By traditional measure my first professional mentor was a failure. Continue reading
Tag Archives: leadership
The Scramble
To succeed under pressure we have to trust.
Every day brings the same routine for the Royal Air Force’s pilots. Wait. Stare at magazines, but never turn the pages. Watch the hands twitch around the clock face.
As the morning wears on the pilots think, “It’s almost too late, the Germans won’t be coming.” Continue reading
The Mahogany Bomber
Are we leading our teams from behind our desks?
Squadron Leader Don MacDonell’s pilots had a thirty minute release. The weather was deteriorating and Group command didn’t want them sitting in their planes waiting for the skies to clear. The Germans wouldn’t fly in this weather. With the grey clouds scudding across the hills, they’d never be able to find their targets. Continue reading
The Thin Red Line
Do you stand up for what you believe, regardless of the cost?
In 1940, Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding did, and he’s the reason, despite Tobruk and Normandy, despite the Band of Brothers and the Red Army, that we do not speak German today. Continue reading