Finding Your Voice - Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kimberly Ford ’90

Leadership isn't about changing who you are; it's about becoming the fullest expression of who you were meant to be.

 

SUMMARY
What does quiet leadership look like? From military deployments to the flight deck at Alaska Airlines, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kimberly Ford ’90 explains how preparation, trust and listening can be just as powerful as command. 

 

COL. FORD'S TOP 10 LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS

1. Leadership doesn't have to be loud to be effective.
Ford's journey demonstrates that quiet, thoughtful leaders can inspire just as deeply as outspoken ones. Authenticity is what earns trust and influence.

2. Feedback can become the catalyst for transformation.
Receiving a poor leadership evaluation at the U.S. Air Force Academy was painful, but instead of allowing it to define her, Ford used it as the beginning of her growth as a leader.

3. Finding your voice begins by believing your perspective matters.
Confidence wasn't something Ford was born with. It was developed through mentors, experience and the courage to share her passion with others.

4. The best mentors don't remove fear, they help you move through it.
From the jump master to her pilot instructors, Ford's mentors equipped her with the mindset and confidence to act despite uncertainty rather than waiting for fear to disappear.

5. Preparation creates confidence under pressure.
Chair flying, visualization, repetition and mastering the fundamentals allowed Ford to perform when the stakes were highest. Excellence begins long before execution.

6. Trust is earned through competence and consistency.
Whether flying combat missions or commercial aircraft, Ford explains that teams build trust quickly when they know each member is prepared, dependable and committed to doing their job well.

7. Leadership must adapt to the mission.
Effective leaders recognize when decisive command is required and when empathy, patience and service are the qualities the moment demands.

8. Listening is one of leadership's greatest strengths.
Ford's approach emphasizes seeking feedback, understanding different perspectives and creating an environment where others feel heard before decisions are made.

9. Resilience is built through daily disciplines, not extraordinary moments.
Grounding practices, physical fitness, reflection, continual learning and intentional self-care help leaders remain ready for whatever challenges come next.

10. Great leaders remain lifelong students.
Ford's advice to her younger self reflects her enduring philosophy: believe in yourself, seek mentors, embrace feedback, learn from mistakes and never stop growing.

 

CHAPTERS

00:00:13 – Meet Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kimberly Ford, USAFA Class of 1990

00:00:57 – The "Rate Your Neighbor" Moment that Changed Everything

00:05:33 – Finding Her Voice & Honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs

00:08:34 – Family, Faith and the Foundation of Leadership

00:11:00 – Jump School: Fear, Courage and Asking for Help

00:15:15 – Developing a Warrior Mindset Through Preparation

00:17:24 – Transitioning from Military Aviation to Alaska Airlines

00:20:06 – Leading Under Pressure in Combat Operations

00:23:38 – Adapting Your Leadership to Fit the Mission

00:27:28 – Daily Habits That Make Better Leaders

00:29:43 – Advice to Her Younger Self & the Power of Mentorship

00:31:26 – Final Reflections: Leading with Quiet Confidence

 

 

ABOUT COL. FORD

BIO

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kimberly Ford, USAFA Class of 1990, is a distinguished combat aviator, senior mobility leader and lifelong advocate for aviation, leadership, and service. During her 25-year U.S. Air Force career, she served as a KC-135 and C-17 command pilot, instructor pilot and mission commander, logging more than 11,000 flight hours while supporting combat, humanitarian and contingency operations around the world. She also served in strategic leadership roles at Air Mobility Command, helping shape enterprise-level operations and leadership development across the Air Force's global mobility mission.

Following her military service, Col. Ford has continued to lead through aviation and community engagement as a commercial airline pilot, board leader and champion for preserving the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots while expanding opportunities in aerospace and STEM education. A recipient of numerous military and civilian honors, including induction into the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals Hall of Fame, she remains dedicated to mentoring the next generation of leaders through a life defined by service, resilience and authentic leadership.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Guest, Matthew Ayers ’99  |  Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz ’99 

 

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz 0:00
Sometimes leadership isn't about speaking the loudest; it's about finding the courage to speak when your voice matters most. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of ’99; Long Blue Leadership starts now.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:13
Today's guest is Air Force Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kimberly Ford, United States Air Force Academy, Class of 1990. She has had a remarkable career through KC-135, C-17 command pilot, instructor pilot, senior air mobility command leader. Today she serves as an Alaska Airlines pilot, aviation advocate, and champion — preserving the legacy of our Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, while inspiring the next generation of aerospace leaders. I should also add that Kim is our 2025 — one of our 2025 recipients — of the Leadership Achievement Award. Kim, we're so glad to have you here.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kimberly Ford 0:53
Thank you so much. It's just an honor to be here to speak with you today. Thank you.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:57
Absolutely. And so, here on Long Blue Leadership, we like to jump right on to a really key moment in your life, and one, if we dial back the time a little bit, goes back to your three-degree year at the Air Force Academy, and they had something at the time, I think you mentioned it was “Rate Your Neighbor,” so something that you all did, and you scored a D. And I'm curious on what that was about, and then can you take us back to that conversation that time.

Col. Kimberly Ford 1:23
Correct, they had something at the time called Rate Your Neighbor, and that called for your classmates, your peers, people above you and below you, rating your ability to be a leader in the Cadet Wing and in your squadron, and then eventually a leader in the Air Force, and so everyone in your class would get a rating. I had come into the to the meeting thinking that I had done really well, and that my passion was shining through, and so imagine my surprise when I found out that I received the equivalent of a D grade. My air officer commanding was empathetic, but he was also very concerned, and what I did appreciate was he did give me the chance to respond. At that time, I just felt really disappointed. You know, I'd come into the Academy, I really wanted to be in aerospace, I was really excited about STEM. I was so happy to have the opportunity to be there, and so I must admit that I really felt crushed when I heard his words, that I hadn't done as well as I thought I had.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 2:32
It almost sounds a little bit like a 360-degree kind of assessment. What, in particular, I guess attributed to that, kind of that score, that rating from your peers? What did they see, I guess, in that to give you that score?

Col. Kimberly Ford 2:49
Yes, you know, looking back with my lens now, I know that there are different types of leadership, different styles of leadership, but I think at the time the type of leadership that was expected was someone who was assertive, who was upfront, who was more sort of direct. At the time, I was a young cadet who definitely needed to be mentored and learn some skills. I think what they saw in me was someone who was very quiet. I had not had the opportunity or taken the opportunity to speak about who I was, my background, my passion for aviation, someone who didn't make eye contact, and you know, someone who maybe didn't greet them on a personal level, who didn't check in before a session, during a session and maybe after a session. And so they just really weren't sure about my aptitude, and I can understand that big picture. I was someone who definitely needed to be mentored and definitely needed to learn those skills in a style that was commensurate with my personality and what I had to bring to the table.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 3:55
Well, you talked about being passionate and you went in feeling really good and hoping that it shined through. How did you adjust, maybe, or adapt after that feedback to bring your voice and that passion forward. What did that look like in your leadership journey at that time?

Col. Kimberly Ford 4:10
Yes, I remember the air officer commanding said, “Hey, you know, let's talk about this. What do you — what are you bringing to the table?” And so I said, “Wow, I'm someone who wants to be here. I'm someone who wants to fly. I am someone who wants to give back to my country, and I want to serve my nation.” And so, after that, I'm lucky that I had a good group of mentors, both peers and older cadets, and I was able to sit down with them and get that constructive feedback and constructive criticism. So I was able to speak with my flight commander about, you know, goals that I have. I want to do, you know, eventually I want to do the soaring program. I want to do — which I may have already finished by that point. I want to do the T-41 program, which was the solo program at the time. I would like to be a pilot. And so I really practiced making eye contact, speaking about my goals, sharing my passion, and just really checking in and making sure I receive that feedback from my leadership, and then also points where I could improve. You know, as an 18-, 19-year-old, you know, young woman who was very shy, that was a lot for me. But it just — so it took a lot of courage, so I'm really proud of myself for being able to get there, to be able to interact and have those conversations that I needed to have with my cadet leadership at the time.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 5:33
Well, let's fast forward now, because I feel like that voice that you found has been really instrumental in some of the advocacy and work that you've done around really highlighting the legacies of our Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Air Service Pilots, or WASPs. Can you talk about, you know, where that came into play, or how finding your voice, what that looked like, and what some of that work, important work, was that you did?

Col. Kimberly Ford 5:59
Yeah, yeah, I will go back. When I was a young woman, still in high school, I had really started to show interest in aviation, and we didn't know a lot of people who were pilots or in aerospace, and so what my parents did for me, especially my mother, who loved to read, is she found me a lot of books, and she found me books about the Tuskegee Airmen and about the Women's Air Service Pilots as examples. And so I read about these courageous, you know, young people who were serving during World War II, all of the challenges and barriers that they had to overcome, and the life lessons that they had to share. And so I really took that to heart, and that really helped to inspire me during my career. I had the opportunity to speak with some Tuskegee Airmen during my Air Force career by attending conferences. As I moved back to the Seattle area, when I came back to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, I had the opportunity to serve at the Seattle Museum of Flight and serve in panels. We would talk about subjects such as the Berlin Airlift, some of the flying out of a Ramitelli in Italy, and just sort of passing along those leadership lessons. I had also joined my Sam Bruce Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen. We were able to work on some youth programs and grow them from very small programs to larger programs, which really passed along those important leadership lessons to young people and inspired them on their journeys to becoming pilots. I had another opportunity to volunteer with the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for the Women's Air Service Pilots. So, I went to Washington, D.C. I was able to pass along the Congressional Gold Medal to June Lecky and spend time with her family and learn about her service, so I always called her my WASP. I'm lucky that I was able to go to the museum, the Women's Air Service Pilot Museum in Sweetwater, Texas, and have the chance to interview WASPs, volunteer alongside of WASPs, and as well pass along my message of my service and sort of help to grow young people. Through my Sam Bruce Chapter, I met mentors such as Bill Holloman, who was an original Tuskegee Airmen, and Ed Drummond, who shared their stories of just leadership and courage. So to me, those lessons are so important to pass on to the next generation.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 8:34
I think you hit it on the, you know, hit the nail on the head when you talk about sharing the stories, and as we share your story today, I think it's really important that our viewers and our listeners kind of really appreciate that not all leaders, you know, approach things in the same way. To your point, you know, you start off really shy, and you found your voice, and then you're able to even share stories of other leaders. I'm curious, in your journey, of, you know, how that continued to evolve, you know, where did you find yourself really championed, perhaps? You mentioned your parents early on, and you know, understanding your love for aviation, did they also kind of show up for you in that way of helping you to hone in on your leadership skills a little earlier?

Col. Kimberly Ford 9:20
Yes, yes. As a young person, I knew early on that I wanted to go to college, that I wanted to achieve a graduate degree, and seeing those examples of my father serve overseas, and my mother alongside with him…

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 9:37
Both your parents served?

Col. Kimberly Ford 9:38
Actually, my father was in the Army, he got up to the rank of captain, and my mother, they had just gotten married, and my mother joined him in France, where they served outside of Paris at a place called Saran, France. So I just saw that example. They started taking me to museums, as I mentioned, they had me read books, but they did see that I was more shy and more quiet, and so they started really relating to me, they just passed along that I, that I'm a leader, you know, I am a leader in my own way. These were often quiet messages, they weren't often direct, but I just remember when I showed up at the Academy, they just, I remember that that message, that I am a leader, that I am capable, that I can do these jobs, that I had just as much of an opportunity to succeed, they were really just strongly, strongly instilled in me.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:37
I love those affirmations, and I'm curious, you know, obviously you went on to go to pilot training. How did that continue to evolve, and being a quiet leader, show up in, you know, in the cockpit or amongst your peers? Were there times where you had to be more assertive, or use a different voice? How did you kind of deal with how you're wired, so to speak, with what was needed for the moment?

Col. Kimberly Ford 11:00
Yeah, so one story that I'll take you back to goes back to jump school. One of my friends wanted me to take jump school, I was really uncertain about this, and she's like, "No, we let's take jump school together.” We were both seniors, and it was just a great opportunity. We went through the training. I had always thought of the people that did jump school as just these amazing people. I wasn't sure if I could just reach that pinnacle. I'm so lucky that we made it. We both made it to the through the training, and then you get to the point where you, you're standing in the door, so this is the point where you take all of your training and you are going to execute this training, and you're going to face this really critical, intense moment. And so to me it was sort of like a parallel of I was finding my voice, I'm a cadet, and then I have the chance to go to pilot training. I remember before we stood in the door on the ground, I'd spoken to the jump master, which was really intimidating for me as a young cadet, and I said, "I want to jump out the door. Can you help me get there? Can you sort of show me how you get yourself ready to do that?” And so, looking back now, when I got into the door, he basically looked me in the eye, and he helped me to take a deep breath, to settle myself, and to take that big step forward. And I jumped out the door, and I went on to do five jumps, and I completed that program.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 12:21
I have to give you props, because I think the fact that you recognized in yourself, giving yourself the permission to ask for help, right? You said, "Can you help me get to and through the door and accomplish this jump?” And then go on to get your jump wings. I think it's really powerful and a leadership lesson in itself. Was that something that you just you — it happened, or you've seen it modeled before you, or you just, it was just something in you that, “I'm going to ask for help here?”

Col. Kimberly Ford 12:52
He certainly helped me to get that warrior mindset. So, I believe even back before, you know, maybe wanting to do a certain program at in high school, or even wanting to apply for the Academy, my father said, “You know, you just have to step forward and do it.” Also, dating back to my father's father, who was one of the first Black policemen in Baltimore City. He was a very, he was also a very reserved man, very much like myself. And I remember speaking to him about being nervous about applying to the Academy and going to the Academy, and he said, “You know what, Kim? You've just got to get started, you've just got to take that first step.” So, basically, putting yourself in that space, that mental space, being prepared, being confident, and believing in yourself, and taking that step forward. I was able to carry that through, going to pilot training. I was really nervous. A lot of cadets had the opportunity to do a lot of flying, a lot of discovery flights or programs like Civil Air Patrol or scouting, and my parents were only able, they were able to provide me with one amazing discovery flight, but it was tough. I had to learn a lot of information in a short period of time. I had an amazing UPT instructor for my first flight. His name is Colonel, retired now, Kevin Mastin, and he actually went on to become a Thunderbird. He went to the University of Washington, where I'm from, so a neat link there. And I just told him about my fears. “I'm nervous. I don't know if I have what it takes. I don't know if I can keep up with the other students.” And he was — he said, "Do you really want to do this and finish this program?” And I said, “I really do,” and he said, “Well, let's work together, basically to develop this warrior mindset, or this mindset of focus, of intensity, of bringing your best, of being excellent like the Tuskegee Airmen.” So he really worked with me and helped me to do that. So I was basically able to bring that to serving throughout my career up to serving in Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom. You know, just really taking that deep breath, knowing that I am capable, knowing that I am a good leader, and sort of executing the mission, working with the crew, or working with the team that I'm working with at the time. So I'm really proud that that started, as you know, as a child with my parents was honed also at the Air Force Academy and with other mentors through my career.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 15:15
Were there particular pillars of leadership or things that he said this is how, you know, your process to thinking like a warrior having that warrior mindset. What did that look like?

Col. Kimberly Ford 15:25
Yes, yes, he always he focused on telling me to sort of don't listen to the noise and the other inputs. You know, fly the airplane and focus on the important tenets, the important things that you need to do. You know, “You need to fly the airplane into the air, you need to make it act in ways that you want it to act.” He spoke with me about, you know, learning all of the information, such as, you know, chair flying or visualizing. He said, "I want you to know that information cold. So, if you know the information cold and you're nervous, you're it'll allow you to fly the airplane and focus. So, we would actually have study sessions where we would go to the squadron, and we would basically go through our steps and procedures, and just really practice focusing and just eliminating all of that noise, flying the aircraft, and putting the airplane, you know, in acrobatics and VFR flight and IFR flight.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 16:20
And for someone who's not in aviation, what does VFR flight and IFR flight mean?

Col. Kimberly Ford 16:23

Visual flight rules, where you can see, and instrument flight rules, where there are clouds, and you're not to see the ground.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 16:31
Well, I can imagine that's really helpful, going through the repetition of actually being in the cockpit, you know, not in the cockpit, right? Like you said, chair flying. I think that's really powerful, visualizing. Were there any other kind of key instructions or thoughts in that process of putting on the warrior mindset and being able to push through any of the self-doubt or kind of the reservations that not just you but I think other leaders share?

Col. Kimberly Ford 16:57
I think it's also, you know, being the consummate professional, you know, always learning about your craft, so I'm always learning something new, I'm always reading, always listening to what others might say, always listening to feedback. And always showing up, you know, being early, looking professional, having your uniform look well — just sort of those are some of the other tenants that he taught me, also.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 17:24
And I think about what you're doing now. So you're a current pilot with Alaska Airlines. Oftentimes, you know, many of our graduates do go into, especially those who served as pilots, go into, I think, you know, commercial aviation. You know, was that an easy process for you? How did that challenge you as a leader? Was that something that was already kind of written in your game plan of life?

Col. Kimberly Ford 17:47
Right, so I actually became a commercial pilot in 2001, so it was right around the time of 9/11. It was a little bit challenging, just because I had just finished my active duty, where I was flying the KC-135. I did the Kosovo operations, and also Northern and Southern Watch, where you're basically flying around Saudi Arabia. I finished that and I was just starting my time as an Air Force reservist as a C-17 pilot. So I did initial training for the MD-80 at the time, which was an older passenger airline for Alaska Airlines, and I was also starting training for the C-17. There is quite a difference in culture — you're learning with, you know, working with a different crew, slightly different style of crew resource management. Your purpose is, you know, a little bit different. You're flying passengers and some cargo to get to where they need to go. So I'm really lucky that I was able to rely on mentors to step me through, do that visualizing and share flying. Soon after that, I was actually called up to serve full time for the Air Force for about three to five years for Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, that's operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. So I always had to, you know, I took copious notes. We had a lot of conversations on those flight decks as we were doing our military operations. There were a lot of Alaska Airlines and other airline pilots, and so I'm so lucky that I could fly with some really experienced crew members who could really talk to me about this civilian procedures. It is fast paced — you're working at large civilian airports, so I had to learn those standardized procedures, and I had to learn to work with the crews to be able to execute that civilian mission well.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 19:41
I'm curious about, you know, your service while you were deployed in support of those different operations. If you could talk about where you saw yourself evolve as a leader. How did you continue to grow in that space from, you know, where you started as a quiet, more reserved leader, still quite passionate, but where did that show up, and how did it show up in the deployed spaces?

Col. Kimberly Ford 20:06
Right, let's see, in the deployed spaces, just to give people an idea of the operations at the time, they were a very fast-paced. This is like around 2001, 2002 and on. We had to fly a large part of the mission because a lot of the experience was in the Air Force Reserve. I was serving at a joint-based Lewis-McChord, and so we would take large contingents of especially Army personnel from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, usually to the East Coast, maybe to Europe, such as Germany, and then overseas. It might have been the opportunity for me to sort of have a briefing, and then in general the mission would match the briefing, usually, usually in the KC-135. I would say in the C-17 it was very intense, where you were on alert, and then the mission could change and evolve. It might be incredibly intense where it was at night, — you might be landing with night vision goggles on a runway that wasn't lit, and so they were very intricate details. So changing mission, very intense missions. In the last part was very long missions. So I believe that I had to really dig deep and always be willing to have that resilience and more resilience and more endurance than I'd ever, ever had before. Also, working with a larger crew for a longer period of time. Just really — I knew that the people around me knew their jobs well, they were motivated, they wanted to serve, and they could execute well, and they were passionate about the mission, so I think just having that stamina and endurance, and flying in more challenging conditions. Definitely.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 21:57
When you're stepping into some of those roles, there's this need to build a team very quickly, and trust, and you know, obviously leadership is part of pulling all that together. How did you do that successfully? I mean, aside from, you know, having stamina and really just, I think, being ready, were there any other things that you thought you really tapped into from your strengths that helped you to navigate that cohesion and that trust together pretty quickly?

Col. Kimberly Ford 22:24
Right, it seems like one of the easiest ways to build trust and have that team as — there are really standardized roles that are expected in the crew, and when the crew knows that you know your role inside and out, and that you can execute well, that you will, you know, speak the way you need to speak, that you'll fly the way you need to fly, that really quickly helps to build trust. I think, also, it helps to be able to speak through the mission to be able to talk about some of those key crunch points, and you know, options that we would have as a crew, and basically work together to make decisions, and also if that one person had information that the rest of the crew didn't have, such as the need to go around or to stop or to turn the other way, that the entire crew, especially the other pilot, would listen to that information and execute immediately. So, building that trust by performing your role, being prepared, going over the mission, going over those crunch points and acting quickly when you needed to act, that really seemed to form a cohesive crew.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 23:38
You know, if we can go back a little bit, I'm curious to your time, you know — I guess it's not really going back, it's a bit more current now — but you'd mentioned a little bit ago that working with Alaska Airlines, the pace is a little different, and the mission has changed. I'm curious on how your leadership has evolved when you think about a changing mission, and maybe it's not life or death or national security, but how do you continue to evolve as a leader when the stakes aren't as high?

Col. Kimberly Ford 24:06
Right, right, so in the military mission, it was more — it was usually time critical, and it called for often a very assertive type of quiet leadership. So you're still bringing that assertive type of quiet leadership, but you're also bringing customer service to families and passengers who are getting to where they need to go, whether it be a vacation or to visit family, or, you know, taking a businessperson where they want me to go, so you're having that patience, letting people know that they're welcome, that you're happy to see them on board, you're working with crew members who may not have that sort of military background. And so there are different communication styles, different, you know, they're different people, and so you're really sort of reading who they are and making sure that you can communicate information in a way that is effective for them as a person, and their age and experience level. You are — it is also a compressed timeframe, so ensuring that you're getting loaded and boarded within that timeframe, and sort of helping the airline to get those, you know, different pushes of different aircraft at different times off on time. So I think I had to just sort of maybe dial it back a little bit in my presentation; make sure I just gave that great customer service. I would say in the cockpit it is that same — in the flight deck, I'm sorry — you're giving that same crew resource management. That same — building that same trust within the person who, you know, letting them know that you know your job and that you're ready to execute. So I would say it's probably more the same within the flight deck there.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 25:53
I would almost go so far as to say is the ability to understand when you need to assert more, and when maybe a more quiet and customer service-oriented leadership style needs to be used — you almost have a superpower of understanding when to employ them, and I might, I might ask you this: You know, how do you help others who maybe have the other side of the leadership spectrum, where they come in very — “I'm a very assertive type leader.” How do you help them see the value in your approach that is natural to you?

Col. Kimberly Ford 26:25
We have a moment at the end of our flights at Alaska Airlines, where we sort of, we sit back and we basically say, “How do we think that went?” You know, “What could we change?” And we speak about, you know, “How did the crew receive our message? How did the passengers receive our message? How did the gate personnel receive our message?” And sometimes you could say, like, “OK, well, maybe we could have said this this way. Maybe we could have responded this way as we were flying the approach.” And so I'm able to sort of give my perspective, and maybe how I might have done things, or perhaps sometimes the will divide duties, and the captain will say, "OK, I see here, maybe you would be great at doing this duty, could you take this over?” And so I think that's how I can show that maybe a different style of leadership would be more effective in those certain situations, and we're trained to really listen and just take in the feedback that's coming towards us, and I would say all of the crew members are very good at listening, adjusting and taking in what's offered to them.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:28
By you kind of sharing the ability to listen, but also share your perspectives, I think, in itself, is another great leadership lesson that strong leaders have the ability to listen to others and take in other inputs before making decisions or moving forward. So I think that was a wonderful recollection of how you do that in the civilian world in aviation. So one of the things we love to do is ask our guests: What they're doing every day to be a better leader? Would you mind sharing with us what that is?

Col. Kimberly Ford 27:59
Let's see, I do a number of things. One is I try to take a quiet moment just to do some breathing and just really to center myself and ground myself, so a quiet moment. I'm trying to get enough sleep. It's amazing how much, you know, good sleep can affect your ability to execute your day properly. I'm trying to get some exercise every day, so whether it be — I'm trying to do a lot of weightlifting, Pilates, yoga, doing things to strengthen myself as well as ground myself. And I'm also making sure I'm taking a break to do something fun, you know, something that I enjoy with my spouse or a friend, going out to lunch or something like that. So, you know, trying to take care of myself and make sure I take some time for fun and just set time for grounding and for breathing a few minutes each day. I find those things very helpful.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 28:57
Is that something that you sort of employed as, you know, you've become more understanding of time and experience, or have you always kind of operated in that way — just to kind of appreciate the moments, you know, take time to fill your cup, etc.?

Col. Kimberly Ford 29:12
You know, I would say that that is something that my parents instilled in me a long time ago. My mother instilled in me, especially just that: that breathing and just taking that moment and just grounding yourself. I remember we went to some sort of exercise classes together when I was in junior high and high school, so I'm really proud that she instilled that in me early. My father also exercised with me as I was getting ready for my Academy initial fitness test to get in.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 29:43
Well, frankly, I mean they really did help prepare you so well for being a cadet and then going on to be highly successful, both as an officer and then in the civilian world. But speaking of when you're a cadet, if you could go back in time now, Kim, and tell, you know Cadet Kimberly Ford, you know, something that she should be thinking about to be a better leader down the road, what would you tell her?

Col. Kimberly Ford 30:06
I would say always believe in yourself. Know that you can do this, that you are capable, and you have an important perspective to bring to the table. Your voice is necessary, and you have something to bring. So, I would just say it's coming. Keep believing yourself, and I would also say to her, you know, keep finding different mentors, you know. Some mentors are sort of focused on the operation that you're doing on a narrow scale, and some are more big picture mentors, so rely on those mentors and peers, and continue taking that feedback, and always growing, remain a student, always improving, making corrections, and it's OK to have those missteps. And it's an amazing journey as you keep learning and growing and becoming a better leader. That I would tell Cadet Kim.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 30:59
That is outstanding. And may I ask you, what are you most proud of about yourself as a leader?

Col. Kimberly Ford 31:06
I am proud of resilience, but I learned how to be resilient leader, you know, that I learned from my parents, relatives and, most importantly, through those programs and leadership at the Academy instilled in me that I'm a resilient leader, that I have a lot to offer.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 31:26
Awesome, this has been amazing. I mean, we always enjoy being able to take a peek behind the story of our Air Force Academy graduates and our leadership journeys, but I really appreciate the time, and you really pulling back the layers, taking it back to your family, taking it back to some of the, you know, just right away the lessons you learned from peer feedback and how to adapt and evolve and be resilient, and then when the moment calls for it, bring your voice back to those important moments when you need to help others see a different perspective. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on Long Blue Leadership today.

Col. Kimberly Ford 31:59
Thank you so much. And I just have to say, Mighty ’90 for the class, as well as War Eagles for the CS-15 War Eagles. But thank you so much. It's been just an honor to be here with you, and I have really very much enjoyed this.

Col. Naviere Walkewicz 32:13
Thank you. And for all of you watching this or listening, be sure to share this journey with others who are also in their leadership journeys, whether in aviation or not. Right? Just looking for what are those ways that our leaders are taking shape. We do this on this particular Long Blue Leadership episode, and all of our others at longblueleadership.org. What really stuck with me about this particular conversation is to really be a leader for what the moment calls for, and I think that Lt. Col. (Ret.) Kim Ford, Class of ’90, Mighty ’90, as she said, did it really well. So until next time, I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of ’99 and we'll see you on Long Blue Leadership,

KEYWORDS
Quiet leadership, authentic leadership, finding your voice, leadership development, leadership philosophy, resilient leadership, leadership resilience, mentorship, servant leadership, emotional intelligence, courageous leadership, confidence, self-belief, constructive feedback, growth mindset, warrior mindset, leadership under pressure, trust, team building, crew resource management, aviation leadership, military leadership, Air Force Academy, USAFA, combat leadership, decision-making, adaptability, resilience, visualization, chair flying, lifelong learning, personal growth, women in leadership, women in aviation, Tuskegee Airmen, Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, professional excellence, leadership communication, leadership lessons.

 

The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation