Kudos to Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Logistics team for their virtual Product Support Manager (PSM) Forum this week. Over 160 attendees from across the Air Force life cycle logistics, product support, and sustainment enterprise are in attendance.

In addition to the plethora of product support information, issues and initiatives that were discussed (or are still on the agenda), wanted to share several memorable quotes that I’d already captured in just the first few hours:

• "Speed with Discipline" - AFMC/CC (Speaking of the Adaptive Acquisition Framework)
• “You earn a seat at the table based on the value you provide" - SAF/AQD (Speaking of Product Support Managers)
• "You need a 'Skill Set Buffet'" - Chief, AFLCMC Logistics Workforce Development Lead (Speaking of interdisciplinary integration across the product support realm)
• "We need leaders with broad knowledge and experience who are willing to operate beyond a single functional area. We need leaders who are willing to operate outside of their lane and above their pay grade." - PEO and Director for Digital, AFLCMC/HB (Speaking of successful defense acquisition professionals)
• "The PSM of the future must span the gap between business, contracting, program management, systems engineering." They must be able to "blur the lines" within the context of and in support of an "agile ecosystem" - PEO and Director for Weapons, AFLCMC/EB (speaking of Product Support Managers)
• "Lead, Explain, Develop. Be an executive leader. Executive leaders bring clarity" AFLCMC/CC
• “You’ve got to have an action-oriented LCSP (life cycle sustainment plan)” - Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection (HAF A4)

Words of wisdom, indeed!