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Humor me while I tell you a story from the time I spent in the south of France not long after 9/11, a story that involves 10 long-dead Americans, their B-24, and a French vineyard filled with people glad to stand in the hot sun together for an hour.
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The military challenge coin tradition is part history, part folklore, and part living squadron culture. In fighter squadrons, a challenge coin is a symbol of belonging, loyalty, readiness, and camaraderie. I created my Wingman Executive Coaching challenge coin in that same spirit.
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As an Air Force fighter pilot turned leadership coach and organizational dynamics expert, I help leaders and teams survive and thrive in challenging times. I do this by being a wingman for my clients, as part of my commitment to what I call, “Wingman Life.” We all saw Wingman Life in action between Maverick and…
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Even though it’s been a very long time since I logged flight time in an F-15E, this story remains fresh in my memory, reminding me that we can have the best kinds of reasons for doing things and still be tragically wrong. That’s true in our identities as fighter pilots, as leaders, as colleagues, as…
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My 9/11 story as a United Airlines pilot is about where I wasn’t and what I wasn’t doing that day, and the courage it took for me to take a nap on a jet a few days later.
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All these years after Desert Shield and Desert Storm, it still moves me to think that someone went to the trouble to take the picture of me here, as a crowd of my squadron mates took the trouble to meet me at the aircraft after my “fini flight,” to celebrate my departure from the unit.
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All my experiences throughout my life’s journey have helped instill me with my passion for partnering with others now as a leadership coach, in what the International Coaching Federation defines as “a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires [others] to maximize their personal and professional potential.” Sounds like good work, if you can get it,…
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When we live a wingman life with our family, friends, and colleagues, as wingmen for one another, we are practicing coaching culture – and I don’t think there is any better kind of life. No jets required.
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Many fighter pilots fly solo, and they generally manage just fine without backseaters, but never without wingmen. On that day in Iraq and Turkey, Cheater and Dietz were my wingmen in the other jet, and Gump was my wingman three feet behind me.
Flight (B)log
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