The Leadership Lessons I Learned When I Had No Idea What I Was Doing

This was adapted from a speech I delivered at the Air Force Health Services Administration graduation for Class '26E in August 2026.

In 2003, I graduated from the Air Force Health Services Administration school and headed off to my first duty assignment at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, where I would be working at a small outpatient ambulatory care clinic.

I was excited.

I was also spectacularly clueless.

Three hours after checking into my squadron, I was sitting in my new office filling out in-processing paperwork. My door was open, and I noticed a long line of people forming outside.

I ignored it.

Clearly, it had nothing to do with me.

I was wrong.

Eventually, a Master Sergeant standing in the line looked into my office and asked:

“Hey, Lieutenant — what are you going to do about this line?”

I had absolutely no idea what to say.

I had been in the “real” Air Force for approximately 3.3 days. I was just doing what my Captain had told me to do.

Air Force's Most Clueless Second Lieutenant

In that moment, I was definitely taking first place for Air Force’s Most Clueless Second Lieutenant.

That was my first leadership lesson:

No one can tell by looking at you whether it’s your first day on the job or your last.

If you tell people it’s your first day, they may empathize.

But you still need to get up to speed.

And that lesson has stayed with me for more than two decades.

I Didn't Know It At the Time, but I Was Learning to Lead

When you start a career as an officer in the Air Force, you don’t usually get to offer input on the job you’re assigned. When I graduated from the Air Force Health Services Administration school, I had just completed a 12-week training program on how to be a health administrator. I expected to be working in the finance department, group practice management or medical logistics.

Instead, I was assigned to be a Patient Advocate.

I had never heard of a Patient Advocate before I arrived at Cannon. It wasn’t something I remembered learning about in training. And because there hadn’t been a stand-alone Patient Advocate in the organization before me, there wasn't exactly a continuity binder waiting on my desk.

Meanwhile, my fellow officers were working in the finance department, group practice management or medical logistics. They were leading programs and people.

I supervised no one.

My scope of authority was basically nonexistent.

And, even worse, several of my peers made me feel like I was wasting my time because it wasn’t a “real” health administrator job.

It got in my head a little.

But I had two choices:

1) I could sit around and complain that I wasn't doing “real” health administration.

Or

2) I could take the job I had been given and become the best freakin' Patient Advocate the base had ever seen.

Sitting around and complaining isn't really my thing.

So I got to work.

And that decision taught me far more about leadership than I realized at the time.

Lesson 1: Get up to speed quickly

When you start a new job, it’s tempting to wait until you feel like you know what you're doing before you really put yourself out there.

Don't.

You’ll probably never feel completely ready.

Instead, find people who can help you learn.

At my first job, TSgt Ross was my guide. He explained what that mysterious line outside my office was actually about. He had the experience and patience to teach me how the organization worked, help me understand the challenges our patients faced, and show me what I needed to know to become a good officer.

I still deliberately surround myself with experienced people.

In the Air Force, it’s Chief Master Sergeants and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers. Mentors. Peers who know things I don't.

That doesn't change because you get promoted.

In fact, the higher you go, the more important it becomes.

You don't have to know everything, but you do need to know how to learn.

If you’re new to a job, don't waste six months trying to prove that you already understand it.

Ask questions.

Find someone who knows the organization.

Listen.

Learn the history.

Understand the mission.

And figure out what people need from you.

Your goal isn't to appear like you've been there forever.

Your goal is to become useful as quickly as possible.

Lesson 2: Bloom where you're planted

I was all in, once I understood what it meant to be a Patient Advocate. I learned everything I could.

I spent hours listening to patients.

Then I spent even more time learning about what happens behind the scenes at an ambulatory care clinic. I learned about every department in the facility and how each one contributed to patient care.

I gave out medications in the pharmacy.

I learned how to draw blood at the clinical lab.

I watched dental laboratory technicians fabricate teeth.

I met Airmen preparing to deploy, and listened to their concerns about how their families would receive health care while they were gone.

And sometimes, I found myself sitting with people in some of their most difficult moments.

I remember sitting with someone who was devastated about an Airman who just received a terminal diagnosis. This wasn’t a problem I could solve.

All I could say was: “I really wish you didn’t have to go through this.”

That job taught me something I didn't appreciate at the time:

You can learn something valuable from almost any job if you are willing to pay attention.

I've had jobs I loved.

I've had jobs I didn't love.

I've had jobs I thought I was ready for.

And I've had jobs that put my impostor syndrome on full alert.

But some of the experiences that shaped me most came from jobs that weren't necessarily part of my plans.

Blooming where you're planted doesn't mean giving up on your goals.

It means making the most of where you are while you're on the way to where you want to go.

Your goal should be to become so good at your job that you make it difficult for your organization to let you go, but easy for them to recommend you for the job you want next.

Lesson 3: Be an engaged listener

As a Patient Advocate, listening was most of my job.

People didn't always come to me because they needed me to fix something.

Sometimes they simply needed to be heard.

That experience has stayed with me throughout my career.

Years later, on the first day I became a Medical Group Commander, I found myself listening to another senior leader express frustration about the treatment one of his Airmen had received.

Different job.

Different rank.

Different circumstances.

Same fundamental leadership skill.

Listen.

Listen to your employees.

Listen to your peers.

Listen to your boss.

Listen when someone is frustrated with a decision you made.

And listen when your first instinct is defensive and you want to explain why they’re wrong.

You don't have to agree with someone to listen to them.

You don't even have to fix the problem.

Sometimes people just need to know that someone cared enough to hear them.

However, if an employee comes to you complaining about a policy that can’t be changed, I don’t recommend you respond with, “I really wish you didn’t have to go through this.”

Lesson 4: You can influence without authority

As a Patient Advocate, I supervised no one, and I had no formal authority.

But I could still advocate, advise and influence.

I advocated for patients and staff members.

I advised senior leaders on ways to improve provider satisfaction, which could ultimately improve the patient experience.

And I learned that authority and influence are not the same thing.

You may not have the authority to approve a major change.

You may not even have the authority to make a small change.

But you can still influence the people who do.

I've found that influence comes down to three pillars of influence: Credibility, Relationships, and Understanding the Mission.

Credibility

Your reputation matters.

Especially in organizations where people talk.

In my world, there’s probably only about three degrees of separation between Medical Service Corps officers.

If you establish yourself as someone who is credible, trustworthy and gets things done, people you have never met may already know that about you.

The reverse is also true.

The choice is yours.

Relationships

People are much more likely to listen to someone they trust.

Build relationships by listening. Show genuine interest in people. Do what you say you're going to do. Be someone others can count on.

And remember that relationships aren't something you suddenly start building when you need something.

Build them before you need them.

Understanding the mission

If you want people to support an idea, explain how it helps the organization succeed.

Don't just tell people what you want to change.

Help them understand why it matters.

When you can connect your recommendation to the organization's goals, you move the conversation from:

“This is what I want.”

to:

“This is how we can accomplish what we're trying to do.”

That is influence.

Lesson 5: Advocate for yourself

As much as I had learned to enjoy the role of Patient Advocate, I knew it wasn’t something I would do forever.

I had my heart set on becoming a Group Practice Manager (GPM).

So when the GPM at the time was preparing to leave, I asked if I could take the job.

Leadership said no.

I waited. I continued to do my best at the job I was assigned.

Then I asked again.

Still no.

A few months later, I asked again.

At some point, I'm sure they were thinking: “Is she going to keep asking until we let her do it?”

Pretty much.

Eventually, they gave me the job.

Maybe they decided I was ready.

Maybe they ran out of ways to tell me no.

Either way, it worked out for me.

Now, I'm not suggesting you walk into your supervisor's office tomorrow and demand the job you want.

Please don't do that. It may not go so well.

Read the room and understand the timing.

And ideally, have something to back up your request besides enthusiasm and a pulse.

But I do want you to remember this:

No one will take care of your career as well as you will.

People cannot support you if they don't know what you want.

If you want more responsibility, raise your hand.

If you want a developmental opportunity, ask about it.

If you want to lead a team someday, say so.

If someone tells you no, ask why.

Maybe the answer really is no.

Maybe the timing isn't right.

Maybe you need more experience.

That's okay.

The important thing is to understand what needs to happen before the answer can become yes.

Advocating for yourself doesn't mean believing you deserve every opportunity.

It means being willing to say:

“This is where I want to go. What do I need to do to get there?”

Then listen to the answer.

Seek real feedback.

Act on it.

And don't wait for your formal feedback session to have those conversations.

What I wish I could tell that clueless second lieutenant

It’s been a couple decades now and I can look back at the Second Lieutenant I was and laugh.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured it out.

And some of the most important leadership lessons of my career came from my first job, where I supervised no one and had almost no authority.

That's the part I wish I could go back and tell her.

The job you hold does not define you as a leader.

You don't need a fancy title or a team of people reporting to you.

And you certainly don't need to have everything figured out.

Leadership can be asking a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer for help, or making the most out of a job you didn’t ask for.

Sometimes it’s sitting quietly while someone tells you something difficult.

And other times it means raising your hand and saying, “I'd like to do that. What do I need to do to get there?”

What I Took With Me From That First Job

• Get up to speed quickly. You don't need to know everything, but you need to know how to learn.

• Bloom where you're planted. Make the most of the job you have while working toward the job you want.

• Be an engaged listener. People don't always need you to fix something. Sometimes they need you to hear them.

• Influence without authority. Build credibility, relationships and an understanding of the mission.

• Advocate for yourself. No one will manage your career better than you will.

You're going to have jobs you love, and you're going to have jobs you don't love.

You'll have leaders who inspire you and leaders who challenge you.

And there will be moments when you're convinced you missed a memo somewhere.

You probably didn't.

It's all part of the journey.

And if you find yourself sitting in a new office one day, staring at a problem you don't understand and wondering whether someone made a mistake by putting you there, remember:

You don't have to know everything on day one.

You just have to be willing to learn — and then get to work.

What’s one leadership lesson you learned the hard way—or from a job you never expected to teach you anything about leadership? Share it in the comments below. Your experience might be exactly what another leader needs to hear.