• A warrior is an individual who makes sacrifices for their team and achieves their own goals. The warrior spirit is a condition of the heart which involves doing these and defending your personal honor.

Benefits of a Warrior Spirit:

1. Clear Conscience - Freedom from shame and embarrassment

2. Good Reputation - Symbol of trust and respect

3. Environment of Trust and Respect - Makes life more rewarding

Core Values: Four basic qualities CAP expects all members to display at all times

The Core Values of Civil Air Patrol:

1. Integrity - The willingness to do what is right, even when no one is looking

2. Volunteer Service - All about “selflessness”, difference between giving and taking

3. Excellence - No matter what challenge is facing you, you will give your best effort

4. Respect - Someone who is respectful treats others as they would like to be treated

Self-Awareness: The ability to monitor and judge your own actions

Self-Discipline: The ability to direct your thoughts, emotions, and actions towards a meaningful purpose

• You can strengthen self-discipline by strengthening your work habits to do something that is not necessarily “fun”

Attitude: The state of mind that lies behind your every action

• Attitudes are contagious because it is a visible representation of your thoughts and emotions at a given point of time; everybody around you can see, hear, and sense it.

• A positive attitude begins with the realization that attitude is a choice.

Oath: A solemn promise

• All military customs and courtesies are rooted in basic politeness and respect

• Military customs and courtesies are never a mark of inferiority or servility because nobody is better than another. It helps bolster team spirit as everybody feels more safe and comfortable in an environment with the foundation of mutual respect for all teammates.

• The salute comes from times of chivalry in which two knights would raise their right hand as a sign of trust and respect.

• The uniform is a vehicle for learning self-discipline, personal responsibility, and self-respect. One person’s conduct reflects on everyone else in the group.

• We wear the uniform because Civil Air Patrol and the Air Force allows us to wear them, which comes with a special obligation to wear it properly and with pride.

• A unit’s performance on the drill field is a measure of the cadets’ sense of self-discipline.

Chain of Command: Order of authority

• A chain of command re-enforces the idea that everyone is held accountable to another leader.

• “Jumping the chain” occurs when an individual takes an issue to a higher-level leader, without consulting their immediate supervisors.

Cadets: Leaders in training

Self-management: The process of directing and controlling your actions so that you can achieve your goals in life.

• Good self-management leads to having ownership over yourself, your decisions, how you use your time, and how you control stress.

Future Picture: A clear and compelling description of what you want your life to look like at some point in the future.

Goal-setting Process:

1. Dream big.

2. Identify a specific goal and write it down.

3. List the steps needed to reach the goal.

4. Get help and support from others.

5. Work toward your goal, one step at a time.

6. Reward yourself along the way and when you complete your goal.

• Goals give you a sense of mission, a rudder, a meaningful purpose.

• A decision-making process ensures you do not overlook an important aspect of your problem.

Ethical decision-making process:

1. Stop, think, and define the problem.

2. Get the facts.

3. Brainstorm and list your options.

4. Weigh your options.

5. Consider your values.

6. Decide and act.

7. Re-evaluate the decision.

• In simple terms, an ethical trap is a chain reaction of ethical problems caused by a single unethical decision. If a leader avoids this, his or her team will be inspired by his or her high level of moral courage.

Time Management: The process of organizing and using your time wisely

• Time management is an important skill as it helps reach your goals quicker and prepares you for managing others’ time.

Efficiency: How well a leader is making use of their time and other resources

• Leaders can become more efficient by paying attention, focusing on goods, doing things right the first time, sequencing the work efficiently, and limiting downtime.

Procrastination: The practice of putting off for no good reason a task that should be done right now.

• People procrastinate because they are scared of failure, uncertain about what to do, do not know where to start, and/or think the task is unpleasant or do not think it is “fun”.

• Techniques to beat procrastination include considering your peace of mind, breaking the job into small pieces, jumping right in, publicly committing to the work, and using rewards.

• Calendars, watches, notepads, “do lists”, time inventories, and flexibility are necessary tools for time management.

Stress: The body’s response to a change

• Stress can be positive as it fills your body with adrenaline to avoid harmful substances, help others, among much more. On the contrary, it can impair you mentally and physically if left unchecked.

Stressor: Anything that causes stress

• Stressors include arguing with a friend, being upset with your parents, and worrying about your physical appearance.

Resilience: The ability to bounce back and recover from adversity

Seven Ways to Manage Stress:

1. Try to Resolve the Problem

2. Avoid Things that Bring You Down

3. Let Some Things Go

4. Exercise - Regarded as the most important part of a plan to manage stress.

5. Relax - You can fool your stress hormones to stop firing.

6. Eat Well - Good nutrition is important for a healthy lifestyle.

7. Sleep Well - Teens require 9-10 hours of sleep a night.

• A lack of coping skills can blead to drug usage, patterns of failure, and/or discourage followers.

Team: A collection of individuals who are committed to working together to achieve a common goal

• Great teams use individuals’ special skills to their advantage.

• Team members often look to one another for leadership.

Synergy: The idea that by working together one can achieve more than they could on their own.

4 Characteristics of Team Players:

1. Self-discipline - Effective teams possess this trait which makes them dependable.

2. Selflessness - Teamwork requires sacrifice as it bolsters the team, leader, and advancement towards goals.

3. Enthusiasm - Enthusiasm is contagious and affects everyone.

4. Loyalty - A team member must be faithful to the people on the team, supportive of the leader, and committed to the team’s mission.

Mentor: A close, trusted, experience advisor

• Mentors help you learn something you would have learned less well, more slowly, or not at all if left alone.

Ways Mentors Can Help You:

1. Mentors are your role models - Mentors show you how to act.

2. Mentors challenge you - Mentors stretch your capabilities.

3. Mentors are your friends.

4. Mentors are your guides to CAP.

5. Mentors are your tutors.

Mentor-ready Checklist:

1. Eager to Learn

2. Humble

3. Ambitious

Listening: The process of receiving, deciphering, and responding to spoken and non-verbal messages

• Listeners do not merely hear sounds; they focus on meaning.

Reasons Why People Might Not Listen Well:

• Thinking about what to say next.

• Hearing what we expect to hear.

• Not paying attention.

• Being prejudiced.

• Leaders spend 70% of their day communicating.

Ways to be an Active Listener:

1. Prepare

2. Adjust to the situation

3. Focus on key points.

4. Pay attention to verbal & non-verbal cues.

5. Think in context.

6. Take notes.

7. Confirm the message.

• The main goal of communications is not just to receive sounds, or to merely see words, but to share meaning.

• Feedback takes place when you return to the speaker a portion of the message they sent to you. It is important as it a method in which the speaker and the listener work together to share meaning.

3 Types of Questions:

• Knowledge questions ask “What?” - Ask for basic facts & data.

• Understanding questions ask “Why?” - Helps gain deeper understanding.

• Synthesis questions ask “How?” - Explores one topic’s relationship with another.

• Leaders should be lifelong readers because knowledge is a never-ending pursuit.

Critical Reading: The process of examining, analyzing, and evaluating the writer’s message.

SQ3R - Survey, Question, Read, Recall, Review:

1. Survey - Gather as much information as you can before reading.

2. Question - Turn titles, chapter headings, and subheadings into questions.

3. Read - Successful readers read with a pencil in hand and annotate.

4. Recall - Once you finish reading, immediately try to recall what you have read.

5. Review - Look over questions, annotations, and notes to review.

Air Force Definition of Leadership: The art and science of influencing and directing people to accomplish the assigned mission.

• Leadership is an art because it requires imagination and creative skill.

• Leadership is a science because it is an academic subject requiring careful study, observation, and experimentation.

• Among the leader’s many responsibilities, accomplishing the mission is most important.

• Most experts include in the definition three components: the follower(s), the leader, and the goal.

Assumptions about Leadership in America:

1. You need to be a commander to lead.

2. Leaders are born, not made.

3. Leaders are not accountable.

4. Leaders are bullies.

5. Leaders must not be moral.

• All of the above assumptions are FALSE!!

• Leaders have to fill several roles because it helps navigate the multiple and diverse challenges they meet along the way.

Roles that Leaders must Play:

• Visionary - Paint an inspiring future picture for the whole team.

• Motivator - Issue a challenge to the team that drives its members.

• Communicator - Deposit ideas in the minds of others.

• Expert - Have immense knowledge.

• Teacher - Teach your teams how to act and what to value.

6 Tips to Becoming a Better Speaker:

1. Know your material.

2. Practice.

3. Relax.

4. Visualize Yourself.

5. Don’t Apologize.

6. Evaluate Yourself.

Great Man Theory: Professes that to study leadership, focus on the life stories of successful people.

• Great Man Theory asserts that leaders are born, not made.

• Great Man Theory fails to explain failure as it purely idolizes the character and accomplishments of well-known leaders.

• The Air Force contrasts with the Great Man Theory by having a doctrine built by experience, education, and training.

• Great Man Theory is guilty of hero worship and has biased views on world events and leaders.

Trait Theory: Explains leadership in terms of the personality and character of the leader.

• Major weaknesses in the Trait Theory include how there is no consensus of ideal leadership traits.

• With many diverse challenges facing a leader rapidly, one set of traits can never account for all of them as nobody is perfect and possesses their own flaws.

• Prejudice blinds one’s ability to look at a great leader objectively because their personal traits do not match one’s preconceived notions of what makes a leader.

• The American flag is our most important and most recognizable national symbol.

• On June 14, 1777; the US congress created the flag. June 14th is celebrated each year as Flag Day. It is regarded as an important national symbol as it is a physical representation of the hardships we have faced together as one united country. Additionally, it represents the best things about or people, land, and commitment to equality.