Page 150 - Never Fly Solo

WALK THE FLIGHT LINE | 123
breeze while you lead them to the target. Leaders don’t loaf,
and neither do their teams.
In the fighter pilot world, we have formations that are com-
posed of several jets. Each formation has a flight lead respon-
sible for leading the mission, but all the jets are manned by fully
accountable and focused fighter pilots with specific roles to ful-
fill. These wingmen work as a team to get the job done, and if
one fails to do his or her job, the whole mission is apt to fail.
But the team doesn’t stop there—maintenance crews,
intelligence officers, tanker pilots, weather forecasters, and
many others are also part of the formation. Guess what hap-
pens to the mission if they don’t do their job?
The problem in business today is that many employees act
as if they were on a bus. They essentially say, “Hey, [manager,
VP, or CEO], here I am, ready for you to lead me to the target.
I’ll be right here, just sitting in the back of the bus and relax-
ing.” Or they feel as if they were on a bus because the leader
doesn’t bother to connect with them, assign them responsibili-
ties, and appreciate them.
In the corporate world, people may have well-paying
positions and be highly skilled, but if they haven’t emotionally
bought into a mission or the leader, then sooner or later they
will become apathetic and make mistakes. They’ll just be
relaxing in the back of the bus.
If your wingmen don’t care whether your company or
your shared endeavor survives in this tough economy, they
won’t go above and beyond when you need them to.
Conversely, if your wingmen feel served and respected by
you, they will put up with the extra work, cost-cutting, and
all the less-than-desirable aspects of the typical workplace.
So are you treating your wingmen like members of a for-
mation, or like students on a field trip bus? Are you spending