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tomer service, put in the hours necessary to make sure a
project gets done right, or give a top gun presentation to a
client. In highly competitive work environments that are
constantly changing, you can’t afford to have your team
check out. Everyone, regardless of their role, contributes to
a mission’s overall success. So always respect and appreciate
your wingmen. Put in the effort to check their blind spots.
Call out the missiles, and give feedback when necessary.
Offer your help, and say “thank you” whenever you can. By
doing this, you’ll build a trustworthy and committed team
that will drive you and your whole organization to new
heights.

GET YOUR WINGMEN IN FORMATION

Jim Collins is the author of the bestselling book Good to
Great, one of the best business leadership books ever written.
In Good to Great, Collins uses the analogy of getting the right
people on the right bus before executing a business strategy.
While this makes sense conceptually, I prefer to look at the
bus analogy in a different way.
Have you ever been on a private or public bus? Can you
remember, back in high school, taking a field trip to the
museum or to a special event? What were the passengers
doing in the back of the bus? Reading, sleeping, listening to
music, maybe even misbehaving. In essence, they were doing
nothing! The only person doing anything to get the bus where
it needed to go was the driver.
That’s fine for a field trip, but it’s no way to run a busi-
ness. When you gather a team of wingmen to accomplish a
mission, they need to get on board and get to work! They
shouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing and shooting the