If We Promise, We Must Deliver

In 2011, General Mark Welsh III, then the commander of U.S. Air Force bases in Europe, returned to the Air Force Academy, his alma mater, to talk to a group of graduating cadets about leadership. Welsh was eloquent, using down-home conversation to spread his powerful lessons to the young men and women in the audience.

Welsh came from a family of Air Force men. His father, Mick, served for 35 years, fought in three wars, and when he died, made sure he was buried in his dress blues. In the speech, Welsh discussed his other son, Matt, playing basketball in a league for 8- and 9-year-olds while his dad was stationed overseas. General Welsh was the head coach and got a call from another father asking if the dad’s son, Thomas, could play for Welsh’s team. The father explained his son was tall but had a bad case of attention deficit disorder, which affected his coordination.

Nonetheless, Welsh let the young man on the team, and all of his teammates accepted him. When they were ready to play their first game, Thomas was in the starting lineup to help his confidence and possibly win the jump ball. When the members of the other team noticed Thomas, they started calling him by the nickname they had given him when he was on their team: Bunny. The kids also started making fun of his ADD.

Well, young Matt would not allow the other kids to bad mouth his teammate and asked all of them to stop — and threatened to fight them if they didn’t. When the teasing persisted, Matt went “all Rambo” on the one player who was leading the insults, Welsh said. Little Matt Welsh was not going to back down; he was going to be credible with his teammates because when he commits to doing something, he does it.

And that was one of the many lessons General Welsh wanted to share with the group of cadets. When we’re leading people, we are responsible for whatever we say and must be willing to back it with actions, not excuses. Matt Welsh was not allowed to continue in that game and his actions resulted in a suspension. But he had stood for something important — the promise he made to his teammates.

When we make a promise, we can never renege on it. Our mission must always be completed.

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