From the U.S. Air Force to higher education, General Jay Silveria’s leadership career has been as wide-ranging as they come. After leading pilots into combat and going viral for the anti-racist speech he made while Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy, Silveria now serves as the Executive Director of Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government & Public Service. The thread beneath all his experiences is that he’s a true servant leader — one who invests time in getting to know his people as a mission imperative.
He and Maril discuss why innovation starts with leaders, and a “bottom-up” approach to fostering innovation rarely gets the job done; why it’s so critical to de-brief and review not just after things go wrong, but after they succeed as well; and why a leader’s responsibility is to look ahead, imagining contingencies and planning for what could go wrong.
About General Jay Silveria
Lieutenant General (Ret.) Jay B. Silveria is the Executive Director of Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government & Public Service in Washington, DC. Appointed to the position by Bush School Dean Mark Welsh III in September 2020, Silveria brought with him a wealth of experience and a vision to provide a stellar educational experience to graduate students seeking careers in government and public service.
Prior to joining the Bush School, General Silveria served as Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There he directed a four-year regimen of military training and academic, athletic, and character development programs that led students to a bachelor of science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant.
General Silveria served as the Deputy Commander, Combined Air Force Air Component, U.S. Central Command, Southwest Asia. In that role, he was responsible for the command and control of air operations in a twenty-nation area of responsibility covering Central and Southwest Asia. Key military operations Resolute Support in Afghanistan and Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria took place under his command.
He previously served as Commander, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and Vice Commander, 14th Air Force of Air Force Space Command at Vandenberg AFB, California, as well as Director, Security Assistance in the Office of Security Cooperation-Baghdad, Iraq. A Command pilot with more than 3,900 flight hours in the F-15 and F-35, General Silveria has flown combat sorties over the Balkans and Iraq. General Silveria commanded a Fighter Wing, an Air Operation Center, and a Fighter Squadron. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal and a Bronze Star, along with multiple Air Medals, during his career.
About Let Go & Lead
Let Go & Lead is a leadership community created by Maril MacDonald, founder and CEO of Gagen MacDonald. Maril brings together provocateurs, pioneers, thought leaders and those leading the conversation around culture, transformation and change.
Over the course of the past 14 years, Let Go & Lead has existed in many forms, from video interviews to resource guides to its current iteration as a podcast. At its core, it remains a place where people can access a diversity of perspectives on interdisciplinary approaches to leadership. Maril is also working on a book incorporating these insights gathered over the past several years from global leaders and change makers.
Maril has interviewed over 140 leaders — from business to academia and nonprofits to the arts — through the years. In each conversation, from personal anecdotes to ground-breaking scientific analysis, she has probed the lessons learned in leadership. From these conversations, the Let Go & Lead framework has emerged. It is both a personal and organizational resource that aims to serve the individual leader or leadership at scale.
Full episodes are also available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
About Gagen MacDonald
At Gagen MacDonald, we are dedicated to helping organizations navigate the human struggle of change. We are a people-focused consulting firm and our passion is improving the employee experience — for everyone. For more than 25 years, we have been working with companies to create clarity from chaos by uniting employees across all levels around a single vision so they can achieve results and realize their future.
We have been a pioneer in bringing humanity to strategy execution, leading in areas such as organizational communication, culture, leadership, and employee engagement. Our Vision is to lift all humanity by transforming the companies that transform the world.