The Role of Culture and Leadership in the United States Air Force Merriam Webster's dictionary defines culture as "the set of attitudes, values, goals and shared practices that characterize an institution or organization” and leadership as “the act or instance of leadership.” The United States Air Force, like any other large organization, relies on leadership at all levels to effectively carry out the own mission. Furthermore, the United States Air Force since its birth in 1947 has had an ever-evolving set of unique cultures for the organization. The union of these two concepts has directly led to the United States Air Force being considered the "best Air Force in the world". United began to develop its own unique culture well before it was even established The United States Air Force, the precursor to the United States Air Force, was founded in 1926. This organization began many of the traditions. centuries-old now associated with the United States Air Force (Beyland, 2011). Many of the current units within the United States Air Force trace their units' lineage to units created under the United States Air Force and still use organizational logos identifying them with those early units. This close association with early units, and a keen interest in maintaining the stories of early military aviation pioneers (Beyland, 2011), show how the art of organizational story telling (George & Jones, 2011) has shaped the culture of United States Air Force as a whole. Members of the United States Air Force speak what many outside the organization may see as a foreign language. Phrases liberally sprinkled with acronyms and military jargon can lead to confusion in the message to... middle of paper... eyland, T. (2011). Retrieved from the United States Air Force website: http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/media/epubs/afpam36-2241.pdfChristensen, B. (2004, February 18). Air Force Doctrinal Document 1-1. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/service_pubs/afdd1_1.pdfCreech, B. (1995). The five pillars of tqm: how to make total quality management work for you. New York, NY: Penguin.George, J. M., & Jones, G. R. (2011). Understanding and managing organizational behavior. (6 ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. McCarthy, J. (2007, August 31). Tried and true to the blue air force: a leader remembered. Retrieved from http://www.nellis.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123066613Vermillion, L. (1996). Understanding Air Force culture. (Master's thesis, Air War College) Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/cgi- bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA393915