Warrior Heart Editor Q&A
Dr. Susan Steen, Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian, and Dr. Mary Bartlett
- What prompted the stand-up of the Resilience Research Task Force?
The seeds were planted more than a decade ago, when a Tiger Team convened in 2013 to provide recommendations to the then–Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force on how to develop resilience across the DAF. One recommendation proposed that resilience education and training be infused into all officer training (starting with professional military education courses) based on the belief that leaders should model ways of building resilience in themselves and their organizations.
At Air University, a research task force was formed in 2018 by Col (Dr.) Paul Nelson and Dr. Joel Farrell, along with several dedicated Air War College (AWC) students. In 2020 Dr. Amy Baxter (then director of research for the Global College of Professional Military Education) stepped in to lead the effort, and I (Susan Steen, Air Force Culture and Language Center Associate Professor of Cross-Cultural Communication) assumed leadership of the project in 2021 with support from Dr. Mary Bartlett and Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian. We’ve had invaluable contributions of expertise from AU professors and a variety of distinguished guest speakers along the way.
- What were the Resilience RTF’s initial goals? Have those goals changed over the annual iterations of the task force?
Since the beginning, the Resilience RTF has focused on identifying and developing practical, evidence-based solutions and recommendations to address resilience challenges facing Airmen, the Air Force, and the Department of Defense. Our students—drawn from AWC and Air Command and Staff College—bring a wealth of lived professional military experience and interests to this effort.
Our goals have not changed. However, in recent years we’ve widened the lens to explore key social and organizational dimensions of resilience along with personal resilience. This is especially important for our military. We know that organizations are not resilient solely because they are filled with resilient individuals but because of a complex interplay of culture, people, structure, process, and leadership. We use interdisciplinary perspectives to examine the leader’s role in building resilient cultures and teams to help emerging military leaders understand what real, day-to-day resilience skill-building can look like infused into the fabric of their command.
- What unexpected findings did the students uncover?
They discovered that resilience is not something you either have or you don’t; it can be deliberately developed and cultivated. They learned that resilience is not only an outcome, but a process, and the process requires proactive anticipation of (and preparation for) adversity to weather it effectively. They identified some key cultural and generational shifts that will likely shape the future of military resilience, readiness, and team building. They realized that tightly connected, cohesive teams are resilient teams. And our students have discovered that resilience is a purposeful, deliberate, continuous practice—a way of living and leading, rather than simply holding an occasional Resilience Day or sending Airmen to a course or training event.
- How do you connect this research on resilience to warfighter readiness?
Resilience is a force multiplier for warfighter readiness. The Air Force defines resilience as the ability to adapt to changing conditions and prepare for, withstand, and rapidly recover from disruption. Military members must be equipped with the mindsets and skill sets to accomplish the mission and achieve operational, strategic and national security objectives in the face of chaos and uncertainty. Leaders must adopt a proactive posture to build resilience capacity by cultivating cohesive, connected teams. Resilience and readiness are interwoven like threads of the same cloth.
- What feedback has Warrior Heart generated around the Air and Space Forces or the wider defense community?
Warrior Heart has been received with open arms, and we’re getting requests for more research that blends the lived professional experience of our warrior-scholars with deeply informed analysis on resilience-related issues. The value of these leaders translating their respective findings into actionable, practical recommendations for other military leaders is evident in the response to the book. Our authors have presented their findings at various conferences and professional meetings over the past year. At every event, we’ve been struck by the overwhelmingly positive reaction and the requests by audience members to make these resilience lessons and takeaways more widely accessible. One of Warrior Heart’s authors responded by suggesting that leaders consider holding a monthly discussion on each chapter, which is an excellent idea. There are many ways a leader can weave resilience into meaningful discussions within the unit. For us (Dr. Khachadoorian, Dr. Bartlett, and me), the reaction to this book has underscored the importance of encouraging ongoing resilience conversations among service members.
- What do you want readers to take from Warrior Heart?
Resilience and readiness are inseverable. The book features topics ranging from generational difference to the relationship of grit and hardiness to resilience, to combat readiness and recovery, to developing team resilience, and more. The work attests that resilience is much more than a course or training activity; it’s a holistic way of living, being, thinking and leading across the DA— and across all services.