Fighter Pilot Reveals Why You Never Hit Your Goals
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What insights does a fighter pilot offer about achieving goals?
What is it about fighter pilots? No matter what you see or where you go, you're always thinking, how can this be done a little bit better? 95% of our decisions are based on our own perceptions, which means that they're not based in reality. And the great thing about an execution gap is it's an emotion-free space for you to get curious as to why it exists. People believe their opinions and ideas outweigh reality. Leaders often just give a vomit of stuff that needs to get done to their team. You can only solve one problem at a time. The thing that gets in the way is fear, not ego.
Christian, dude, it's incredible to have you on the show. I'm very excited about our conversation today.
Thanks, Ryan.
How does fear impact decision-making in leadership?
It's an absolute honor to be here. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to talk today and see if we can share some insights for your audience.
Yeah, so when we were talking in the green room, you used this word that I think It is the obstacle of our day, at least in this moment. And it is uncertainty. I think that most of the stress, anxiety, you'd also use the word panic in the green room. I think one of the cores, if not the core root cause of so much of this heightened tension we deal with is uncertainty. So maybe break down with your clients with your life with your experience, like, where is this uncertainty coming from that I think everybody who's listening to this show, in some regard, feels every single day of their life and is and is dealing with in hopefully positive ways. But I think unfortunately, there's a lot of negative a lot of negative ways that we're dealing with this uncertainty as well.
Yeah, look, I think uncertainty has been there for hundreds of thousands of years. I mean, if you're a caveman and you went out hunting, there was no certainty that A, you'd find something, and B, it's not going to bite you back. So I think uncertainty has been a factor of humanity, which is why some people thrive and grow and build empires and businesses within that uncertainty, and others kind of get crushed by it. I would say the only... got a radical change in the last 10 years as we just talk about it more. And we talk about uncertainty as if it can be tamed. I have a book coming out in September. It's called A Flawless Leadership. And the premise of flawless leadership is to understand that Perfection, which has its origins in Latin and in scholarly texts, is an environment where basically you can control everything.
For something to be perfect, it has to be completely controlled and delivered both internally and externally. The way that I define a flawless leader is a leader who who understands that perfection's unattainable. And even the origin of the word flawless comes from Vikings. It's a warrior word. And it means that my stone is not broken. And it's more about what you can control. So when we look at uncertainty as human nature is geared towards survival, we tend to project externally all of our problems, like it's the world, rather than internally, which is, okay, the world is going to be uncertain. It's a given. But what I need to be focused on is how I respond to it and building the structures, the systems, the thought patterns, the philosophies that I have as an individual to view uncertainty as an opportunist rather than as a threat.
With AI... you know, I'm like everyone else. I didn't know anything really. I've been using AI since GPT-1 and having it write my emails and everything. And then I joined a program run by Dan Martell and he had this wonderful advice, which is if you need help from AI, ask it how to help you. And ever since I've done that, And I love that because it harnesses one of the core philosophies of my former, what I call career 1.0, which was as a fighter pilot, which is you're always curious. There's always this, how can I use this tool better? How can I use the airplane better? How can I fly it better? You're always asking questions. based on today's uncertainty, as it crystallizes into reality, you can carry some of that forward.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What insights does a fighter pilot offer about achieving goals?
0:00–0:44
2
How does fear impact decision-making in leadership?
0:44–6:21
3
What is the ORCA debrief framework and how can it improve execution?
6:21–9:28
4
How can leaders overcome uncertainty in their organizations?
9:28–14:53
5
What role does curiosity play in iterative thinking?
14:53–24:03
6
How can businesses effectively set and manage expectations?
24:03–36:48
7
What is the relationship between ego and effective leadership?
36:48–49:12
8
How can iterative processes lead to organizational success?
49:12–1:03:39
Speakers
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