, 35 years have gone by and i get to be the second woman ever to lead a military service. Amazing. And all of this, i want to remind you, started with a big failure and a plan a that turned into plan b. So the john kerry story on, ifs hobnobbing with the big people, and i got to meet thensecretary of state john kerry. And it was all i could do to contain myself and not say to this man, thank you, thank you, thank you that you rejected me 35 years ago because, you know what . Life turned out pretty doggone well for me. But, of course, i said none of that. I think we talked about the weather, because thats what diplomats do, they talk about the weather. Thank you, maam. Thank you. As you discussed, you just briefly highlighted your first job with the army, which turned out to be an amazing job. That was also the first time you got a great mentor. Yes. Can you articulate how you paid that forward as you have mentored many in your career. Ive done mentoring oneonone. I think thats very important. When i got into a position in authority, both in business when i was secretary of the air force, i actually insisted we launch formal mentoring programs. So, i spent about a dozen years with a Company Called saic, clint headquartered locally here. So, i did it myself and i actually rated my people on the requirement to do it and how well they would do it and so on and we set up a program surrounding it. In the air force we launched something called my vector. This was already in existence but we we beefed it up, we enlarged it, we made it bigger. If you havent heard of it, its a match. Com like approach to people all over the world and the air force can go online, they can say theyd like to be mentored on certain subjects, career fields, et cetera, and then mentors, people like me who are willing to mentor others, would also go online. We would list what we were able to give advice on and then there were matches. Again, i expected my directs to do that when i was secretary of the air force, tried to encourage others, talked it up. So, i think theres different ways to pay it forward. The most important thing is do it oneonone. Everybody has the power to do it oneonone. Thank you. In your book you highlight the importance of having a Diverse Network as well. You talk about the network of those the community you live in, those that youve worked with and worked for. Can you expound on that Great Network and how it helped you in your career today . Absolutely. I know this is obvious but everyone in this room, although theres 1,000 people and you wouldnt be able to over the course of two days get to meet and know everyone in this room, but please dont leave here without at least ten new deep people you can keep in touch with and become part of your greater network. With the exception of the state department, as i said, i was applying and had to apply to the department of the army after that, i can honestly say, ive never applied cold for a job again. Its thanks to referrals that i would get, a tip that i would receive from either someone who i considered to be my mentor in life. All of my mentors were informal so i myself have never been in one of these programs i just mentioned to you. Mentors or the network essentially opening a door. Of course, it was up to me to walk through that door to be able to tell my story, to be able to hopefully secure that job, but the network, i really owe a great deal to that. And a great deal of continual learning. Thats another important aspect in life. Never rest on your laurels. Keep learning and your network and mentor can help you do that. Thank you. Maam, you talked about leading inspired teams. During your tenure as secretary of the air force, we had actually experienced a nuclear incident. Can you talk about how you rallied the Team Together to look into that incident and that you went on to do an investigation and move forward . Can you talk about how you transformed that team . Yes. Nothing blew up, by the way. Whenever you say nuclear, you have to make sure it was an incident that nothing blew sky high. So, three weeks into my tenure as secretary of the air force, so here i am, brandnew, i have my plan a, i have six months of a travel schedule all laid out where im going to be pursuing themes that were going to be my mantra as secretary of the air force. Boom, i get an email that is informing me and other Senior Leaders that theres been a cheating incident out west in malstram air force base, the site of one of our icbm units, so, the nuclear missiles. Those young officers who were standing watch and prepared to use these weapons, should it ever come to that, were caught cheating. Some were caught cheating on a proficiency exam. Now, of course, in washington, anything nuclear immediately your worries go nuclear. The president has to be informed and the press it all over you about it. So, im brandnew and what to do. I didnt know exactly what to do at first but i knew this was kind of a big deal and i better get on top of it and fast. So, took a few days, got myself more prepped up with the team, air force team surrounding me about the checks and balances and was able to convince myself that the Nuclear Enterprise was safe and secure. Still, we had this matter in front of us. Why did it happen and what were we going to do about it . Decided to go public with the information. In washington, big secrets frequently leak anyway. I have learned in my life that bad news only gets worse with the passage of time. Get out there, tell people, be forthright with the congress, with the press. We did it with our own airmen as well. Heres what we know. Heres what we dont yet know but well find out. Stay tuned. Well give you periodic updates. After that after that press conference, i remember ripping up that travel schedule and, instead, i focused on the Nuclear Enterprise for about the next six months. And discovered that it went way, way beyond just a handful of airmen cheating. There were cultural issues afoot, there was undermanning, the way they were training was encouraging cheating. I hate to say that but they were only promoting airmen who got 100 on these tests. So these airmen probably didnt cheat to pass, they cheated to get 100 . So, there was a lot of changes that came out of that for training for people, for modernization, which overall were good changes, even though it all started with a bad incident. Thats so much the way life is. You got to take something bad and pull from it the Lessons Learned and leave it in a better position than you found it. Yes, maam. Thank you. I know the clock is ticking. One of the other things you talked about in your book was diversity, how to create a more diverse force. So, being that were here at a womens leadership symposium and leadership is a big topic, you state women in minorities in your book are an important tool as we succeed in america, especially in the military. However, there is there continues to be a lack, as we just saw on the screen, a lot of firsts. Last year dod did a report that really talked about female officers and the numbers are still staggering. I am an africanamerican female and i notice that we dont have any in the air force and havent had any since 2005. We have now the marine has their first one. Can you talk about what you believe are barriers to women and then minority women reaching those ranks. I think we need to focus more on recruiting more in the front door so focus on our successes. We do a good job of bringing women and people of color and minorities on board ultimately than retainering them midcareer. Its better retention. How do you do that . I think i always go back to what i call the three ps. Youve got to look at your policies, youve got to look at your processes and look at people programmatic issues. During the tenure that i served and some of this was broad, it affected the entire military by secretary of defense and some was specifically the air force, which was within my control, but policies sometimes policies are outdated. For example, we doubled the Maternity Leave policies for women during that era. We actually advocated for tripling it. The navy did it for a few months and got reversed because everybody had to be the same. Thats an example of work life balance. Its the key reason women, in particular, get out. By the way, we extended paternity leave as well. We allowed more for men as well. Postpregnancy deployment. It used to be six months. We extended that in the air force one year. So a new mother would not face deployment for at least one year out as opposed to what it had been. Issues of flexibility and all of these are examples of policies. Process, we found a process issues have issue with respect to how we gave exceptions for people of shorter stature, frequently women, but not always, to go into the pilot career field. We expanded that. Hopefully opened up the aperture for more women to be pilots. Which in the air force is a big deal. Its what most of the Senior Leaders are, they are pilots. Then an example of the people issues, this is mentoring. This is focusing on people and their Leadership Development and their professional development. I think these are the three key areas that we need to do more of and im a big believer in measuring. One of the things that i did during my tenure, i gave accession goals for officer accessions. I remember at the time we had about 25 women entering the air force academy as, you know, first year students. And i said, give me 30. Pretty much made that up. There was nothing magic about 30 but it was a stretch. It was give me more, lets do better. That caused the academy and other officer accession programs to go out and search out more qualified women. In year one, if memory serves me, we didnt quite make 30 but we made 28. We are might not have even made that if i hadnt set a goal out. So, measurement helps and followup is crucial. Maam, as we are about to close, i do have one question. If i could take you back to the point in time when you were serving as secretary of the air force, what was truly your aha moment where you were operating in your zone, you were synced and you were like, wow, this is what i can do . You were there. I think it may well have been after that Nuclear Matter we talked about earlier because that was one that was high stakes. Not everybody was in favor, for example, of making this a public matter. They felt like this was sensitive and could remain private and whatnot. I kind of bucked the tide on that. I used my own leadership imperative and i followed my own instincts. And because at the end of the day it was a bad situation, but because we were able to make it better, and it is transparency actually, Congress Gave us kudos for being transparent about it. That made me feel like following my instincts and having that confidence that i was in a good place. I think that was my aha moment. So, the very beginning . The very beginning. Well, thank you, secretary james. Ladies and gentlemen, i would like to put a plug, if you would like to purchase a copy of the book, its an incredible masterpiece, you can do so by purchasing in the bookstore. I do know the secretary will be around to sign the book as well. Thank you. And i believe we met our time. All right. Thanks, everybody. [ applause ] thank you very much, secretary. On behalf of the sea Service Association and leadership, we would like to give you a token of our appreciation. Thank you so much. Now id like to introduce one of my cochairs, mr. John dittmer, the only man on our Sea Service Leadership Association board. And the founding president of ssla. John has worked