When you work in a lethal consequence environment, you are used to dealing with the very best operators on the planet.
The thing is, they don't just walk in the door that way.
Most students, whether they are fighter pilots, special operations members, or high-speed train drivers, all begin their training having been selected due to high scores in a general intelligence exam, a relevant eye-hand coordination / motor skills test and a comprehensive medical.
The average fighter pilot is in the 0.001 percentile of applicants. It's nothing personal against those who don't make it. Some people simply don't have it in them. Genetics plays a lot into this. You will find a lot of father / son pilots. While this can be viewed as nepotism by the disgruntled, I can reliably say that it's not.
So here's a guy who found himself selected for flight training. One in a million chance. Well done.
Training begins. He's a fantastic student. Knowledgable and into the job from an early age. Passes his initial training on a small aircraft and then moves up to faster machines. He studies hard, aces the theory test and is getting high marks outside in the air.
He appears to be able to deal with anything. One morning he arrives for a briefing, gets into the plane and flies to his usually high standard. Instructor in the back stays quiet during the flight, as there is not much to say. They both walk back into the hangar and the instructor lets rip at the student for a string of violations and sloppy flying.
"What do you think you're doing?" "That's some of the worst flying I've ever seen?" "Are you trying to kill us both?" "Listen. No more flying for you this week. We will talk on Monday." The student has just been through what is known as a 'manufactured fail'. And he will probably never know about it unless he becomes an instructor himself one day. The best students on a course are not the ones who don't fail. They are the ones who have failed, improved and learned to deal with it. Better to have this kid fail and suck up the dread and shame of it while on home soil, rather than on a disaster of a mission overseas. A friend of mine calls it the Gift Of Failure. The same thing applies in business. Especially when you start moving up into higher levels of earning and responsibility. If you're on a roll and everything is going right. Ask yourself what would happen if it all went wrong now. If that deal goes pear shaped, how are you going to respond to it? This is not the time for lying to yourself. I find it amazing how many men can't seem to look themselves in the eye and say:
"Do you know what? I might actually fall to pieces if this doesn't go right. I'd better talk to someone and get advice in advance." Learn to fail.
Until next time! Six