I joined Kinsley ‘Trigger’ Jordan and his “Fail Fast Friday” episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCOWNfkj5Y) to talk about failure and how to rebound from setbacks. We all have stumbled in our personal and professional lives. The difference between those who get up and move forward versus those who never recover is often mental. As a commander in combat, I watched firsthand how men and women managed the most stressful period of their professional lives. There are lots of cliches about getting back up when you trip, picking yourself up from the ground and moving on. I know there is no Silver Bullet solution that works for everyone, but I do know that there is a difference between those who manage that recovery and succeed and those who are haunted by their failures.
I contend that anyone who has not had failures to overcome in their upbringing and professional development will not have found the strength inside themselves to succeed when the pressure is really on. I sent fighter pilots home from combat because they could not perform in wartime and could not recover from their mistakes. Throughout the many stages of pilot training, I have seen time and time again people stumble and not be able to recover mentally to rid themselves of the emotional baggage to then move on. I flew single seat fighters for the vast majority of my 40 years as a fighter pilot and say often that there is:
“no room in that cockpit for two of us”
…no room for my emotional baggage in there along with the ‘present me’.
Great talk with Trigger Jordan about succeeding after failure. I look forward to your comments.
In my opinion, we are witnessing a classic failure of leadership on the part of the Commander of the RCAF in canceling the Battle of Britain Commemoration this coming Sunday, Sep. 18. Unless of course he was ordered to do so and that would be an even bigger (higher level?) failure of leadership. It appears, at least by searching online, that the RAF will carry on as usual and not cancel the Commemoration. It does come close to the following day’s funeral of HRH Queen Elizabeth II but the RAF seems to be able to handle the added stress while we, in Canada, cannot. We came within a hair of losing WW II and that winning that battle is well worth remembering for many years to come.
This is a sad situation and needs some examination of its justification. It is difficult for me to see much success following. This thought was triggered by your Blog above. Billy Best
Mr. Flynn you care to comment on this video? Listen in at the 53 minute mark…….says F-35 will lose “easily” to 4th Gen Fighters like the F-16 WVR! (confused) https://youtu.be/v48d4UkKOUo
Please feel free to listen to the next episode from the series “Fight’s On”. I comment on that very issue.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fighter-pilot-podcast/id1330534712
Thank You….SIR