Ep. 88: Courageous, Disciplined and Accountable with Vice Admiral DeWolfe Miller- Commander of the Naval Air Forces Pacific Fleet, the Navy's eighth Air Boss

DeWolfe Miller is a vice admiral in the US Navy and is currently Commander, Naval Air Forces, which is also Type Commander for all US Aviation units, and double-hatted as Commander, Naval Air Force, Pacific. In his accomplished naval career, among the many leadership posts he has held, Admiral Miller previously commanded the USS George H.W. Bush, CVN 77 and the Bush Carrier Strike Group II. He is a graduate of the National Defense University as well as a graduate of the Navy’s Nuclear Power School. In this episode, Admiral Miller discusses what makes a good leader, his inspirations in life, and what he hopes to instill in his sailors.

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Show Notes

[3:17] But there I was, eight years old, my parents took me to the Naval Academy for graduation week to watch the Blue Angels conduct an air show. There I was eight years old saying, "I want to do that."
[3:33] And so I was one of those weirdo kids that at eight years old, had a laser focus that this is where I'm gonna go to school and this is what I'm gonna do. And so I've been able to live my dream for the last thirty nine years. What a joy it's been.
[7:20] But there's an awful lot of help that makes it work.
[8:53] And every day we said, hey, this is meaningful. Every day we say, hey, we're making a difference. And you know what? It's pretty rewarding.
[9:30] I keep saying what's the ideal job? And I say, "I think I'm in it."
[10:29] We always kind of say that we recruit the sailor, but we retain the family. But the family aspect of it is so, so very special.
[10:56] I've been really fortunate to work for some pretty amazing leaders. I try to learn from each, and even those times that you observe somebody that maybe is the opposite of that, you learn from that as well.
[11:28]. Without the trust of others and their trust to you, I don't think you can lead, and those won't follow if they don't trust you. I think one of the probably undervalued character traits, if you will, of a good leader is that they're humble. I think that humility makes you more approachable.
[12:08] When you have that approachability and you show that you care, and you're compassionate and genuine in that approach, those are the kind of folks that I always try to emulate and model myself after because they were the ones that always inspired me to be a better person.
[12:43] Having compassion for some of the difficulties, I think that is part of a good leader.
[12:55] I think a great leader is someone that can listen and hear people in a way that they know that they're heard and appreciated.
[13:10] I'll ask some of the mid grade leaders one question, it's, "When's the last time you've had your mind changed?" And it's interesting. you'll see some of them, they're thinking, you know. And I said, "Well, if you're struggling, then either, A, you're always right or B, you don't listen."
[15:00] You say what you're gonna do and you do exactly what you're going to say and a lead by example and you try to hope that others find inspiration there .
[15:40] I can spend two hours just talking about the ethos that talks about we stand on the shoulders of the giants who preceded us and who those giants are. And what I end up talking about is, hey, those giants are you. You're influencing each other. You're there for each other and your families.
[16:13] We talk about serving with integrity and leading with humility and compassion.
[17:25] I think the tests, and this is why that character and your values are so important, is when all of a sudden maybe you're surprised or you faced something that you aren't prepared for, you fall back to that. That's the solid ground that's going to make sure that you persevere and succeed.
[19:13] I break courage kind of into two pieces. And one is the physical courage, taking action in the face of physical danger. And the second one and really what I mean by that on the ethos is the moral courage. I define it as a choice to act with integrity and do what is good, right and proper, even at personal cost and without the selfish incentive.
[20:33] You're always striving for perfection. You hold yourself to a higher level of accountability and you're going to be disciplined in your approach to do it.
[23:03] Overall wellness and grounding is a combination of spiritual well-being, mental wellbeing, and physical well-being all kind of wrapped into one.
[24:26] So I think kind of the combination of our chaplains, our health professionals, fleet family counselors, all those services are available to sailors at sea.
[25:11] When I commanded, Bush was the first time I had a psychologist as part of the medical staff. And I'll tell you, that person was the busiest doctor on board.
[25:41] What I'm trying to do now is get a mental health professional at every single one of our wings.
[26:37] I want to attack this not just by providing mental health professionals, I want to interweave it into our training, into our schoolhouses, into everything else such that our sailors know at every step of the way, whether you're enlisted, whether you're an officer, that, hey, there's help here for you. It's OK to ask for help. And not only that, it's part of this setting you up for success.
[27:48] Lives are enriched by that opportunity to serve, whether it's service in the military or service in our community.
[28:17] So the priorities with respect to coronavirus are pretty much three, which is the first one is protect the force and our families. The second one is preventing the spread and then the third one is maintaining readiness.
[31:53] I didn't like the term social distancing. So what I tried to twist that into is now we're gonna apply physical distance, but we want to be socially connected.
Thank you for joining us on Health Gig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.

“I break courage kind of into two pieces. And one is the physical courage, taking action in the face of physical danger. And the second one is the moral courage. I define it as a choice to act with integrity and do what is good, right and proper, even at personal cost and without the selfish incentive.” - Admiral Miller
“I'll ask some of the mid grade leaders one question, it's, ‘When's the last time you've had your mind changed?’ And it's interesting. you'll see some of them, they're thinking, you know. And I said, ‘Well, if you're struggling, then either, A, you're always right or B, you don't listen.’” - Admiral Miller
“We stand on the shoulders of the giants who preceded us and who those giants are. And what I end up talking about is, hey, those giants are you. You're influencing each other. You're there for each other and your families.” - Admiral Miller

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