We are leading through the most volatile business environment this generation of leaders has ever seen. Every day, it’s critical to be at our best and enable our people to do the same. Easier said than done? Absolutely. In these tumultuous times, I find myself looking back at the lessons I learned from another very stressful time in my career – flying combat missions as a C-17 pilot.
On one of the first nights of the war in Kosovo, Serbian troops were closing in on nearly one million Kosovo refugees with malintent. US Army soldiers were in position to defend the refugees but were only lightly armed. My job as a US Air Force C-17 cargo pilot was to lead a group of five aircraft to deliver tanks, armored personnel carriers, and rocket launchers to deter the Serb advancement.
In situations like these, everything you’ve learned as a leader becomes paramount. I’ve studied leadership extensively in both the armed forces and business contexts, and I’ve seen an overarching commonality for success: accomplishing the mission while enabling your people. And the latter is critical in achieving the former. What follows are the leadership tenets I brought to bear that night and continue to use as a business leader.
Defining the finish line
As the leader, it’s on you to provide a vision for your team. Be clear about what “winning” is – to your team and to yourself. In combat, this is easy – beat the bad guys. Individual career paths in the military are also better defined. In business, it’s not so simple. A clear vision, though, creates a strong foundation for the team’s alignment to keep everyone rowing in the same direction. A technique I learned through the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) called the “3-year Picture” resonates with many. The idea is to paint a qualitative and quantitative view, in terms everyone can understand, of where your organization will be in 3 years. By keeping what life will look like in the foreground, leaders ensure activity is always forwarding their teams toward common goals. If activities are off-purpose, they need to be reassessed.
Context is everything
To accomplish the mission, people need to know the “why.” Without context, at best, they can only act on your specific direction and guess at your intent. At worst, people are nodding their heads and taking minimal or no action to deliver the outcome. When people have context, they can think more broadly and innovate in far more expansive ways. They are tethered to why you’re going in the direction you are, and why the direction is important. Now you’re in a game for creative solutions. Helping your employees understand your intent can be your most powerful force multiplier.
That first night in Kosovo, we had to fly past enemy anti-aircraft weapons and through thunderstorms. If it had been a training mission, we would have headed back to Germany very early on. Knowing the context (that people’s lives were at stake) galvanized the entire crew. My copilot communicated on 6 different radios ensuring the other four airplanes held their position until it was safe, monitoring the weather, speaking with command & control and keeping the Army from confusing us with the enemy. He knew what he needed to do and didn’t feel the need to ask permission.
Once your people have context, you must empower them to make decisions. Where possible, remove yourself from the equation. Making yourself indispensable is a massive liability to the mission, and you must consider any scenario, from taking vacation to dying. It’s your job as the leader to create an environment where the team can succeed without you.
Focus on what you can control, when you can control it
Compartmentalization is essential in today’s world. Our attention is constantly being pulled in myriad directions. With time as our most important asset, the way you allocate that attention span is paramount in your effectiveness in influencing your team.
Pilots learn from the beginning that they must absolutely be in the moment when flying jets. Imagine how devastating it could be if a pilot was going 400 mph through hostile airspace while thinking about their career, relationships, or a past mistake.
Likewise, prioritizing what must happen now vs. what can wait is a critical leadership trait. In my experience, it’s not a true emergency unless lives are at stake. Really. Know when to “put it down” when it comes to things you do not have control over, and for the issues you can control—make it happen, and act decisively.
This includes taking care of yourself. Leaders cannot take care of their employees if they aren’t actively managing their own headspace and energy. I’ve seen too many leaders push through signs of burnout and have a negative impact on their team while trying to be a hero. The best leaders know when to call it, when to take the time off, and when their tank is nearing empty. Just like the flight attendant tells you before you every flight, “Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.” Make sure you get what you need so you can take care of your people.
Challenging your own leadership
Everyone works for someone. Even if you’re at the very top of your organizational pyramid, you still work for your Board of Directors. Given that, I believe everyone should evaluate their leaders. Why are they making the decisions they are? It’s okay if you don’t agree with those decisions; taking the time to understand why they choose the direction they do makes you a better follower and when the time comes, a better leader.
On TV and in the movies, soldiers and airmen are told, “and that’s an order,” as if they should blindly follow their superiors. In fact, I’ve found that junior military officers critique their leaders more than any other organization with which I’ve been associated. It’s important to note that this isn’t done in a gossipy or catty way. Instead, it’s with an eye toward how the junior person would handle the situation if/when they are faced with it in the future.
On a similar note, I’ve found the best executives are the ones that aren’t focused on their own promotion. Constantly trying to prove your worth to your manager takes a tremendous amount of effort and as a result, your own leadership suffers. Great leaders consider a 360-degree view of how to work with their manager, peers, and subordinates to accomplish the mission while also creating a collaborative environment.
Mission first, people always
You can’t accomplish your mission if you don’t take care of your people. After all, they are the ones actually executing it. Likewise, if you spend all your time trying to make everyone happy, 1) you won’t and 2) you won’t be challenging them to the extent required to achieve lofty goals. There has to be a balance between your emphasis on your people and your mission.
This balance is never more important than in times of high stress. Balancing the mission and taking care of your team – while you’re being shot at – is about as razor thin as it gets. There are plenty of examples in business, however, where leaders must decide how hard to work your people to address customer imperatives.
It’s important to remember that the more difficult or uncertain the circumstance, the more integrity becomes important. It fits every situation. Trust your intuition when it tells you something doesn’t feel right, and when it’s telling you something needs to be said. This goes for delivering for your customers as well. If it feels wrong, it probably is.
The key is to inspire people to action AND leave them feeling great about it. This means recognition ranging from pay and promotion to challenging assignments to a pat on the back. As we continue to lead through uncertainty, make sure you are on a clear mission together with your people – and that you’re taking care of yourself and your team so you can succeed together.
Skies to the C-Suite Leadership Tenets:
- Be clear about what “winning” is – to your employees and to yourself (Provide a long-term vision for your team)
- Focus on what you can control … when you can control it
- The best leaders are the ones who don’t care if they get promoted
- Take care of yourself … so you can take care of your employees
- It’s not an emergency unless lives are at stake
- Provide your employees context, and then empower them to make decisions
- Integrity always fits any situation
- Critique your leaders so you’ll have a head start when you’re in that position
- Figure out which of your peers you can count on in a crisis … then help them in their crises
- Create an environment where your team can succeed without you – don’t be indispensable
