DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- I know the first thing you're asking yourself and that is "why is this called the 20-minute leadership lesson?"

Truth be told, that was how long it took Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (Ret.) Robert Gaylor to pass on three leadership lessons to a room full of officers at a conference I had the opportunity to attend a few years ago.

Chief Gaylor began with a little about his life and career, but quickly cut to the chase in his speech. And while I don't remember the exact details of how he applied them, I clearly recall the three lessons: put your name on the mailbox, trust your people, and have fun.

Now, in my career, I have learned a lot from senior leaders like Chief Gaylor and have applied these lessons whenever possible, and I'd like to pass on these three in the hope that they help you as much as they have helped me.

Put your name on the mailbox. Whatever job the Air Force has asked you to do, take complete ownership of it or... put your name on the mailbox.

If you are in charge of the midnight meal at the dining facility, put your mark on it and make it the best meal you have ever served our Airmen. If you are in charge of loading cargo onto one of our aircraft, put your mark on it and be the best loadmaster in this wing.

You get my point. If you put your name on the mailbox, every person you come in contact with will walk away knowing exactly what you do and how well you do it.

Trust your people. Whether you are the commander, section NCOIC, or in any other position where you have Airmen working with and/or for you, you must place trust in them and their abilities.

With fewer people and increasing missions, there is absolutely too much work for one person to do in today's Air Force. Therefore, it is more critical than ever that you rely upon the Airmen you work with to take care of the tasks in their area of operations.

I think the English novelist, E. M. Forster, summed it up best when he said "One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life." And I tend to believe that a mess of life is an almost certain alternative to not trusting your people.

Have fun. Now don't get me wrong. When it comes to your work, you need to give 100% each and every day, and as you well know, there will be tough days when things don't go as planned.

But I promise you the good days always outweigh the bad days, and in the end, you should be having fun. As I tell my folks, "If you ain't havin' fun, you ain't doin' it right."

So, whether you plan on separating after your first enlistment or making it a career, hopefully in the end, you look back on your time in the Air Force the same way Thomas Edison looked at his work when he said, "I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun."

I know we all have a select set of leadership tools in our toolbox that we use on a daily basis to carry out our mission. That said, I truly believe that if you use these three and put your name on the mailbox, trust your people, and have fun, you and your unit will be successful.