When I first learned to fly, it was always in great conditions. Clear and sunny skies, no turbulence and very little traffic, with my instructor handling all radio communications. This helped me gain confidence, learn to trust my instincts and develop a real feel for piloting the aircraft. I was perfectly comfortable “flying by the seat of my pants” without a system or procedure.
In my last post, I referred to “heads-down management,” a term used to describe leaders who duck to avoid inevitable collisions with unpleasant circumstances. In other words, they avoid bad news.
It’s amazing how most business issues are predictable. They rarely surprise us, yet so often leaders are unprepared to handle them as they surface. Why is that?
Most people know that pilots use checklists. Regardless of seniority, experience or hours logged in the cockpit, all safe pilots depend on multiple checklists at various times during a flight.
My last article referred to the drastic difference between the 99.9 percent success rate in commercial aviation versus the 50 percent success rate for business owners. Today I’m beginning a series of short “lessons from the cockpit” posts to address the ways business owners can narrow that gap.
