CMSAF Wolfe’s Formula for Building a Winning Team

AURORA, Colo.—Against a backdrop of a video replay of the U.S. men’s hockey team’s stunning overtime victory to win the gold medal at the Olympics, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David R. Wolfe presented his leadership ideals at AFA’s 2026 Warfare Symposium on Feb. 25.

A hockey fan who favors the Detroit Red Wings, Wolfe wove Sunday’s dramatic victory over Canada together with the story of the last men’s hockey team to win gold, in Lake Placid, N.Y., at the 1980 Olympics.

The Americans were underdogs against a heavily favored Canadian team, just as the Americans had been underdogs 46 years ago against the dominant Soviet team. Wolfe told Airmen won by relying on “training, on grit, on trust”—and that Airmen can learn from their perseverence.

“Every player understood exactly what was required, and they executed it with discipline,” Wolfe said, just as the 1980 team did decades before in the “Miracle on Ice,” a story immortalized in the 2004 film “Miracle.”

“I wouldn’t call it a miracle,” Wolfe said. “It was the result of three things—competence, commitment, and attitude are what fueled the performance that transformed underdogs into gold medalists back in 1980 and again on Sunday.”

Wolfe, who began his career as in security forces, became the 21st CMSAF in December, selected by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, with whom he had worked at Air Combat Command. Wolfe told Airmen that—like the U.S. men’s team and women’s Olympic hockey teams, which both won gold this year—the “world knows our United States Air Force is a gold medal team.”

USAF’s golden reputation is “because of you, our Airmen,” he said. “You are asked to do what others would call impossible every single day, but instead of hoping for miracles, you deliver them. You are part of a system designed for victory, and you choose to be ready every day.”

Rather than miraculous, Wolfe said, he believes there is a clear formula for building great teams:

Competence + Commitment x Attitude = Performance

“Competence is the result of repetition, training and education that gives you the skills to perform at the highest level; commitment is the discipline to execute the plan, even when it’s hard, even when you don’t want to, even when you don’t feel like it,” Wolfe said. “Attitude is deciding to win even before the situation gives you the perfect conditions.”

Air Force maintainers, load masters and flight engineers demonstrate their competence everyday by performing methodical pre-flight checks every day, Wolfe said.

“They check the same panels, touch the same points and follow the same technical order, step-by-step, day in and day out because that repetitive checklist isn’t a chore, it’s a weapon,” Wolfe said. “It frees their mind to troubleshoot an unexpected hydraulic leak or to catch the subtle sign of stress on a part they could otherwise miss.”

Commitment in Airmen is measured in by “how much you care,” Wolfe said. “Discipline equals freedom: Every time you repeat an action, you are casting a vote for the type of person you want to be. Disciplined Airmen are not constrained by standards—they are fueled by them. They push for one more rep on the PT test when their body is screaming, they follow a technical order to the letter when no one is watching.”

Having a winning attitude isn’t easy, Wolfe said. “Setbacks are guaranteed; failure is part of the process. The disciplined ones don’t ignore setbacks, they reframe them. A winning attitude refuses to amplify negativity and instead chooses to be a source of relentless positive resolve.”

All that combines to produce “the winning mindset we need in every corner of our Air Force,” Wolfe said. “That choice, that relentless winning attitude, is what turns competence and commitment into an unbreakable force. It refuses to take no for an answer. … In a world of it’s not possible, a winning attitude says, ‘watch us.’”

Wolfe challenged Airmen to rise to the challenge as the 2026 men’s Olympic hockey team did.

“They stepped into overtime carrying 46 years of history, and they didn’t blink,” he said. “They didn’t see the pressure as a burden. They saw it as the moment to finish the job. That’s the mindset we need right now. The challenges we face are immense. The stakes are high, and that is our great opportunity.”

Airmen have a choice every day to be the best they can be or to settle for something less. They aren’t limited by rank but by their own choice of attitude. So anyone and everyone can be better simply by willing to be so.

“I challenge you to master your craft, live with a deep commitment to your teammates and the standards that bind us every single morning,” Wolfe added. “Choose your attitude. Decide to be a problem solver. Decide to find a way to win.”