Two foundational leadership requirements …
Overview
Colonel Athens will begin a conversation ‘Leaders: stay humble and kind … addressing the why and the how’. He will discuss where both attributes fitted in raising 10 children (!) along with the fine balance between kindness and ‘firmness’ as a leader. Colonel Athens will illustrate the immense need for humility and kindness in the leadership role he had with NASA following the Challenger accident. This is the second of a series of four conversations with conference speakers facilitated by Oscar Roche.
Host Company
Presenter
Colonel Athens is the former Director of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership and the Academy’s first Distinguished Military Professor of Leadership.
He is a retired Marine, having served in significant command and staff positions in all four Marine Aircraft Wings, as a Space Operations Officer with the U.S. Space Command, and as an instructor at the Marine Corps’ equivalent to the Navy’s Top Gun. Additionally, he was a White House Fellow under President Ronald Reagan and the Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator following the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. He graduated, with distinction, from the Naval Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies.
Colonel Athens currently speaks around the country, addressing leaders in the military, law enforcement, health care, manufacturing, public education, and collegiate athletics. He and his wife Misti have 10 children and 26 grandchildren.
Agenda
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Central Time
3 p.m. Introduction.
3:02 p.m. Conversation (with audience questions).
3:25 p.m. Further audience questions?
3:28 p.m. Wrap up.
PARTICIPANT BENEFITS
- Why humility and common courtesy are foundational elements of exceptionally ethical leadership.
- Ideas for a daily habit that will build humility into your ‘leadership day’.
- An insight into the content of Colonel Athen’s keynote at the AME conference.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Any leader whose own results are dependent on the will and cooperation of those around them!
Safety Requirements
OTHER REGISTRATION INFORMATION
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