I Get to Serve - Gen. Steven Nordhaus ’89

How do you stay connected to people when you’re responsible for 435,000 of them?

SUMMARY

On the latest Long Blue Leadership, Gen. Steven “Spock” Nordhaus ’89, chief of the National Guard Bureau, shares lessons from a lifetime of service, from flying F-16s to serving on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hear his thoughts on mentorship, trust, resilience, family and why leaders should focus on getting 1% better every day.

 

GEN. NORDHAUS' TOP 10 LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS 

1. Lead through service. Put the mission, your team, your community, and your family before yourself; Gen. Nordhaus sees service as the foundation of his leadership approach. 

2. Treat mentorship as an everyday responsibility. Look for opportunities to guide others, while staying open to learning from them in return. 

3. Build trust through presence. Get out among your people, learn their stories, and see firsthand what they need to do their jobs well. 

4. Listen, then act on practical needs. His walkabouts helped him identify problems — like poor facilities — and work with the team to address them. 

5. Bring the whole team together to solve problems. Nordhaus describes optimism not as empty positivity, but as believing people can work together to find a solution. 

6. Keep moving forward through adversity. When challenges arise, bring in teammates, work through the problem, and persevere. 

7. Recognize that leadership is a team effort. Strong results come from integrating people with different roles, skills, and perspectives. 

8. Be humble, approachable, and credible. Treat people as individuals, greet them, and stay curious about what you can learn from them. 

9. Take care of families as well as service members. Gen. Nordhaus emphasizes that supporting families is essential to supporting the people who serve. 

10. Improve consistently and act on what matters today. Check in on your priorities, aim to get a little better each day, and make a list of what needs to be done — then do it.  

  

CHAPTERS 

00:00:00 — Genera.l Nordhaus and the National Guard’s Mission 
Gen. Steven Nordhaus describes leading the National Guard and its roles in homeland defense, global operations, disaster response, and international partnerships. 

00:03:29 — Growing Up in Ottawa and Discovering Aviation 
Gen. Nordhaus reflects on his family’s values and how flying with his uncle inspired him to pursue a career as an Air Force pilot. 

00:06:04 — The Mentor Who Guided His Path to the Air Force 
He shares how retired Maj. Don Schmienk helped him see a path to becoming a fighter pilot and remained a source of guidance throughout his career. 

00:08:13 — Mentorship as an Everyday Leadership Practice 
Gen. Nordhaus explains how he learned from his mentor and now makes a point of mentoring service members and aspiring leaders. 

00:10:13 — Hurricane Andrew and Resilience Through Adversity 
He recalls the hurricane’s destruction of his home and base and the lesson that tough times can be overcome by moving forward. 

00:13:20 — From F-16 Wingman to Joint-Team Leader 
Gen. Nordhaus describes how fighter-pilot experience helped him appreciate teamwork and the integration of military services and partners. 

00:16:02 — Choosing the National Guard and Continuing to Serve 
He explains why he joined the Guard to keep flying, serve near family, and pursue opportunities in both military and civilian aviation. 

00:18:26 — Civilian Skills as a National Guard Force Multiplier 
Gen. Nordhaus highlights how Guard members bring expertise from civilian careers into military service, strengthening their units and the nation. 

00:21:17 — Building Trust Through Presence and Personal Connection 
He describes using walkabouts, listening to service members, and helping address practical needs to build trust and unit pride. 

00:27:14 — Supporting Military Families and Practicing Self-Care 
Gen. Nordhaus discusses the importance of caring for service members’ families and maintaining his own health through exercise and outdoor activities. 

00:32:15 — Getting 1% Better Every Day 
He shares how regular check-ins, reading, and attention to physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being support continuous improvement. 

00:34:05 — Nordhaus’s Leadership SOP: Service, Optimism, and Passion 
He explains how service guides his leadership, optimism helps teams solve problems, and passion brings energy to the mission. 

00:38:34 — Leadership Lessons, Perseverance, and Guaranteed Success 
Gen. Nordhaus offers advice on teamwork, humility, resilience, and taking action, closing with a story about making a list of what needs to be done and doing it. 

 

ABOUT GEN. NORDHAUS 

BIO

Gen. Steven S. Nordhaus ’89 serves as the 30th Chief of the National Guard Bureau and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this role, he serves as a military adviser to the President, Secretary of Defense and National Security Council, while overseeing the readiness and capabilities of more than 430,000 Army and Air National Guard personnel. A 1989 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Nordhaus has spent more than three decades serving in operational, command and strategic leadership positions across the Air Force and National Guard.

A command pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours, Nordhaus has flown combat missions in Operations Southern Watch, Vigilant Warrior, Northern Watch, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. His career includes commanding the Ohio Air National Guard's 180th Fighter Wing, leading the Air National Guard Readiness Center and serving as commander of First Air Force and the Continental U.S. NORAD Region. Throughout his career, he has helped lead missions spanning homeland defense, global military operations and the development of combat-ready forces.

 

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

OUR SPEAKERS:

Gen. Steven Nordhaus ’89, guest  |  Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz ’99, host

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz  0:00

When Gen. Steven Nordhaus, Class of ’89, began flying F-16s, leadership meant being a good wingman. Today, as chief of the National Guard Bureau, he leads at an extraordinary scale. So, how does a leader keep leadership personal when responsibility grows beyond anyone's individual reach? Find out more. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of ’99, Long Blue Leadership starts now. Gen. Steven “Spock” Nordhaus is a USAFA graduate, Class of 1989. He’s the 30th chief of the National Guard Bureau and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His career began in the cockpit of an F-16, and today he leads over 430,000 soldiers and airmen serving here at home and around the world. But today we hope to get beyond the title and the stars to understand some of the experiences, the people, and the stories that shaped him into the leader he is today. So, without further ado, Chief, welcome to Long Blue Leadership.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  0:59

Thank you, Naviere. It’s great to be here with you, and I look forward to our time together. And thanks for what you do to tell stories of service members around the globe.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  1:07

Sir, it’s really easy with our graduates because the stories are so compelling. And so we’re going to jump right in. And I think before we go back in time, let’s spend a little bit of time if you would bring us into your role today. So my question would be, you know, what does serving as a chief of the National Guard Bureau— what does that actually ask of you? And what might surprise people about that role?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  1:28

Well, Naviere, as you look at the chief of the National Guard Bureau being a member of the Joint Chiefs, I have to make sure that I’m focused on the 435,000 guardsmen that are serving not only in the homeland but around the world. Today we have about 40,000 guardsmen engaged — about 20,000 overseas and about 20,000 in the homeland, either doing homeland defense or homeland security, or they’re supporting wildfires or hurricanes or doing search-and-rescue missions. Just a couple days ago, we had to save lives out in Idaho, and so somewhere around the world, the National Guard is saving a life every day. And sometimes I think it’s more like four or five lives a day. But with that, the National Guard is 20% of the Joint Force. So if you think about Absolute Resolve or Epic Fury, that’s the National Guard. And so we’re doing that war fight, but we also do homeland and partnerships, and so the defense of the homeland is done. Niney-four percent of that is done by National Guard units. We also do ballistic missile defense, which a lot of people don’t understand. We also do counter drug. Last year, we took $15 billion of drugs off of the streets in support of law enforcement across 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia, and then we also do things that help our local communities all the way across, just like the rest of the services do. So we want to be local to global, and in that partnership, so we’re helping our local fire departments, but we’re also partnered with 60% of the nations around the globe. We just signed our 117th partnership with Maryland and Kuwait. And so if you think about Saudi Arabia has partnered with Oklahoma and Indiana, California just got partnered with Mexico, and I just met with ambassador and chief of defense for Latvia, and they were one of our first partners in 1993, as that program stood up with the first 13 with the fall of the Soviet Union, and they’re partnered with Michigan.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  3:29

Wow. Well, I think about when we talk about just in general how many of us wear different hats. I think you might you might take the cake sir and all the hats that you’re wearing and the ways that you’re leading the troops. So we thank you for that. Might we spend a little time going back in time now and think about who you were back in the day before you got to the Air Force Academy? I’m curious about young Steven Nordhaus. If you could just paint a picture of what you were like.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  3:55

So, grown up in Ottawa, Ohio, it’s in Putnam County, named after Israel Putnam.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  4:02

OK.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  4:02

He was a guardsman.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  4:03

Wow, I didn’t realize that. OK.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  4:05

Nineteen April, 1775. He was in his field at a plow share when horse riders came up and said shots heard ’round the world. And he got on a horse and rode 100 miles to join the army observation, leaving his plow in the field, his tavern in town and his family, and so as I think about my time with my family — we were about faith, family and freedom, right? And so my mom and dad, incredible leaders, and so they formed me into the young adult I was, and so I was focused on playing basketball and doing sports at the time. So I really wanted to play in the NBA, but somehow I just didn’t have the skills, the height or the athleticism. So one day during my sophomore year, I went out flying with my uncle, and I’d been flying with my dad a lot, and so we were going back and forth. But it was that moment when we took off that day that I said, “Hey, I think I want to fly for a living.”

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  5:01

Wow!

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  5:02

And so I came home and talked to my dad, my dad Don, and he said, “Hey, I think you should go down the street and talk to Maj. (Ret.) Don Schmenk.” And so I knew he flew for the Air Force, but I really didn't know much more than that. So I went down the street. It was a sunny morning, and I knocked on his door, and the screen door was open. I saw him come around the corner, and he was like, “Hey, Nordhaus kid, what do you want?” And I said, “I think I want to fly for the Air Force.” And he was like, “Come in, sit down.” And so he sat down at the table, and his passion just shined through. And he was like, “You’re going to go to the Air Force Academy. If you don't go to the Air Force Academy, you're going to go through ROTC. If you don’t get accepted to ROTC, you're going to go through OTS, and you're going to fly fighters. And here's the path that you're going to take to do that.” And just instill to me what I wanted to do. So I went back and after that moment, put every effort into, you know, finding out about the Air Force Academy, finding out you know how to get in and what I need to do to be competitive.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  6:04

So he was your first kind of experience or taste of the military? Or did your dad or anyone else kind of expose you to…

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  6:13

Yes. Yeah. Thanks, Naviere. My dad had two years that he served in the Navy. And then he came back and did his last four years in the Navy Reserve. He liked his Navy time, but when he saw the opportunity for me to really get after flying, because we own a J-3 Cub, he owned a Cub at that time, and my brother and I still have it, and we still fly it.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  6:34

Wow, oh, that’s fantastic. So, and kudos to your dad for saying, “OK, I know the Navy side of the house, but, you know, based off of your goals, let's go over here.” So, Don Schmenk, it sounds like he's an incredible mentor, someone that kind of stayed in touch with you over your career. What has that relationship been like?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  6:52

Yeah, he absolutely did. So every time I would come back to Ottawa, I would go see him

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  7:00

He was like, “I got you here.”

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  7:01

I got to fly; he had a plane. I got to fly with him in it. We would, you know, we did a little bit of formation flying in the J-3 Cub and his plane, and we would talk about flying where we kept our J-3 Cub. Junior Frey was in the Navy too, and he went back. And when he got out of the Navy, he started a crop-dusting port, and so that’s where we kept our J-3 Cub for that period of time. And his son flew with Delta Airlines, so Jeff Frey. And so between flying, it was just a part of our culture back then. And so I knew I wanted to fly. And my dad was always focused on. He didn't see problems; he saw them as opportunities. So he'd go like, “Hey, yeah, there’s some problems on what you need to do to get into the Air Force Academy, but you can turn those into opportunities.” And so I always took that forward through my life. And with Don Schmenk, he was the same way with that passion, that love for aviation, but for serving as well.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  7:59

Right. It’s almost like Don Schmenk was part of the family.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  8:02

He was.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  8:03

And when I think about what he was to you, can you think of an example where you became Maj. Don Schmenk for someone else? And if you use your son as an example, I’m gonna say you're cheating a little bit.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  8:13

Well, let me do a couple things here, if I can, Naviere.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  8:15

Of course.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  8:17

When I got to know Don Schmenk a little bit better, I started learning what he did flying for the Air Force. So he flew in Vietnam and he had 235 combat missions in the F-100, and so just an amazing leader. And so he would talk about his combat time. And so as I got into flying fighters, we would go back and forth about the technology of the jets and that part. He died a few years back and when I went to see him at Christmas time, he was still cutting out F-100 paper airplanes. And so, it just goes to show his competitiveness, his love for flying. But he mentored me throughout my life. Now, you ask me who I mentor, and I feel like it's an everyday thing, right? We talked earlier before this that just yesterday I was in the BX. I was talking to somebody who wants to come be a rugby player here at the Air Force Academy.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  9:12

Great place to do it.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  9:14

I went to another location, and first lieutenant just got his commission. He's headed up to Alaska, so we were talking about how he goes into his squadron. But I do go back to you know my sons. I go back to when I was in the Air National Guard at the 180th Fighter Wing, and we would mentor other folks that would actually enlisted that would come and get commission and join the Air Force Academy. So there were multiple— Kyle, Lindsay, others that I would mentor, and that they got into the Academy and continue forward. So many opportunities. But I see that today that as leaders we need to mentor every day, and so whoever we're with, we need to where we have those moments. So whether it's an aide to camp or whether it's an XO or whether it's directors that I get to work with or other service chiefs, I'm learning from them, right? And then back and forth, passing what I learn on down as fast as I can.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  10:13

That's right. Well, mentorship being a two-way street always is much more effective. I'm curious though, what happens when there's not a mentor in your life? And I'm specifically going back to a time in ’92 when you’re a lieutenant. You’re, you know, you and Shannon are married. I think you have children on the way, or maybe one already. And Hurricane Andrew shows up and says hello. Can you take us to that moment in your life and how you navigated when maybe there wasn’t a mentor right at the doorstep?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  10:40

Well, Naviere, if I take myself back to that time, so I was flying the F-16 for about a year. We had— Whitney was about one year old. She was about a year and a half. Shannon was pregnant with Clay, and so I headed with the F-16s out to Nellis to do a red flag, and I was out there, and about a week into a two and a half week deployment, we saw that there was a hurricane coming right at Homestead, and so I called Shannon, and we called our neighbor and said, “Hey, can you grab a box of our most prized things, our wedding photos, and a couple birth certificates and things like that?” And so they grabbed that box for us. But Hurricane Andrew swept right in, destroyed her home, destroyed the base, and was really devastating across southern Florida. And to see the devastation of a Cat 5 hurricane has been helpful through my life, right, as I go up through, because in different roles I've held right. It's getting after hurricanes and things like that. But from that standpoint, we, you know, just picked up. You grab your stuff. Tough times don’t last. Tough people do. And I learned that at the boxing arena here, like week two as a cadet. I was walking through, going like, “Hey, can I really do four years of this Academy thing?” And I remember seeing that sign: “Tough times don't last. Tough people do.” And so that was a great opportunity to see how adversity comes, but you just pick up and keep moving forward. And so Shannon and I went to Shaw Air Force Base. She had our child Clay out at McConnell Air Force Base, and then we continued to fly the F-16 at Shaw for four years. But it's one of those things that we just take, as you've heard and we've talked about my standard operating procedure: service, optimism and passion, and just keep serving, right? Keep moving forward. Optimism is that problem solving that my dad gave me. It’s not problem; it can turn into opportunities. And so I went from Homestead up to Shaw, and that’s where I got to fly the Block 50 and help bring on the HARM targeting system back in the in the day, and then do some of my early combat missions.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  12:56

Well, and I’m thinking about what you’re talking about. You know, when you said it’s given you perspective. Obviously, it’s helped with, you know, the way you think about service. Keep working at it, optimism and passion. And we’re going to spend some time there. But before we do, that was probably— would you say that was one of the early moments where you had exposure to the Guard and their work there in supporting the, you know, the recovery of that area?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  13:20

Yeah, Naviere. It took about a week for me to fly back, and we flew the jets back into Shaw, and then we started doing daily hops down to Homestead to be able to get to our houses and start to recover some things. And so down there, helping to support the Guard were guardsmen, and so that was some of my early workings with the National Guard and what they did with the Florida National Guard. Gen. Haas is the adjutant general, and so you so you know for our National Guard, 435,000 strong. That's spread across the 54 adjutants generals that do amazing things, like right now, who is the adjutant general for Florida. They do all kind of things there to prep for hurricanes and disasters and wildfires and support their communities. And so to see that in action was really powerful. And the integration between Air and Army as well, the National Guard is joined by its very being as we came into existence a long time ago.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  14:18

So a little seed maybe was planted for your future that you hadn’t quite realized yet, because as you were in the F-16, you know, and we think about, you know, single seater, you know, you’re an individual excellent warfighter. I’m curious, when did the transition become— and obviously you never operate alone. You’re part of a team. But the mentality or maybe the experiences of focusing from a team perspective. When did you see that kind of envelop more in your life from being an F-16 pilot?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  14:50

Well, thanks. As we look at, you know, playing basketball, I go all the way back to those days, right? So it starts there, but the risk is different when you get to a fighter unit, in the combat and the things that are on the line once you get into the military. And certainly as a wingman, you’re trying to be the best F-16 pilot that you can, and then you become a flight lead, and then you start going like, “Hey, I got to take care of my wingman.” And then I have to make sure that we’re defending and protecting the bases that we’re operating out of. So all the guardsmen, but then you also in soldiers and airmen, you think about the whole joint team. Just as the F-16, as you go into a four-shot flight lead and then a package commander down the road, now you’re thinking about integrating all the pieces and parts. If you think about Absolute Resolve, right? You’re integrating subsea to space. All the joint services, all the team, like nobody else in the world can do. And I saw early on that it was that integration with our allies and partners, with the full joint team, with our interagency partners, with three-letter agencies. When those things all come together, that makes our military the best military on the planet.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  16:02

Absolutely, and I think about all of the support roles that go into making that happen too and I know that you come across those as well. Maybe you can share a little bit of time, general, because many of our listeners and viewers as they embark on their leadership journeys they make pivot decisions and so you’re an F-16 pilot. You know you're leading amazing things in our Air Force. What made you go into the Guard? What was the decision point in time that brought you that way?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  16:31

So Naviere, let me take this back just a little bit. So as I go to the Academy and I think about tough times don’t last, tough people do, right? And then I talk about, hey, you got to do the best you can between breakfast to lunch, at lunch to dinner, one meal at a time, and I take those things and I learned them from my dad, and then I learned them here at the Academy, then I learned them in my first squadron, and then those things continue to go forward. And so as I looked at the time when I was coming up on my initial commitment after pilot training, I saw an opportunity to do multiple things, right? To continue flying fighters and continue doing combat missions in the National Guard. I saw an opportunity to get a little bit closer to my family as my dad and my mom were growing a little bit older, and I saw incredible opportunity to also fly within airlines and fly bigger planes because I flew sail planes here at the Academy. I flew J-3 Cubs. I flew fighters. So I just love aviation. So it was about maximizing all those things together and bringing the civilian skill sets and then bringing that into the fighter cockpit as well. And so those were things that really enticed me about being able to serve in another capacity. And so at that time, I joined the 180th Fighter Wing and went from being a flight commander to a squadron commander, a vice wing commander and up to wing commander. And so I just loved my time in all that — in active duty, but also in the Guard.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  17:59

Well, it really aligns with your SOPs with service. And I think about when people are making those decisions, it’s never done in a silo in a box. There’s probably a lot of people that help you make that decision, and so you know I think retaining talent is one of the things we always want to do, especially here at the Academy when we are spending so much time in creating these leaders of character and warfighters. What’s something that you might share with someone as they’re exploring, “Do I go Guard? Do I go Reserve? Do I even consider keeping the uniform on when I'm looking at a civilian career?”

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  18:26

So for me, 37 years of service, I always say keep the uniform on. Continue serving. Find ways to continue serving your nation, and you can do that so many different ways. National Guard is one way to do that, right? And so if you think about any — whether you’re a cyber operator or whether you're a pilot or whether you’re a civil engineer — all those expertise are needed in the National Guard as well. But they also let you do the civilian skill set. I talk about Security Force Squadron in the Guard is not just made up of security defenders. In the Guard, it’s probably 70 different skill sets because they bring their skill sets right into the organization. So in that unit of 88 Security Force members, you probably have five schoolteachers, you have two plumbers, you have an electrician, you have somebody owns their own cyber business. I had a senior master sergeant in the wing that owned his own company that wrote banking code for major credit card companies and for other nations’ banking systems, and so you bring all that skill sets together, and it is just a force multiplier. And so when I go overseas and I’m talking to the combat commanders over there, or talking to a command, they really see how those extra skill sets, and even here in the homeland, they really bring that secret sauce, that special sauce that the Guard can help bring to any organization, and help add that interagency partner, the civilian skill sets and that dual-role mission, local to global partnerships.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  19:58

Gosh, I’m really glad that you shared all that, Chief. Because you know, I think when as leaders we always want to continue to grow and personal growth, and so when you just talked about bringing all those different skills and experiences into a Guard unit, there’s growth that's happening there, and that’s real powerful, I think, consideration for those that are on that you know transition bubble.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  20:17

So I just did an exercise out at Cyber Shield, 1,000 participants, 44 states and territories participated. They brought 23 of their partnered nations with them, right? And as I'm talking to them, the leader of the op for, you know, the Red Forces that is going to cause problems for those trying to defend the networks, was a first lieutenant in the Army. He had been enlisted before, so he was, you know, probably about 30. But as I was talking to him, he was like, “Sir, these are all the things that I’m going to do to make it really tough on the blue side.” And it was really over-the-top incredible. But the major general that was next to me nudged me and said, “He’s my boss in the civilian sector.”

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  21:04

Wow!

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  21:04

So those skill sets that that come together that the National Guard can help bring not only in uniform but out of uniform and then merge those together is a force multiplier for our nation.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  21:17

What an incredible story! And I’m thinking about that first lieutenant. How do you help champion those individual contributors when they’re doing those amazing things in in your unit? When you’re 435,000 strong and you’re at the at the top, how do you help champion them at the individual and tactical levels?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  21:35

Well, first thing I tell everybody, active, Guard, Reserve, tell your story because they’re all amazing. And so, as you tell your story, it helps everybody to understand how we can integrate those skills and capability, and it builds trust, right? As we talk about leadership, trust, and you can't surge it. And with these partnerships that are global, with these partnerships that are local, with what we do across the inner services, the joint force, so that we're interoperable, we’re integrated, so that when our nation needs us at that one second, we’re all ready to go at that time in that place that nobody else can do. And it’s that trust, and it’s those relationships that we build along the way that we need to keep nurturing and tell our story, so that they understand what roles and what skill sets you bring to the fight?

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  22:22

Can you talk a little bit more about trust? And I’m thinking about trust at different levels. When we’re face to face across the table, I think it’s much easier. You’re seeing me. We’re working together to establish that trust and credibility. But as the you know the work is important and the things that are happening, but we get further apart, how do you still build that trust and credibility? I’m thinking as our leaders, you know, think about this in their work lives.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  22:43

So multiple different ways. As a wing commander, I would always call them walkabouts. I would walk about the wing either clockwise or counterclockwise. And then I would go see people, right? Because as you’re going to— and sometimes I’ll do an email, but only once, and then I’m going to go see you because on the way to see you, I get to pass three or four more airmen or soldiers, and I get to say hello. I get to ask them about their story. I get to ask them how they’re doing, and I can see how the unit’s doing, right? One, for instance, I’m walking there, and I go to ammo section over at Toledo, and I walk into their, you know, locker room and stuff where they have all their equipment that they’re going back and forth with, and their old lockers. The floors dirty. They were kind of proud of it at the time. But as I continued my walk around, I went over to CE and I said, “Hey,” to the CE team, I was like, “How can we get some self-help dollars over to Ammo so that we can help get them some new lockers and get them the place that they need to be able to operate out of?” They got a couple-thousand dollars. Two weeks later, I walked back and it was like they had new lockers up. They had the floor painted. They had their symbol up. They had white rocks right outside. They had a little grill that they would grill out for lunch. They were incredibly proud. But it’s that walk around that you get to see our airmen, our soldiers, our service members, and really see what their problem sets are, and then how do we solve those? There's a book out there I just put on my reading list out to the whole National Guard. It's called Legacy. It's about the New Zealand rugby team that is highest percentage of winning. It’s about legacy. It’s about championships. It’s about trust. It’s about building that cohesiveness of the team. One of the things in there it talks about is sweep the sheds. It’s like everybody has to get out there and do the work together. So, I feel like if our airmen or soldiers are doing it, I want to do it. Like today, I wanted to jump out of a plane. The weather didn’t cooperate today, but I recently went up to Vermont and welcomed them home, the 158th. They did amazing things in Absolute Resolve, and then they got turned and they went immediately over to Epic Fury and were in the early days of that operation and continued to be until they just returned home. But one of the things I want to do as I was welcoming them off the plane was I saw our baggage details, and so I had to go over and help the baggage details. So I got to throw some bags with our airmen out there. They’re just amazing, and when you see what they do and the passion that they have, just gets you excited about serving.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  25:16

Well, not only did you get your workout in, sir, but what a way to help people feel pride, and you know they got to show you what they do. And I think about that unit that painted the floors with $2,000. Like, how much do exponentially built that pride and their work ethic? Probably even just you know more because they were like, “Wow, I'm really— I'm excited about this, and I’m happy to share it.”

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  25:37

Naviere, can I give you one more example?

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  25:16

Please do. Yes.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  25:40

I’m over at a at a base over in the CENTCOM theater. Nothing but brown desert, large concrete things that our jets are sitting in between on the bunkers. And I was a squadron commander at the time, and I hadn’t been on the night shift for about a week, so I wanted to go see the night shift. So set my alarm clock, got up at 3 in the morning, and I went out to see him. And one of the jets came back; it had a little nick in one of the blades, so they had to change the motor out. And these folks at 110 degrees at night are swapping out a motor, which normally probably takes eight hours, and they’re doing it in three or four hours

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  26:20

Under the cover of darkness, too.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  26:22

Under the cover of darkness, they have lights there, obviously. But sitting over on the side for about 15 minutes, taking a quick rest break, was Tech Sgt. Mike Green. So his call sign was Shrek there. Super awesome individual.  

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  26:33

I love that call sign.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  25:34

But that gives you kind of an idea of him, right? And so I went over and sat down next to him, and he was a little bit melancholy. I was like, “Hey, Shrek, what’s up?” He’s like, "I just talked to my wife. She just had a baby. We just had our baby.” Yeah. So it was so cool to see him in that moment. Take 15 minutes, but then he jumped right back on, and he was, you know, turning out the engine. And the next day, I talked to the maintenance. That crew took off, and every time I got into a jet that has been maintained by the United States Air Force or our National Guard, I’ve never worried about the maintenance. It’s that trust that we build every day.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  27:14

That trust is so important, and it goes beyond just the military members serving. It’s part of their family. And I think about your family and the role that they’ve played in support of your efforts as you lead others. Can we talk a little bit about how when leaders are in positions where maybe they take them away from home a lot, or, you know, they just they can’t physically be present and all the things they'd like to be? What would you share from a perspective of you know how you navigate that to really, you know, measure in moments. What would you say to some of them?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  27:45

So one of the things, if you look at our priorities for the National Guard, is warfighters and families, right? I married Shannon three days after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy, and we now have five kids, and in a couple weeks we'll have our seventh grandchild.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  28:03

Congratulations!

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus 28:04

And so we're super happy. He’s a 2016 grad.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  28:08

Yes.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  28:09

So we’re very excited for them. But it's about just you know they serve with us all the time, and so it's about that communication back and forth, which has gotten better over time. When you’re away, you can communicate a little bit better, but you're still away. You're away for birthdays, for graduations, for those things. But my wife loves being. Her dad is a retired master sergeant who was an air traffic controller here at the Air Force Academy.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  28:34

Oh my goodness! Yes.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  28:36

You know, he loves telling pilots what to do, so it’s perfect.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  28:40

Rightfully so.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  28:40

And I and I tease him with that. But I’m going to see him here in a couple days. But from that, it’s just making sure we're taking care of our families, right? So they are so critical. As we talk about recruiting a service member, we retain the families, and so we have to make sure that we're focused on getting after, taking care of our warfighters, so that they have the tools, the equipment, the warrior mentality that they need to be able to go out and inflict harm in win our nations’ wars, but come back safely and making sure we’re taking care of our families as well.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  29:11

Well, general, I love talking about self-care because I know you wanted to jump out of the plane today and do some things with the cadets, but I think you might be working out with cadets tomorrow, perhaps even.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  29:20

I am.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  29:21

So we talk about self-care. What else are you doing as someone who takes fitness and health very seriously? What else are you doing kind of in that lane?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  29:30

Well, certainly I do long walks with my wife. But I love hunting, fishing. I ride motorcycles. I play golf, and I like getting out and playing some basketball outside as well.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  29:44

Even though not NBA.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  29:46

I actually played some hoop yesterday. So I still like shooting around, and there’s just nothing better than sports, the outdoors, hiking, climbing, snow skiing when I can, when I’m out in the mountains. So, outdoor stuff and what you get to do with nature and with your fellow friends is part of that social piece, right, to be able to strengthen, but it’s also on the physical as well. So you're getting dual role, and then the spiritual comes in because of how beautiful it is. And then if you read a couple things or listen to a podcast along the way, you get that academic or mental as well. I try hard to get seven hours of sleep every night. I try to get PT in every day, one way or another. I try to make sure that I’m eating smart too, right? Now, I have splurge days, but I’m trying to watch out— you know, how much fat I’m taking in, how much protein I’m taking in, making sure I’m getting in enough liquids, and really taking care of my body. Because if I don’t take care of myself, I can’t take care of 435,000 guardsmen and the 54 adjutant generals that that are doing amazing work out there. I will say with that, as you think about taking care of your body, it’s trying to get 1% better every day. I've talked about that. There's a book out there by James Clear called Atomic Habits. Get 1% better every day, right? Breakfast to lunch, lunch to dinner. So I do that, right? And then when I think about that, I’m thinking a couple different things. So as I look at just what our service members hear all the time is how do I get a little bit better at mentally? How do I get a little bit better physically, socially and then spiritually? How do I have each of those pillars and get a little bit stronger? And then for our priorities for the National Guard, warfighters and families, No. 1. How do I get a little bit better at being a warfighter today? And how do how do we take care of our families better? And then it’s RPM — revolutions per minute, right? That stands for readiness, partnerships and modernization. How do I get a little bit better at readiness so when I’m called upon, I’m ready to go for not only my unit but for the nation. And how do I get a little bit better at partnerships, whether it’s with the local community or whether it’s with our Air Force or Navy, the integration interoperability, or whether it’s with other agencies within the homeland, or whether it’s with these incredible partners that we have around the world. How do we mash those all together and get stronger each day?

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  32:15

So when I think about getting 1% better, what would be an example of — and pick an area because there’s different ways we could approach this — but I’m curious, like, how do you peel that back one more layer and say, this is what I’m doing to get better 1% more? Like, what is it? A process you’re looking at? Is it—

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  32:32

Well, I take it through both of those two lenses, right? The mental, physical, social and spiritual. Am I staying, you know, faithful and spiritually fit? Am I…

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  32:40

A check-in.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  32:41

Yeah, check-ins.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  32:42

I love that. OK.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  32:43

With my family, right? Faith, family and freedom. Am I really— am I calling my kids? Am I talking to my mom? Am I— my dad passed away about a year ago, and so it’ll be a year on 6 October. And so, you know, it’s about checking in, checking in with friends, right? But also checking in on my physical fitness and my mental stuff. Well, the mental thing I’m always trying to get a little bit of readers reading going. So leaders are readers, and so, like I said, I just put out two books to my team to get after reading. One is Legacy, and one is Endurance, which is about Ernest Shackleton. Legacy is about building elite teams, right? That continue on and have that legacy go on and on. So you’re not just building it for you as a leader; you’re building it so it outlasts you.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  33:34

That's right. That’s the endurance.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  33:35

That’s right. And then on the endurance side, that’s Ernest Shackleton. As soon as he gets on the ice in 1915, down in Antarctica, the ice breaks his ship in two, and so his 23 members are left on the ice. And it’s about how you lead in adversity. Trust, taking care of your people, morale and how you work through things. Keep moving forward when things are against you. So those are books that I’m asking my team to read to help me get 1% better every day and help our team get 1% better every day.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  34:05

Wow, and I feel like those themes actually go hand in hand when you think about you know it covers quite a bit of how you can lead. Thank you for sharing that example. I think the check-in is really relevant. Taking a moment to check in, am I doing these things? And then to your point, it might be like, “No, I need to pick up the phone and call,” right? It’s— and then then you actually have done something. We’ve spent a little bit of time talking about different acronyms, and I want to go back to the SOPs: service, optimist — being optimistic or optimism — and passion. I think you know two of them feel very clear to me. Can we spend a little time talking about passion? Do you mind saying why did, does passion make your SOPs?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  34:44

OK, so as I was getting ready to take command of the Air National Guard Readiness Center, I got the call from my boss, the chief at the time, and I was starting to create my 30, 60, 90 plan for when I become the commander there — how I institute that. And certainly it's about vision, mission, priorities. How you start setting up the battle rhythm and how you start setting up the communication. Is the C2 right? Do you have the people in the right places? All those things that you do as a commander coming into a new organization. But I was also thinking like, “Hey, somebody’s going to ask me, like, ‘Hey, what’s your leadership style?’ And then I’d say service mentor leader.” But then what? How do you go from there? So I was thinking about, “Hey, our core values that we learn here at the Air Force Academy, when those came to be, they were genius, right? Integrity first, service before self, excellence in all that we do, right? And then in interviews, I would always get asked like, “Hey, what’s your most important, you know, core value?” And they’re all important, right? And so a lot of times I use integrity because you have to have integrity. But then I went back to service. If I have service and I’m serving other people, I’m serving the mission, I’m serving my community, I'm serving my wingmen, I’m serving the warriors I’m around, I'm serving my family. Then I have to do it with integrity, and I have to do it with excellence. So I went to service, and I was like, “Hey, if I’m doing that right, the other two will fall into place, or have to fall into place.” And then I went into optimism from my dad. It was like, “Hey, it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity.” It’s optimism. It’s not positivity. It’s not just going around going like, “Hey, right.” It’s about optimism. It’s like, we can together solve this problem. I was at the— I told you about becoming the Readiness Center commander. So it works out really important here because, like, Day 2 on the job as I became the Air National Guard Readiness Center commander, $11 billion budget, 90 wings. They came to me and said, “We just lost our recruiting contract.”

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  36:45

Oh, wow!

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  36:45

And I was like, “Sir, we probably won’t be able to make end strength. That’s really critical for us, and we don’t think we can have it up for like nine months.” And I just remember in this small group, I kind of laughed and chuckled a little bit, and I was like—

 

 Col. Naviere Walkewicz  36:59

They’re probably like, “Why is he laughing and chuckling?”

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  37:00

I’m like, “We’re the Air National Guard. Yeah, we have expertise. We can figure this out. I’ll bet we can have the website up by noon.” They had it up by 11 o’clock.

 

Col.Naviere Walkewicz  37:09

Ah, wonderful. Yes.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  37:11

And so it’s that optimism. It’s just that hope, that energy that you bring in, and that comes that energy, which is the passion. It’s that good energy that you bring in every day. So, in the morning, I wake up, you know, with five unsolvable problems that we got to work through, right? And then I use that systematic approach: breakfast to lunch, lunch to dinner. And then with that optimism and that service focus, that passion is that energy. I’m putting on my boots, going like, “Man, I get to serve 435,000 guardsmen today. Twenty percent of the joint force is in the National Guard. I get to serve the joint force today. I get to serve the one Army, the one Air Force. I get to serve 54 adjutant generals that are there working for their governors.” And you know, every day a crisis is happening somewhere, right? Whether it’s somebody needs saving, or whether it's a wildfire breaks out. We recently had one in Arkansas, and guardsmen were on it, bulldozing around it to protect it, bringing in water buckets and helicopters to put the fire out. And it was critical infrastructure for a nation that was really under duress and stress. And it was the National Guard that helped bring that in. So, and those guardsmen got up that morning, and they might have been going to work, but they got the call that they need to come in and put out a fire for our nation. And they do it with service, optimism and passion.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  38:34

Chief, I love the language you use. You said, “I get to…” and I think that perspective is powerful in itself. And so, when I think about what you experience today, and, you know, the opportunities that you get to face. What would you share with young Steven Nordhaus that graduated in 1989 that, you know, today, that you would say, “I would love for you to know this now?”

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  38:58

So it’s being part of a great team, right? The Department of War, part of, you know, the service, and now I have an Army email address, so I’m purple, right?

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  39:11

Yes, you are. That’s right.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  39:13

So 330,000 guardsmen on the Army National Guard side, 106,000 on the Air National Guard side, and as I think about that team, it’s working together and it’s building that trust. And so when I go back to being a high school ball player on a basketball team of five that I was worried about, now it’s pulling all those things together. And it’s about the vision, mission and priorities. The vision for the National Guard being elite and lethal warfighting and response force — stronger together, stronger tomorrow. The stronger together you get, I’ve been talking about that, right?

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  39:46

That’s right.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  39:46

Because we have to integrate, we got to trust, we got to work together. But it’s stronger tomorrow. What’s one thing we never get to? We never get to tomorrow. And so we got to be 1% better tomorrow as well. And how do we do that? And it really comes from I go all. The way up to the Department of War, the secretary lists out his priorities: rebuild the military, reestablish deterrence, and as you look at also the pieces and parts there for lethality, build accountability, readiness, based off of merit and standards, and having those high standards. And then we take those down into that warfighters and families, readiness partnerships, and modernization, and so we just build a systematic system that we're constantly working to get better at, so that we can be elite and lethal. We can be the shield and the sword for our nation. We can be that sentry and avenger that we talk about in our Airman's Creed.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  40:37

That’s an important role that we need to make sure that we are focused on, and I think having that mentality, knowing that today and sharing that with young you and others that are aspiring, I think that’s really important for us to kind of, you know, take internally. I’m curious because not everyone gets the opportunity to earn four stars and serve at such high levels. What might surprise leaders maybe that are earlier in their careers, that you might say, “I’m kind of like you in this way.”? Like, what might you share with them?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  41:09

Well, I know I’m not a weapon school grad, but one of the things from there is humble, approachable, credible, and I think that’s how we live our life every day. Be humble, be approachable, be credible, be focused on those things that make a difference, and knowing that every one of our individuals that we get to serve with today wakes up with different problem sets within their families, has different things that they’re trying to overcome in their jobs, and how do we work together to do that? So I just think it’s about, you know, building that relationship. And when you walk by somebody in the hallway, this academy taught me a lot because when you walk the hallway as a dooley, as a fourth-class cadet, we greet everybody, and I do the same thing in the Pentagon.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  41:53

That’s smart!

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  41:54

Because I’m like, you know, run into amazing people, and I always want to learn from everybody. So it’s about humanizing every event and making sure that we know that this is a human endeavor that gets after doing those things from you know rebuilding and reestablishing these things that our nation has asked us to do.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  42:15

Well, that makes a lot of sense. What a great lesson for someone that’s, you know, a first step is just introducing yourself and saying hello. What might be another leadership lesson that you’ve carried through your life that you might share with someone to do this every day to be a better leader, or do this now so you're a better leader later? Is there anything else you would add?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  42:33

I go back to the tough times don’t last. Tough people do. So just recognize that hey, whatever challenge you have, bring the team in, work at it. It’s not going to be easy, but you'll work through it, right? Keep moving forward. Keep finding ways to bring other teammates in and find ways to take that optimism and that passion to get to the next level. And then when you look back over your each of your times, you see that you pass through those hurdles, and if you look back, you’re grateful for the hurdles that you worked through with your faith, with your family, and with your teammates as freedom to be able to overcome anything that gets put in your way. Winston Churchill had the thing back in World War II: “Never, never, never give up.” Right? So it was about you know just staying after it with that tenacity.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  43:24

Well, incredible words, Chief. Is there anything that we didn’t talk about today that you would love to leave with our listeners and viewers?

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  43:31

Well, there’s one story that— it’s in the book Legacy that I recently, you know, as I sent it out. I read it about four years ago, and it’s a J.P. Morgan story. And so it talks about back in J.P. Morgan’s time, he was walking somewhere, and somebody brought forward an envelope, and on the front of the envelope it said “Keys to Guaranteed Success.” So J.P. Morgan took it, and he said, “If I like what’s in here, I’ll give you $25,000.” And he opened it up and he read it, and it said, “Make a list of things that you need to do today, and do them.” And he paid him $25,000.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  44:14

That could not be more true, right there. Boom. Well, that’s a great lesson in itself. That’s right. Make a list and get it done. I think that’s a wonderful lesson. Well, Chief, this has been an incredible conversation. Some of the things that really stood out incredibly well to me: the SOPs, service, optimism, and I love how you clarified being optimistic is getting to finding a way to yes and solving things, but it's not positivity where it's just rah rah, and then passion bringing the energy. I also really loved how the chief talked about being humble and approachable. Incredible, and I can share sitting across the table from a four-star general that he’s done that today and made me feel very comfortable in the way that I can learn from him and his leadership lessons throughout the years. And I think, Chief, also I really appreciate that you talked about the service member and their families, because we never do any of this alone. So when I think about your leadership lessons today, sir, we're really grateful for all of our listeners and viewers online. If you are in your leadership journey, this is certainly one you don’t want to miss. But you should also share it with others because there are so many incredible nuggets that the chief has shared today. It’s been a pleasure, general. Thank you very much.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  45:20

Well, thank you, Naviere, and I want to say thank you to all of our servicemembers serving around the world in harm’s way. We got them in our thoughts and prayers all the time, and we appreciate what they do. And we look forward to continuing to move this military forward with the warrior ethos and the warrior mindset that we have.

 

Col. Naviere Walkewicz  45:39

This has been Long Blue Leadership. Thank you for joining us, and I’m Naviere Walkewicz. We’ll see you next time. Thank you, sir.

 

Gen. Steven Nordhaus  45:45

Thank you.

 

KEYWORDS
General Stephen Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, National Guard leadership, military leadership lessons, Air Force Academy graduate, F-16 fighter pilot, National Guard service, military mentorship, leadership development, building trust in teams, service optimism and passion, resilience after Hurricane Andrew, civilian skills in the National Guard, warfighters and families, military self-care, continuous improvement, National Guard community partnerships.

 

 

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