I cant hear you!

I looked up high at the giant T-Tail over me as I stepped off the big white bus and waited there on the tarmac by the Red Cross.  

Waiting for the medics to move their convalescent patients out the back door and up the ramp, the reality of transitioning my fighter-pilot mind from prepping to fly a sunrise Dawn Patrol mission over Afghanistan, to loading up, instead, on a Medevac C-17 bound for Germany at 10 in the morning hit me like an anvil.  I turned around quickly to see jets ripping through the cold air, a two-ship of our very own Chief StrikeEagles - getting airborne over the runway next to us and driving the point firmly home for me.  

It was January 21st 2008, I was leaving the war, and I was in shock.

Stop That Ball!

Mr. Sullivan was a Giant.  To me.   

I'm convinced our team won the Goldsboro, North Carolina Boys Club Little League "World Series" in 1979 because Coach Sullivan taught me how to stop a ground ball from going between my legs.  

RDU!

Over Jordan Lake west of Raleigh NC. 30 Oct 24

Hurricane Helene Relief - By Air!

The best part of helping our Hurricane Helene victims was the chance to join with so many super volunteers at Statesville, Rutherfordton, and Ashe County airports.  

The volume of supplies sent in short notice before government authorities could arrive was just tremendous, and those who helped deliver it over the week after the traumatic event were truly joyful servants.  Such a fantastic experience!  Prayers for all those impacted by this powerful event.

1966 V-35. 1987 SL550. RDU. September 2024

OSH KOSH 2024

 OSH KOSH 2024 trip with Ben Davis and Bill Gideon

Walk the Walk!

"Teammates are always observing their leader, and as they do - they are constantly drawing their own conclusions about what the leader values based on the actions they see their leader living.  

Leaders, therefore, need to remain ever mindful of these perceptions and take charge of that narrative by taking the steps to actively demonstrate the values they care about for their teams."

                Jordan Kestenbaum

               My good friend at Disney Institute

Leadership? Or Management? You can wear BOTH hats...

Too often, these words are used interchangeably, or they are misunderstood with one regarded as superior to the other.  In truth, they're both different, and they are both essential for a team.  When supervising any group, a person needs to know when to lead, and when to manage, and how to know the difference:

MANAGEMENT: 

Optimization of those operations essential for function of the mission while minimizing disruptive change.

LEADERSHIP:

Inspiring the team to move from one place to another, by motivating essential and sometimes disruptive change required  for the successful execution of the mission.

A great supervisor knows when to wear either hat.  

How much can you empower a well-coordinated Team of Teams and stay successful?

We decentralized until it made us uncomfortable, and it was right there - on the brink of instability- that we found our sweet spot."

    General Stanley McCrystal

 Team of Teams:  New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

Sunrise At SunNFun. Lakeland Florida - April 2024

Joined up with my friend Bill.  Plane camping in Florida.

Sally from Kabul. November 2009 - March 2024

 

We said goodbye to my best friend today.  14.5 years old.  She has caught 10,000 frisbees for me....

An amazing, beautiful, majestic, athletic, empathetic friend.

Here's her story (from a post far below):

Sally's story

 Return to Three Capes Website

Servant Leadership

 

Put yourself at the bottom.  

It's a gift to be there.

Put your Team at the top.

Lift them up.  

Serve your Team.

Leaving Martha's Vineyard - August 2023

Home from Sun n Fun March 2023 (Lakeland FL)

 From Bill Gideon's Cirrus at 7500' over central Florida.  

3.6 hour flight from Lakeland Florida to Raleigh NC
Sun N Fun videos here:

Leadership is a Gift

 

Leadership is a Gift.  It's given by those who follow.

But you have to be worthy of it.

- General Mark Welsh, US Air Force Academy 2011

OSH KOSH!

Great OSH KOSH fly in with Bill Gideon. 

Our V-35 Bonanza at RDU

1966 Beechcraft V-35 Bonanza N7883L

Raleigh-Durham Airport, North Carolina

The STEP

 The Step.

The one thing all aviators share, regardless of which airplane they fly, is the Step.  The Step is anticipates.  The Step transforms.  The Step is confident. And the Step can sometimes be a fearful, courageous move.  The Step is one of those few things that only aviators do.  The Step is the glorious space of time between which an aviator makes the decision to go out and fly - that point when he or she commits to leave the ground in the machine - and the moment the engine begins turning.  This short period is known as the Step, and every Aviator knows just what it means.

LAKE RIDGE AERO-PARK

Afghanistan

With an Afghan elder near a runway northeast of Kandahar. We were working with him to use that runway to support a forward base with supplies so trucks didn’t have to risk driving on the treacherous highway from Kandahar. 

OSH KOSH

2-Ship of Taildraggers to OSH KOSH Wisconsin

With Bill Gideon and Ben Davis July 2021

Flag Day

Photo taken by and courtesy of my friend and former neighbor Beverly Church Wright at Plymouth Massachusetts. Thanks Beverly!

Towering Cumulus!

“OPEN JET.  GOT AN OPEN JET FOR AN OPS CHECK COMING UP IN THE NEXT 30”  Lt Col Kaiser announced on the PA across the squadron. 

.

Leadership is Industry Agnostic

Leadership is Industry Agnostic. 

Leadership is Change

Leadership is Action not Position

Leadership is Transformational not Transactional

Leadership is Service to The Team

Leadership is Emotion that Drives the Mission

Leadership Builds

Leadership Honors

Leadership is Grateful

Leadership is Visionary

Leadership is Selfless

Leadership Cares.

Lexington NC

Summer Flying Videos:

Ocracoke Island, NC. Let's fly there!

Lead or Manage?

"You manage things, you lead people."

Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

(shared with me today by Vesela Dashkolova)

Sally.

1972 Land Rover Series 3 88"

“If you don’t fund the State Dept, I have to buy more bullets” said General Mattis. #USGLC

As part of a US Global Leadership Coalition Group, we met today with staffs of Sen Thom Tillis, and also Representatives David Rouzer, Mark Walker, Patrick McHenry, and David Price (and others met with many more) to emphasize funding for diplomacy and global development programs, alongside defense, to keep us safer long term. 

 If you are a veteran, join us. #MCC. #USAID. #USGLC. Most every state has a delegation. Veterans For Smart Power:https://lnkd.in/eukBbY7 

22 October 2019

Learning as a Way of Being

"Since turbulent conditions appear everywhere and pervade our lives in both time and space, learning in permanent whitewater conditions is and will continue to be a constant way of life for all of us.  There are no boundaries to learning.  Learning as a way of being is a natural mode of being that is more important than ever in a complex and unstable environment."

       Peter Vaill, Learning as a Way of Being, 1996.

Champion 7GCB over TN near Abingdon VA

Flying Videos at this Link:

New Operation Airdrop Logo

https://www.operation-airdrop.com/

Great new logo for the team

They go well together:

"When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magic alchemy of great performance."

Jim Collins in "Good to Great"

"Until you've changed a plan, a policy, a procedure - You haven't learned anything."

Cujo Teschner in "Debrief to Win""

Leadership is Industry Agnostic

Never confuse leadership talent with job expertise.  They are different realms.  Both are required on the team, but both talents aren't required equally of the every teammate.

A great leader, empowered with the right freedom of action, can inspire and generate the highest possible performance from every expert member on the team - whatever that maximum level is for each person - and in so doing, create an environment of excellence & performance far beyond the leader's technical level of expertise, and far beyond whatever the team's collective level of expertise might otherwise generate without that leader.

We Fight.

“We fight with the Navy, Marines and Air Force. Our soldiers have never heard an Air Force pilot say ‘I can’t fly into that low-altitude area,’ These guys take incredible risk.   If there are troops on the ground, they are rolling in hot.” 

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley 

At Association of the United States Army Symposium. Fall 2018
Film of this is rare, obviously, but here's a relatively lower-intensity daytime example.  

F-15E StrikeEagle Close Air Support in Afghanistan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDvugsSjI6s

Operation Airdrop - Hurricane Florence Disaster Response

This picture of my new friends in Lumberton NC captures the essence of Operation Airdrop, September 2018, in Southeast North Carolina.

Old South Aerodrome. Abingdon VA, Sep 2018

Annual flying trip to West Virginia with Bill Gideon & Ben Davis

The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model

I first encountered this excellent construct at George Washington University in 1998.  This is the intellectual property the Center for Leadership Studies in Cary, NC, and is a great framework with which to consider leadership across a variety of circumstances, with different followers in mind.

Teamwork

“The wingman is absolutely indispensable. I look after my wingman. My wingman looks after me...wars are not won by individuals. They're won by teams.”

Lt Col Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, USAF.
28 victories in WWII; 6.5 MiGs over Korea

At Fuquay Angier Airport NC April 29th 2018

At the Kennebec Grass Strip south of Raleigh NC

David Johnston on Leadership, PPD, 8 March 2018

Key Attributes of a Leader:
A focus on Empathy, Servitude, Intellectual Curiosity, Ability to Flex, Active Leadership, Customer Focus, Goal Orientation, Respect for Others, Mentorship, and Fun.

How does a Servant-Leader Think About Leading?

A Servant Leader Can Transform a Team with a Change in the Leader's Mindset
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Missiles in the Air

Combat Archer Aug, 2000.  Tyndall AFB, FL. AIM-7MH Air-to-Air Missiles over the Gulf; 336th Fighter Squadron Rocketeers. 

I was flying the far jet.

At Wise VA, Lonesome Pine Airport, September 2017

With USAFA 90 Roomates Bill Gideon and Ben Davis

At UNC Chapel Hill. Horace Williams Airport.

One of my last trips to this great airport before Chapel Hill closed it.

Leadership: Organization as a Family

Inclusiveness-Cultivating team success and feelings of belonging-is one of the advantages...to leadership. Deploying this skill helps not only us but the people and organizations around us too. The positive cycle you create leads to greater success..."

Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston in 

How Remarkable Women Lead.

Lake Crabtree, Raleigh NC.

Flying over Umstead Park north of I-40, north of BassPro looking southwest.