The Leadership Growth Podcast

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Iterative Leadership in the Digital Age

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Leadership Growth Podcast.

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I'm your host, Daniel Stewart, along with my brother, Peter Stewart.

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And we are especially excited to have a fantastic guest with us today.

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Boo Boucousis, welcome to the Leadership Growth Podcast.

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Daniel, Peter, thanks for having me.

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Very excited.

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Absolutely, especially to talk about such a fantastic topic,

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iterative leadership in the age of this digital, digital factor, digital front,

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digital marketplace, digital world that we live in.

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As we, before we dive into what leadership looks like in this digital age,

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I just want to share a little bit of background around Boo.

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So some of you may not even know his first name.

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So Christian “Boo” Boucousis is the CEO of Afterburner,

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a leadership company that has spent the last 30 years

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bringing fighter pilot precision and execution into business.

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His latest book, The Afterburner Advantage, is an Amazon bestseller

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in the leadership category and shares how this mindset

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has helped over 3,500 organizations

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and more than 2 million leaders,

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including two NFL teams that went on to win the Super Bowl,

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perform under pressure and lead with intention.

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I love it.

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So Boo, welcome again to the Leadership Growth Podcast.

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Thanks guys.

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This is going to be awesome.

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So give us a sense.

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I know I had mentioned to you, we might be diving into iterative leadership,

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but before we do that, give us a sense of your background, if you don't mind.

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I see you are well suited physically, already in your background.

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Give us a sense of that background and what that has led to,

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to help kind of define how you support and build leaders today.

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Great.

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I've got to be very careful with this question because I can literally

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talk nonstop for 45 minutes from now.

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So I'll try and give you the abridged version.

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So let's use the way fighter pilots think, which is all about the destination, right?

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So we always start with the target, the destination where we're going.

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So right now I'm the CEO of an organization that's on a mission

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to build what we call flawless leaders.

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And we're looking to build 2 million leaders in that five year period.

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And a flawless leader is a leader who transcends overwhelm

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and moves into a world of impact

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where they're driven by impact, they create impact,

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and if you look at modern era, leadership is a force for good in the world.

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And being a good leader at the moment is actually pretty hard to do.

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The...

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Why am I passionate about this?

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Because my life has been very, a random cataclysm of events

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that have got me into this seat right now.

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So I'm obviously, if you're listening to this, you're not going to see it,

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but I'm wearing a flight suit, right?

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And, and for 2026, I've made a decision to wear a flight suit all the time.

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All right.

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Cause I need to try and embody this brand

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as deeply uncomfortable as that with that, as I am.

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Uh, and, and catching airplanes and wearing this thing.

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I appreciate that part of this journey and leading this journey

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is to be ambassadorial in what I do, right?

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So that also connects me to my core DNA

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and how that feeds into flawless leadership.

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So when I was five, I went to an air show in Australia and I was in a, in a state

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that we call Queensland, which is like Florida,

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you know, we have crocodiles instead of alligators.

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And, and at this air show, I was kind of introduced to this idea of fighter,

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fighter, fighter flying jets, the whole deal, right?

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And I was at this air show, watching these jets fly past and seeing the pilots

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in the cockpit and walking around in their flight suits and patches

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and these helmets and masks.

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And, you know, this was back in the late seventies.

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So star Wars was a thing.

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And I felt like, wow, this is like the movie, you know, brought to life

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and then the noise and, and probably the most memorable thing is the jet fuel.

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Just the smell of that, that the potency of, of the jet fuel

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and what that actually means in these, in these airplanes that are really engineered

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for combat and embody the warrior's creed.

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And for me, it was just, I was going to be a fighter pilot.

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You know, that was it.

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I decided that was, that was my destiny.

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And that drove everything I did from that day forward.

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So I, a few years ago I was diagnosed with chronic ADHD,

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sort of 99.6 on the self-assess scale.

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And I did that because my son was struggling at school

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and the school wanted me to take a test

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to see whether it was hereditary and sure enough.

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And that explained a lot because during school, I really struggled academically.

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I loved sports.

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I was an athlete.

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I rode, I ran track, I played volleyball.

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Uh, and anything that required like effort really,

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that was really focused into something tangible,

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I was really, really good at.

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But get me in a chemistry lab or understanding the fundamentals of physics

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and I was tuned out, right.

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But because I had this passion of this destination to become a fighter pilot,

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you know, it motivated me to do the things that as a jock at school,

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I didn't want to do.

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Go to the nerd...

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the, the, the kids that struggled at school, the lessons after school,

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uh, and doing the, the extra yards.

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And that one-on-one time really helped me.

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And I was so bad at school that I repeated my final year of high school.

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So I, I didn't get the marks that I wanted in the first time around,

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and I did it again.

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Uh, and I still struggled.

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And I got just the bare minimum marks that I needed to become a fighter pilot.

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And in Australia, we have a direct entry pathway to be a fighter pilot.

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We don't have to have a college degree to be a pilot.

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Uh, we can just join straight from school.

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And I'd already started flying.

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You know, I was flying at high school at nighttime.

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I was going to a community college and doing all my aviation subjects.

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Uh, I flew first solo in an airplane when I was 15 years of age,

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I had my private pilot license at the age of 17.

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And I was flying around the country and holding down three jobs

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at a video store at a bar, um, and mowing lawns to pay for that.

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Uh, and whilst at school,

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I was applying to be a fighter pilot from the age of 17.

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Uh, so, so I was, I was in the system.

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I was there all the time.

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I was learning, I was learning.

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And eventually, you know, I got to the final hurdle,

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which is an officer selection board where there's four people assessing you.

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There's like a psychologist, a recruiting officer,

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and then there's a pilot, right?

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Uh, uh, a, um, Lieutenant Colonel pilot.

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And he sort of said to me, he goes,

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“Look, you know, you're, you're barely getting through on the academics here.”

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Um...

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“But your passion for being a fighter pilot and for, for the job is, is very real.”

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And he said, “You got, unfortunately you scored on the math assessment here,

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0.1% below the benchmark.

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Technically shouldn't be in the room with us right now.”

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So he asked me this really simple question, which was, you know,

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“You're flying at 200 miles per hour,

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and an airplane next to you is flying 300 miles per hour.

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Which aircraft gets to the airfield first?”

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And I said, the 300 mile per hour, he goes, yep, there's your 0.1, away you go.

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So, so for me, what I've learned in my DNA

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is that often we create a self-limiting belief, which I've never had.

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I've never suffered that.

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Uh, I've, I've always been free of that burden, which,

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which is very, I'm very grateful for that.

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But at the same time, as I moved from being a fighter pilot into business

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and now into being a bit more of a coach,

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I'm very aware of this self-limiting belief

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that most humans are run as their internal program.

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So through that, I, you know, I went through pilot course,

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I was selected to be a fighter pilot.

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I was a fighter pilot for about nine years.

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I was in the air force for 11 years.

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And then I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

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Uh, and that autoimmune disease was arthritic in nature.

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And when you're pulling seven and a half G in a fighter jet and you've,

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you've got compression of the spine every day,

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it was very, it was deeply uncomfortable.

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And I was diagnosed because effectively my neck froze, I couldn't move.

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And anyway, so, so then I went into business.

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And I started a business in Afghanistan in a post-war reconstruction.

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And that business was very successful.

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It grew rapidly.

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Um, we had nearly 6,000 staff when we sold it

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and I didn't know what I was doing at any point in time.

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Uh, all I kind of had was the fighter pilot stuff

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that I was unaware of that I was using.

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Then I went into property development, built a, we, we, we set a world record

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building a 17 story tower in Australia

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using totally unique construction methodology.

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And then when I finished that, I found out about this company called Afterburner.

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And a friend of mine was running it in Australia and he invited me to an event

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and I went and watched it.

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And when I watched this keynote of a fighter pilot on stage helping business,

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because I'll be honest at first, I was like, this is just a gimmick.

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Like what could a business possibly learn from a fighter pilot?

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I was struck by something and it was like, it was like this mass synapses occurred

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and I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize that the successful side

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as the business founder was fueled by the mindset and ways of working

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as a fighter pilot, which is what the presentation was all about.

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And at that point in time, the universe creates a pathway for you, right?

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This, this mate of mine had been running the company for 11 years.

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And after that keynote, he said, you know what?

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I want to join the air force.

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Do you want to take over?

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And I was like, yeah, I like this.

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And I came to America.

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I met the founder, Jim Murphy.

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I went to some events and, and I ran this business in Australia

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and throughout Asia for eight years.

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And then three years ago, I was on a telephone call with the founder

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and I'm like, dude, you sound tired.

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Like, you know, he's been running the company for 27 years.

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And he goes, man, I'm so over it.

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I'm done doing this too soon.

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And as a joke, I said, I'll buy the company off you.

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He's like, give me an offer.

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And I gave him an offer and I was on the plane three months later.

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And within eight months I was living in the U.S. where I am now.

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So, so there's a lot of destiny in, in where I am now and what I do.

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There's a lot of discomfort for me in, in what I do as well, because

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there's a lot of very smart people in the world.

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There's a lot of ideas.

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There's a lot of leadership.

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There's a lot, there's a lot of opinions, but I just really believe that

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the way fighter pilots are trained to lead, the way we're trained to work,

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the way we're trained to think

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is...

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without doubt

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—and I've worked with nearly 400 businesses over the last 10 years—

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is without doubt, the most powerful system that a human being can use

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to not just be a good leader,

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but to actually live the life you want and not to bust through

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a lot of the myths you're telling me about.

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And that's the fundamental nature of iteration.

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So when we talk about iterative leadership,

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when we talk about that word iteration,

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all it means is what I am today,

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I can iterate.

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I can grow a little bit tomorrow.

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That's a free pass.

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No, one's going to stop me from growing.

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There's nothing in the world that stops me from trying something new.

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But what I don't know how to do because no one's shown me is

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how do I do that structurally

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in a way that I just improve a little tiny bit each day rather than,

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“Oh, I want to lose weight.”

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“I want to run a marathon.”

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“I want to start a hundred million dollar business.”

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“I want to run a unicorn.”

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That's all great intention.

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-Yeah.

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But as a fighter pilot it's...

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we have this really unique microcosm where we turn

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really big complex things into utterly simple focused execution

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each and every day in an environment that's high speed,

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that's overwhelming,

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where you're constantly distracted,

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but yet we managed to successfully win 99% of the time.

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In life, we successfully achieve our life dreams 8% of the time.

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In business strategy sits somewhere between 20 and 50%,

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depending on what you read,

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and the missing link to get from 50, even if it's just up to 70%

241
00:12:46,375 --> 00:12:47,166
is just

242
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reprogramming

243
00:12:50,291 --> 00:12:51,666
your brain a little bit.

244
00:12:52,291 --> 00:12:54,250
And through that reprogramming,

245
00:12:54,750 --> 00:12:57,750
you automatically update what you do each day,

246
00:12:58,125 --> 00:13:01,333
how you see the world, how you bring curiosity into your life.

247
00:13:01,333 --> 00:13:05,875
So like I said, to be careful with that question, because there's a big answer.

248
00:13:07,625 --> 00:13:12,916
But I, but I love it, Boo, in what you're sharing, because in many ways as,

249
00:13:12,916 --> 00:13:18,416
as you're sharing the backstory of how you really got to this point,

250
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,708
you're illustrating this principle of iterative leadership,

251
00:13:22,458 --> 00:13:27,875
you know, as you think about the kids smelling the, the jet fuel at that air show

252
00:13:28,208 --> 00:13:30,750
to the scrappy teenager working three jobs,

253
00:13:31,208 --> 00:13:33,375
trying to figure out a way, how do I get into pilot school?

254
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,208
To all of the iterations to eventually where you're at now,

255
00:13:37,916 --> 00:13:40,291
as a CEO of a business teaching leadership,

256
00:13:40,625 --> 00:13:44,958
you didn't just wake up one morning and say, all right, here I am.

257
00:13:46,041 --> 00:13:51,625
It was all of those little steps that have led you and looking at opportunities

258
00:13:51,625 --> 00:13:54,958
that changed or challenges that occurred and forcing a pivot,

259
00:13:55,541 --> 00:14:00,416
but then taking advantage of opportunities and working your tail off the whole way.

260
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:02,958
Um, so I love that, that story.

261
00:14:02,958 --> 00:14:06,666
So let's, let's dig into this concept of leadership a little bit more,

262
00:14:06,666 --> 00:14:13,166
as you've alluded to these principles of how do you see leadership really changing

263
00:14:13,375 --> 00:14:15,708
or being different now in this digital age?

264
00:14:17,583 --> 00:14:19,958
You've got to look at what, when we talk about digital age,

265
00:14:19,958 --> 00:14:23,666
what we're really now talking about is creating a parallel consciousness,

266
00:14:23,875 --> 00:14:25,708
like that's, that's where we are with AI, right?

267
00:14:25,916 --> 00:14:30,708
So, so we're historically, we've always needed human consciousness

268
00:14:30,708 --> 00:14:33,708
and intelligence to make decisions, to drive strategy.

269
00:14:34,125 --> 00:14:36,875
We're moving into an era where there's going to be platforms

270
00:14:36,875 --> 00:14:38,500
that do that much better than we do,

271
00:14:39,208 --> 00:14:43,250
not, not just cause it's AI, but because it's got a wonderful contextualized memory

272
00:14:43,708 --> 00:14:46,291
that we just forget stuff as human beings that AI never forgets.

273
00:14:46,875 --> 00:14:52,166
So if you think of the way we lead today is a slightly refined model

274
00:14:52,166 --> 00:14:54,583
of how we used to run a village back in the medieval times.

275
00:14:55,208 --> 00:14:58,791
You know, we, we have a village chief, a CEO, uh, we have warriors,

276
00:14:58,791 --> 00:15:00,916
we have sales teams, we have hunter gatherers,

277
00:15:00,916 --> 00:15:02,416
we've got the support and contracts teams.

278
00:15:02,916 --> 00:15:07,250
Uh, the way we replicate that in life, we have a mother and father

279
00:15:07,250 --> 00:15:10,083
that's got disassociated a bit with two, two people working.

280
00:15:10,708 --> 00:15:13,916
You look at a football team, any charity organization,

281
00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:17,708
everyone's in service to the chief is, is how we kind of operate.

282
00:15:18,375 --> 00:15:21,833
And that's fine when you've got time,

283
00:15:22,166 --> 00:15:25,458
when you've got time to take some information from the frontline

284
00:15:25,458 --> 00:15:28,666
and go through all the different layers to get it to a leader,

285
00:15:29,041 --> 00:15:31,125
and then for them to make a decision and come back down.

286
00:15:31,708 --> 00:15:34,666
So, so this model is wonderful for the industrial era.

287
00:15:35,333 --> 00:15:38,666
It's wonderful for steady static businesses that do the same thing

288
00:15:38,666 --> 00:15:43,333
each and every day, but it is certainly not equipped for this new age,

289
00:15:43,333 --> 00:15:49,375
which is in service to outcomes, in service to destinations, rather than an individual.

290
00:15:50,333 --> 00:15:53,958
And in the world of fighter pilots, that's the system we operate in,

291
00:15:54,416 --> 00:15:57,083
in that we have a hierarchy in how we operate a squadron.

292
00:15:57,083 --> 00:15:59,041
We have a commanding officer that looks after everything.

293
00:15:59,041 --> 00:16:02,916
You've got a, an executive officer that looks after the flying and operations.

294
00:16:02,916 --> 00:16:03,708
You've got an admin office.

295
00:16:03,958 --> 00:16:07,333
So you've got a hierarchy, which is the nice, safe, bureaucratic,

296
00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:08,291
you know, makes you fit.

297
00:16:08,375 --> 00:16:09,625
That's the human side of leadership.

298
00:16:10,500 --> 00:16:14,916
But every day we decouple from that and we create mission objectives

299
00:16:15,291 --> 00:16:18,166
and the commanding officer might be a wingman for me on that day

300
00:16:18,500 --> 00:16:20,625
and on that day in service to the objective,

301
00:16:20,875 --> 00:16:22,958
the C the commanding officer is in service to me

302
00:16:23,458 --> 00:16:28,208
because I've been given the gift of leadership on that mission to execute.

303
00:16:28,833 --> 00:16:30,458
And that's what we try and create in business.

304
00:16:30,458 --> 00:16:32,916
We say, we need to missionize everything that you do.

305
00:16:33,416 --> 00:16:37,541
You can't just have a KPI that sits there and we, we measure it,

306
00:16:37,916 --> 00:16:39,583
you know, at the end of the quarter.

307
00:16:40,291 --> 00:16:44,500
That KPI has to be able to be broken down into a daily outcome.

308
00:16:44,500 --> 00:16:45,875
And if you think of it in terms of...

309
00:16:46,541 --> 00:16:51,416
we need to shift leadership and teams from what do I need to do today

310
00:16:51,416 --> 00:16:53,041
to what do I need to achieve today?

311
00:16:53,583 --> 00:16:57,375
And that just shift in mindset around achievement versus doing

312
00:16:58,125 --> 00:17:01,750
sets you up to be free of the digital distractions,

313
00:17:01,916 --> 00:17:03,833
to be free of the reactive notifications,

314
00:17:04,666 --> 00:17:07,791
to, to really start to invest in what do I need to do

315
00:17:08,125 --> 00:17:09,750
to achieve what I need to achieve today?

316
00:17:10,583 --> 00:17:10,833
-Yeah.

317
00:17:10,833 --> 00:17:15,125
-So that, that fundamental difference in terms of,

318
00:17:15,125 --> 00:17:20,083
I call it the digital vortex, speed, overwhelm, and the battle of attention,

319
00:17:20,958 --> 00:17:27,375
is something that legacy leadership models just are not equipped to deal with

320
00:17:27,375 --> 00:17:33,916
and all traditional leadership models create in the speed of digital is chaos,

321
00:17:33,916 --> 00:17:36,000
disconnection, disengagement, confusion,

322
00:17:36,583 --> 00:17:38,750
because the world is moving much faster

323
00:17:38,750 --> 00:17:41,333
than the decision-making that's occurring in the hierarchy.

324
00:17:44,166 --> 00:17:48,250
So keep talking in terms of this iterative leader idea.

325
00:17:48,666 --> 00:17:54,208
If you could paint the picture of what an iterative, iterative leader looks like,

326
00:17:54,541 --> 00:17:55,916
what are the kinds of habits?

327
00:17:56,291 --> 00:17:57,375
What are the activities?

328
00:17:57,666 --> 00:17:58,666
What are the outcomes?

329
00:17:58,791 --> 00:18:05,041
What's the mindset versus what are the things that is not an iterative leader?

330
00:18:05,500 --> 00:18:08,500
Because I think that's also a tremendously helpful,

331
00:18:08,708 --> 00:18:12,875
and you've already begun talking about kind of the command and control idea,

332
00:18:12,875 --> 00:18:17,416
the unilateral, the one voice without a communication.

333
00:18:18,250 --> 00:18:20,166
What is that iterative leader?

334
00:18:20,500 --> 00:18:25,208
What, what are the practices that we want to pursue to achieve that, that mindset?

335
00:18:26,791 --> 00:18:29,875
Well, the first thing is to be aware of this concept of iteration for starters.

336
00:18:30,375 --> 00:18:32,250
You, we, we live in a linear world.

337
00:18:32,333 --> 00:18:33,750
We just think everything's A to B.

338
00:18:34,083 --> 00:18:35,916
You know, I set targets, I work hard, I get there.

339
00:18:36,416 --> 00:18:41,500
You know, whereas iteration is, I have a target, I get there or I don't get there.

340
00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:44,208
And I ask myself, why did I get there or why didn't I?

341
00:18:44,333 --> 00:18:45,541
And what can I do differently tomorrow?

342
00:18:46,208 --> 00:18:50,208
So when we talk about iteration, it's bringing the practice of intentional reflection,

343
00:18:50,708 --> 00:18:52,500
and when I talk about intentional reflection,

344
00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:56,500
I'm saying reflecting in the context of where you're going,

345
00:18:56,791 --> 00:18:58,291
not just reflecting for the sake of it,

346
00:18:58,791 --> 00:19:04,375
not just, not, there was a great study done in 2015 by UC Berkeley.

347
00:19:04,375 --> 00:19:08,750
And, um, and Harvard, and they stuck a whole bunch of people in a white room

348
00:19:08,750 --> 00:19:11,416
and a white chair for six to 15 minutes.

349
00:19:11,416 --> 00:19:14,000
And they said, “Hey, how did you enjoy that experience?”

350
00:19:14,750 --> 00:19:17,083
And most people didn't really enjoy it.

351
00:19:17,625 --> 00:19:20,166
So then they gave half of the room, something to think about

352
00:19:20,666 --> 00:19:22,375
and half of the room, nothing to think about.

353
00:19:22,833 --> 00:19:25,625
And the people that had something to think about, enjoyed the experience

354
00:19:25,625 --> 00:19:27,708
twice as much as the people had nothing to think about,

355
00:19:28,625 --> 00:19:30,416
then they also added another layer to it.

356
00:19:31,041 --> 00:19:34,833
And they put a machine that gave people an electric shock

357
00:19:35,458 --> 00:19:39,500
and they put the machine on the table and they, and they said,

358
00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:42,041
“Don't touch the button because you're going to get a severe electric shock.”

359
00:19:42,875 --> 00:19:46,250
And being... people being left with their own thoughts for six to 15 minutes

360
00:19:46,708 --> 00:19:49,041
would rather give themselves a severe electric shock,

361
00:19:49,041 --> 00:19:53,041
75% of men and 28% of women would rather hit the button

362
00:19:53,541 --> 00:19:54,625
and get an electric shock

363
00:19:54,625 --> 00:19:57,416
than be stuck with their own thoughts and reflecting and thinking.

364
00:19:57,875 --> 00:20:01,708
So, so we have this primal urge as humanity to be busy.

365
00:20:02,416 --> 00:20:04,458
And busy doesn't mean doing the right things.

366
00:20:05,208 --> 00:20:07,375
Busy means doing something.

367
00:20:08,416 --> 00:20:10,250
So we have to break that cycle, right?

368
00:20:11,291 --> 00:20:14,625
And as fighter pilots, we break the cycle through the practice of debriefing.

369
00:20:15,958 --> 00:20:19,541
And the way in which we debrief at Afterburner, we call that ORCA.

370
00:20:20,375 --> 00:20:23,833
And ORCA is a mnemonic for Objective Result Cause Action.

371
00:20:25,208 --> 00:20:28,333
So when we, when we start reflecting, the first question we ask is

372
00:20:28,333 --> 00:20:31,916
what's the objective, what am I going to reflect on in the context of where I'm going?

373
00:20:33,416 --> 00:20:33,916
Right there.

374
00:20:33,916 --> 00:20:34,583
That never happens.

375
00:20:35,291 --> 00:20:36,291
30 years of business.

376
00:20:36,291 --> 00:20:40,916
We've never once in 30 years ever met a company or a team

377
00:20:40,916 --> 00:20:42,166
that ever has done this,

378
00:20:42,666 --> 00:20:45,333
whereas fighter pilots do it every single day,

379
00:20:46,208 --> 00:20:46,416
right?

380
00:20:46,791 --> 00:20:49,583
And when you do it every single day, it stops becoming a practice

381
00:20:49,583 --> 00:20:50,958
and it starts becoming a mindset.

382
00:20:50,958 --> 00:20:52,166
It starts becoming a habit.

383
00:20:52,166 --> 00:20:53,541
It's how you live your entire life.

384
00:20:54,416 --> 00:20:59,416
So ORCA is set the objective, which means we have to have one.

385
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,375
We have to create that intention and turn it into something that can be measured.

386
00:21:04,250 --> 00:21:09,250
The, then the R is results, or you can, you can put reality in there if you like,

387
00:21:09,833 --> 00:21:11,500
but it's basically, where are we?

388
00:21:11,833 --> 00:21:14,875
And as a leader, your job is to take people into the unknown

389
00:21:15,541 --> 00:21:16,875
and to grow them along the way.

390
00:21:17,166 --> 00:21:22,458
So realistically every day, you should be doing new things.

391
00:21:22,833 --> 00:21:25,291
Something new should be happening because you're moving forwards.

392
00:21:25,958 --> 00:21:28,083
So there's always going to be this gap.

393
00:21:28,375 --> 00:21:32,333
And then we call it the execution gap between where are you going

394
00:21:33,125 --> 00:21:33,833
and where you are,

395
00:21:34,583 --> 00:21:37,208
and this gap is zero emotion.

396
00:21:38,166 --> 00:21:40,041
And it's all based on what's right.

397
00:21:40,041 --> 00:21:40,833
Not who's right.

398
00:21:40,833 --> 00:21:44,541
It's a, it's a full, uh, lean into your metrics.

399
00:21:44,750 --> 00:21:47,000
So if it doesn't have a number, it can't be debriefed.

400
00:21:47,708 --> 00:21:53,041
The C in ORCA is the cause, or you might call it curiosity, where we have...

401
00:21:53,666 --> 00:21:57,416
everyone who's involved in the execution to arrive at that objective,

402
00:21:58,041 --> 00:22:02,500
unpacking their personal performance as to what they did that didn't deliver

403
00:22:02,916 --> 00:22:04,625
or what they didn't do to deliver that.

404
00:22:05,125 --> 00:22:06,583
And often it's not personal.

405
00:22:06,583 --> 00:22:08,166
It's just a breakdown in communication.

406
00:22:08,166 --> 00:22:09,208
I didn't understand something.

407
00:22:09,208 --> 00:22:10,333
We got a little bit out of sequence.

408
00:22:11,291 --> 00:22:12,750
And it's just a bit of a course-correct.

409
00:22:12,750 --> 00:22:15,958
And the A in ORCA, which is the most important part of a debrief

410
00:22:17,125 --> 00:22:20,833
and the most important part of the fighter pilot mindset is act.

411
00:22:21,666 --> 00:22:22,166
Do something.

412
00:22:22,791 --> 00:22:24,000
Don't just pontificate.

413
00:22:24,500 --> 00:22:25,958
Don't just intellectualize.

414
00:22:26,583 --> 00:22:27,916
Don't create more work.

415
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,333
Just do one small thing first thing in the morning,

416
00:22:31,041 --> 00:22:33,291
that's going to incrementally close that gap for you.

417
00:22:33,875 --> 00:22:37,750
So when we talk about the iterative leader, the iterative leader is

418
00:22:38,250 --> 00:22:40,791
fundamentally fueled by this conversation.

419
00:22:41,916 --> 00:22:46,666
Their entire existence should be facilitating this conversation

420
00:22:47,375 --> 00:22:52,750
to align their teams, to allow everyone to be fully engaged in the process,

421
00:22:53,250 --> 00:22:57,000
to learn what's actually happening rather than what you perceive is happening,

422
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,708
because 95% of leaders' decisions are actually based on perception, not reality.

423
00:23:02,625 --> 00:23:07,666
And, and really connecting the intention and future of the company

424
00:23:07,666 --> 00:23:08,916
to the day-to-day execution.

425
00:23:09,500 --> 00:23:12,166
That is the iterative leader.

426
00:23:12,166 --> 00:23:13,291
I own that space.

427
00:23:14,541 --> 00:23:16,833
They bring the ideas into execution

428
00:23:18,083 --> 00:23:20,000
and they allow the organization

429
00:23:20,625 --> 00:23:24,083
the opportunity to have conversations that they've never had before.

430
00:23:24,375 --> 00:23:27,458
-These are great suggestions, Boo, and good tools.

431
00:23:27,458 --> 00:23:31,666
So I'm going to, I'm going to take the part of the skeptic that might be listening to this,

432
00:23:32,166 --> 00:23:34,958
saying, “Okay, I'm hearing this guy,

433
00:23:35,666 --> 00:23:38,291
and he's telling me that I'm supposed to take time to reflect,

434
00:23:38,750 --> 00:23:41,416
supposed to implement a new system called ORCA,

435
00:23:41,666 --> 00:23:42,833
which sounds nice,

436
00:23:43,291 --> 00:23:47,416
but, and I've got 18 personalities I'm trying to keep track of on my team,

437
00:23:47,416 --> 00:23:49,375
and I've got this to do and that's doing that.

438
00:23:49,875 --> 00:23:50,500
I don't have time.

439
00:23:50,500 --> 00:23:53,250
There's just too much pressure to get all these...”

440
00:23:53,750 --> 00:23:56,750
What advice do you give to that leader who's saying,

441
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,625
“This all sounds nice in theory,

442
00:23:59,416 --> 00:24:01,875
but how do I actually have time to implement it?

443
00:24:01,875 --> 00:24:02,875
I'm already underwater.”

444
00:24:03,208 --> 00:24:03,458
-Yeah.

445
00:24:03,458 --> 00:24:05,708
Well, you don't have time because you're not, you're not debriefing.

446
00:24:05,708 --> 00:24:06,791
You're, you're managing chaos.

447
00:24:06,916 --> 00:24:07,500
That's why.

448
00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:08,666
You're creating the busy.

449
00:24:09,166 --> 00:24:10,333
It's, it's on you.

450
00:24:10,708 --> 00:24:13,625
So the reason you're busy is because you're not leading effectively.

451
00:24:14,208 --> 00:24:15,708
A good leader is not busy.

452
00:24:16,208 --> 00:24:20,875
So step one, you're telling yourself a story and the story makes you feel good

453
00:24:21,250 --> 00:24:24,166
because when you feel busy, you feel good, but you're not effective.

454
00:24:24,583 --> 00:24:26,666
So first of all, stop telling yourself the story.

455
00:24:26,916 --> 00:24:30,125
Second, I'll give you 75% of your day back.

456
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,791
If you start thinking and using this as a way to talk, a way to plan,

457
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,958
a way to email, uh, a way—

458
00:24:37,375 --> 00:24:42,250
I'm going to take your existing time and get you to think differently,

459
00:24:42,750 --> 00:24:44,166
speak differently,

460
00:24:44,625 --> 00:24:45,750
think differently.

461
00:24:46,333 --> 00:24:49,166
That is going to give you all your time back.

462
00:24:49,875 --> 00:24:53,791
Uh, and I know this happens and we at Afterburner know this happens

463
00:24:53,791 --> 00:24:57,500
because when we do our embedded programs with leaders,

464
00:24:57,916 --> 00:24:59,833
the feedback we get the most is,

465
00:25:00,083 --> 00:25:03,583
“Boo, I think I'm going to be out of a job, I'm not actually doing anything anymore.

466
00:25:04,041 --> 00:25:06,666
And it's like, yeah, you're actually being a leader now.

467
00:25:07,375 --> 00:25:08,750
You actually have the big picture.

468
00:25:09,166 --> 00:25:12,750
You're actually guiding and empowering your people to do the work.

469
00:25:13,291 --> 00:25:15,625
Oh, by the way, in a lot of organizations,

470
00:25:15,625 --> 00:25:17,875
they reduce their head count by 20 to 30%

471
00:25:18,458 --> 00:25:20,833
because all of a sudden they don't need all the people to do the work

472
00:25:21,083 --> 00:25:22,500
because the work's actually getting done.

473
00:25:23,166 --> 00:25:26,375
So it's, it's, and you're right on the money.

474
00:25:26,375 --> 00:25:29,500
That is the first thing everyone says when it says the debriefing sounds good.

475
00:25:29,500 --> 00:25:30,125
Don't have time.

476
00:25:30,875 --> 00:25:32,625
And I'll give it back.

477
00:25:33,666 --> 00:25:36,875
We as a team will give you back 75.

478
00:25:37,041 --> 00:25:39,416
You will have meetings that go for 15 minutes

479
00:25:40,166 --> 00:25:42,000
and they'll probably really go for about eight.

480
00:25:42,666 --> 00:25:45,833
We will fill your day with time to think,

481
00:25:46,208 --> 00:25:48,916
to, to just focus and just get things done.

482
00:25:49,416 --> 00:25:52,666
We're going to remove you from the overwhelmed chaotic world

483
00:25:52,958 --> 00:25:57,000
of the digital era and equip you with the mindset and skillset

484
00:25:57,375 --> 00:26:00,875
to actually take disruption and turn it into opportunity.

485
00:26:01,833 --> 00:26:05,541
And right now, if you, if you, to give you a really topical point

486
00:26:06,291 --> 00:26:09,125
is everyone's struggling with what does a human do?

487
00:26:09,291 --> 00:26:10,750
What does an AI agent do?

488
00:26:11,416 --> 00:26:13,875
And it's the wrong question to ask.

489
00:26:14,625 --> 00:26:17,250
The question to ask is what does the company need to do

490
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:19,458
in order to get to where we're going?

491
00:26:20,083 --> 00:26:21,416
And once we engineer that,

492
00:26:22,166 --> 00:26:24,416
let's figure out who's better at doing it, a machine or a human.

493
00:26:25,125 --> 00:26:29,375
So, so it's, again, the way we come at leadership is we come at the problem first,

494
00:26:30,083 --> 00:26:33,208
and we do not frame it in the context of what we need to be.

495
00:26:33,750 --> 00:26:38,541
Uh, in our organization, we saw AI as a thing, right?

496
00:26:38,666 --> 00:26:40,750
And we didn't know what that thing was in February.

497
00:26:41,666 --> 00:26:46,125
But as we turn into December, we're a fully AI native organization.

498
00:26:46,458 --> 00:26:49,125
We've created agents for coaching, for selling, for marketing.

499
00:26:49,583 --> 00:26:55,166
And we went from zero AI into a AI native organization

500
00:26:55,166 --> 00:26:58,166
and reduced our head count by 40% in the process.

501
00:26:58,625 --> 00:27:00,916
Because we were very clear in our destination,

502
00:27:00,916 --> 00:27:02,625
and we just did the work to figure out how to do it.

503
00:27:05,166 --> 00:27:10,041
What, what you're describing is something we often call, uh, leader work.

504
00:27:10,625 --> 00:27:15,416
So it's the work that leaders need to do, and it's helping leaders recognize

505
00:27:15,666 --> 00:27:17,458
what leader work actually is.

506
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,541
Because leader work is fundamentally having conversations

507
00:27:21,541 --> 00:27:23,125
to set clear expectations,

508
00:27:23,541 --> 00:27:26,000
to be able to coach and guide and support,

509
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,875
to be able to then have interactive collaboration,

510
00:27:30,416 --> 00:27:33,375
and not so much to dive in and do the work yourself.

511
00:27:33,833 --> 00:27:34,958
It's to build the team.

512
00:27:34,958 --> 00:27:37,958
It's to be able to prioritize and remove distractions.

513
00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:41,208
And yet it's, it is remarkable to your point,

514
00:27:41,875 --> 00:27:44,416
how we as humans inherently think that's,

515
00:27:44,750 --> 00:27:46,583
that's not what we should be doing.

516
00:27:46,916 --> 00:27:50,875
Cause it's just so satisfying in the moment to put out the fire.

517
00:27:51,250 --> 00:27:52,083
We feel needed.

518
00:27:52,166 --> 00:27:53,041
We're the hero.

519
00:27:53,458 --> 00:27:55,125
We can come and save the day.

520
00:27:55,416 --> 00:27:58,375
It's our identity that we haven't shifted.

521
00:27:59,041 --> 00:28:04,250
And so Boo, keep, keep going in terms of talking about

522
00:28:04,625 --> 00:28:07,791
how does a leader remove distraction?

523
00:28:08,875 --> 00:28:13,500
How does a leader help prioritize not only for him or herself,

524
00:28:14,125 --> 00:28:15,291
but for their team.

525
00:28:15,708 --> 00:28:20,375
Because there's going to be all sorts of emergent new activities

526
00:28:20,375 --> 00:28:23,416
and needs that are all seemingly important.

527
00:28:24,750 --> 00:28:25,875
What is the process?

528
00:28:25,875 --> 00:28:29,458
What, what are the things, what are the tools or ideas to help a leader

529
00:28:29,750 --> 00:28:34,750
prioritize for themselves and for others and remove some of these distractions?

530
00:28:36,125 --> 00:28:37,208
It's look, it's a good question.

531
00:28:37,208 --> 00:28:40,166
And I, and I go back to the reason why there's so much emerging things

532
00:28:40,166 --> 00:28:43,583
and change and chaos is because the leaders are just not doing a good job.

533
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,166
Like the, the, the, it's a, it's a self-licking ice cream.

534
00:28:47,583 --> 00:28:51,291
You know, it's, we, we, we are creating the problem set that we're solving.

535
00:28:51,291 --> 00:28:54,916
It's, it's not, it doesn't exist without you as a leader.

536
00:28:54,916 --> 00:28:58,500
And we, and you see that because there are leaders that can run very focused,

537
00:28:58,500 --> 00:29:02,666
high-performing teams in the digital world and they're called startups.

538
00:29:03,125 --> 00:29:07,666
Uh, and then you've got legacy organizations that are so entrenched

539
00:29:07,666 --> 00:29:10,916
in the doing work and rewarding effort rather than results,

540
00:29:11,166 --> 00:29:12,458
you know, the participation medal,

541
00:29:12,916 --> 00:29:14,833
that you're, you're, you're a creator.

542
00:29:15,041 --> 00:29:19,875
So, so, you know, when we talk about leaders, you know, doing the conversation work,

543
00:29:20,250 --> 00:29:21,291
well, let's dig deep on that.

544
00:29:21,291 --> 00:29:22,458
It's not the conversation.

545
00:29:22,458 --> 00:29:23,916
It's the quality of the conversation.

546
00:29:24,458 --> 00:29:26,833
It's the quality and the value of the work that you do.

547
00:29:27,208 --> 00:29:28,500
And it shouldn't feel like work.

548
00:29:28,666 --> 00:29:31,875
It should feel like natural facilitative growth.

549
00:29:32,666 --> 00:29:35,083
So when we talk about new and emerging,

550
00:29:35,541 --> 00:29:38,291
the reality is no matter how new something is,

551
00:29:38,291 --> 00:29:40,250
it doesn't get adopted that fast.

552
00:29:40,416 --> 00:29:41,333
There's plenty of time.

553
00:29:41,833 --> 00:29:44,166
You know, AI is a five year, 10 year journey.

554
00:29:44,375 --> 00:29:47,750
Like it's, there's no point panicking about it because the more we panic,

555
00:29:47,750 --> 00:29:50,041
the more we just do stuff that doesn't work.

556
00:29:50,041 --> 00:29:52,750
There's just Band-Aid, Band-Aid, Band-Aid and the patient's dying.

557
00:29:53,333 --> 00:29:56,041
Uh, and then you go out of business because someone who was really focused

558
00:29:56,041 --> 00:29:58,500
on being AI native figured it out before you did,

559
00:29:58,833 --> 00:30:00,291
and they're running a much leaner operation.

560
00:30:00,750 --> 00:30:06,333
So, so I want to bust the myth of leadership and, and, and, and be really confronting

561
00:30:06,833 --> 00:30:11,041
in saying that what you understand about leadership today

562
00:30:11,375 --> 00:30:17,708
is built on generations of people operating in businesses where humans did everything.

563
00:30:18,250 --> 00:30:19,291
That is not the future.

564
00:30:19,291 --> 00:30:21,500
There is no documentation whatsoever.

565
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,791
The people that are holding onto this myth

566
00:30:24,166 --> 00:30:26,250
that our AI is not really going to replace humans.

567
00:30:26,250 --> 00:30:27,500
It absolutely is.

568
00:30:27,916 --> 00:30:29,208
There is no question about it.

569
00:30:29,208 --> 00:30:30,916
Only question is how long is it going to take?

570
00:30:31,583 --> 00:30:36,750
So, so it's, so, so it's uncomfortable to think that all, particularly as a leader,

571
00:30:36,750 --> 00:30:39,083
like you start to get into your forties, fifties, and sixties,

572
00:30:39,833 --> 00:30:43,458
it's very uncomfortable to think everything I've learned is irrelevant moving forward.

573
00:30:43,875 --> 00:30:44,958
And that's a big statement.

574
00:30:44,958 --> 00:30:47,125
It's not irrelevant, but a lot of it just isn't,

575
00:30:47,125 --> 00:30:48,125
isn't important anymore.

576
00:30:48,958 --> 00:30:51,000
Think of the whole concept of experience

577
00:30:51,666 --> 00:30:53,625
that we put people in leadership roles

578
00:30:53,625 --> 00:30:55,708
because of all the other times they've done product launches,

579
00:30:55,708 --> 00:30:57,375
all the other times they've run a production line

580
00:30:57,833 --> 00:30:59,000
and we need their experience.

581
00:30:59,541 --> 00:31:01,208
With AI, you don't need experience anymore.

582
00:31:01,875 --> 00:31:02,375
You don't need it.

583
00:31:02,666 --> 00:31:03,041
It's there.

584
00:31:03,416 --> 00:31:06,583
You can just ask, you can just pull contextualized data

585
00:31:06,916 --> 00:31:09,208
from a platform that gives you the benefit

586
00:31:09,666 --> 00:31:12,166
of a consciousness that's way more experienced

587
00:31:12,166 --> 00:31:14,583
and has a much better memory than a leader.

588
00:31:14,583 --> 00:31:18,166
And also they're not infected by the cognitive biases that we have as humans.

589
00:31:18,791 --> 00:31:22,750
So you've got to, you know, what, what I've certainly learned over the last few years is,

590
00:31:22,916 --> 00:31:25,875
you know, for me as a fighter pilot, I just did it, right?

591
00:31:25,875 --> 00:31:26,708
I never thought about it.

592
00:31:26,791 --> 00:31:27,750
Well, why do we do it this way?

593
00:31:27,750 --> 00:31:28,500
And what are we doing now?

594
00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:32,333
I, you know, I just plugged into the machine and did what I had to do.

595
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:34,166
Whereas now I reflect on it.

596
00:31:34,250 --> 00:31:37,625
And one of the things I've learned is to be a fighter pilot

597
00:31:37,625 --> 00:31:39,875
is a reprogramming process of a human being.

598
00:31:40,041 --> 00:31:40,541
That's what it is.

599
00:31:41,166 --> 00:31:45,708
And, and a human at their fundamental level, we're an animal

600
00:31:45,708 --> 00:31:48,041
that just has a bit of a computer on top of it.

601
00:31:48,583 --> 00:31:50,250
You know, the, the, the human intelligence.

602
00:31:50,666 --> 00:31:53,000
But underneath that we're the same as a dog, a cat,

603
00:31:53,416 --> 00:31:55,375
you know, a tiger, a lion,

604
00:31:55,875 --> 00:32:00,291
and we have to understand that all of those primal drivers

605
00:32:00,666 --> 00:32:03,583
have a lot more strength than our consciousness.

606
00:32:03,708 --> 00:32:08,000
So we're talking about less than 1% of the brain power

607
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,083
gets plugged into the intelligent part of the brain.

608
00:32:10,791 --> 00:32:13,750
So when we talk about distraction,

609
00:32:14,541 --> 00:32:16,541
we're talking about a primal piece of programming

610
00:32:16,916 --> 00:32:21,333
because distraction was encoded into a human being to survive.

611
00:32:21,875 --> 00:32:23,541
Because a hundred thousand years ago,

612
00:32:23,541 --> 00:32:25,750
you're walking around a bush and you hear a rustle in the bushes.

613
00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:29,083
It's pretty important to be distracted by the rustle in the bushes, right?

614
00:32:29,583 --> 00:32:31,375
If you were like hyper-focused

615
00:32:31,375 --> 00:32:33,125
and you didn't hear anything around you, you'd get eaten.

616
00:32:33,916 --> 00:32:36,750
So, so distraction is a primal survival mechanism

617
00:32:37,583 --> 00:32:39,666
that you have a choice to

618
00:32:40,208 --> 00:32:43,750
buy into it or to actually put a bit of human consciousness in there and say,

619
00:32:44,083 --> 00:32:45,500
Hey, it's just a distraction.

620
00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:46,208
It ain't a big deal.

621
00:32:46,750 --> 00:32:47,541
It's just an email.

622
00:32:48,166 --> 00:32:49,250
It's just the notification.

623
00:32:49,833 --> 00:32:50,666
It's just a message.

624
00:32:52,791 --> 00:32:56,375
And when we talk about how fighter pilots, you know, when we mission execute,

625
00:32:56,708 --> 00:32:59,458
it's somewhere between an hour or three hours of focused time, right?

626
00:32:59,458 --> 00:33:00,250
Focused execution.

627
00:33:01,041 --> 00:33:06,750
So, so if you create that as a leader and you create 90 minutes a day where

628
00:33:07,416 --> 00:33:10,500
there's no technology in front of you, you've got a pen and a piece of paper.

629
00:33:11,291 --> 00:33:14,833
And we at Afterburner have some structures that you can go through

630
00:33:14,833 --> 00:33:16,000
to collect your thoughts.

631
00:33:16,833 --> 00:33:19,625
You'll find after sitting there for about 20 to 30 minutes,

632
00:33:19,625 --> 00:33:23,291
all of a sudden, boom, it hits the deep flow, the focus,

633
00:33:23,791 --> 00:33:27,625
and all the connections that are in your subconscious automatically start to come to life.

634
00:33:28,291 --> 00:33:31,583
And that, when we talk about leaders work, that's it.

635
00:33:31,583 --> 00:33:34,375
90 minutes of, of just being focused.

636
00:33:35,041 --> 00:33:37,625
Then it doesn't feel like work because it starts to get fun

637
00:33:38,250 --> 00:33:39,958
because you start to surprise yourself.

638
00:33:39,958 --> 00:33:41,791
And you're like, ooh, ooh, ooh, look at that.

639
00:33:41,791 --> 00:33:42,708
And I thought about this and I thought—

640
00:33:42,833 --> 00:33:46,000
and all of a sudden you start to build this, uh,

641
00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:50,166
this, this pathway of where I need to take my people

642
00:33:50,541 --> 00:33:52,666
and what in terms of what they need to do

643
00:33:53,125 --> 00:33:55,541
in terms of helping them understand where they need to go

644
00:33:55,541 --> 00:33:56,791
and then coaching them to get there.

645
00:33:57,416 --> 00:34:01,041
So the work, the work should be invested in focus and growth,

646
00:34:01,458 --> 00:34:02,375
not in doing.

647
00:34:02,375 --> 00:34:06,958
And you mentioned Daniel, the superhero effect in my, in my new book,

648
00:34:06,958 --> 00:34:10,000
Flawless Leadership that comes out next year.

649
00:34:10,500 --> 00:34:14,208
I call it the Avenger effect in, in this, in, in the way that

650
00:34:14,208 --> 00:34:16,583
the human reward system is designed.

651
00:34:17,291 --> 00:34:20,666
It's saving the day, the wonderful way to be rewarded.

652
00:34:21,166 --> 00:34:26,791
So subconsciously leaders try and create themselves in the image of Iron Man,

653
00:34:27,500 --> 00:34:29,750
where my job is to save the day.

654
00:34:30,541 --> 00:34:34,125
And then everyone pats me on the back and says, “Geez, Boo, lucky you were here.”

655
00:34:34,500 --> 00:34:35,500
Lucky we had you.

656
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,583
Because if you weren't here, everything would have fallen apart.

657
00:34:39,041 --> 00:34:42,500
So there's, it's almost demotivating to build a team,

658
00:34:42,500 --> 00:34:46,000
to defer that reward further down, right?

659
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:51,875
So, and, and the reason that the reward system that we're missing

660
00:34:52,416 --> 00:34:54,375
is organizations don't win enough.

661
00:34:54,708 --> 00:34:55,000
Right?

662
00:34:55,416 --> 00:34:57,291
So as fighter pilots, we win every day.

663
00:34:57,541 --> 00:35:00,041
We, we win every 99% of the time, every now and again,

664
00:35:00,041 --> 00:35:02,041
we have a bad day, three, three, four times a year.

665
00:35:03,333 --> 00:35:06,791
But we win every day because we map out what winning today looks like.

666
00:35:07,291 --> 00:35:11,625
So if, if a leader can, if a leader can shift from saving the day

667
00:35:12,416 --> 00:35:15,125
into designing the wins,

668
00:35:15,541 --> 00:35:18,333
then all of a sudden we start to feel good

669
00:35:18,500 --> 00:35:22,125
because we're winning all the time and I'm getting stuff done, I'm, I'm moving.

670
00:35:22,208 --> 00:35:24,291
My work is actually delivering results.

671
00:35:24,291 --> 00:35:25,291
This makes me feel good.

672
00:35:25,333 --> 00:35:26,625
It feels less like work now.

673
00:35:27,041 --> 00:35:28,250
It feels more like action.

674
00:35:29,750 --> 00:35:34,208
So all of these, I mean, I can't really understate the paradigm shift

675
00:35:34,208 --> 00:35:35,791
we're looking at here with flawless leadership,

676
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,000
like in terms of cognitively,

677
00:35:38,291 --> 00:35:41,416
in terms of the action-based, the processes that we use,

678
00:35:41,833 --> 00:35:48,583
it is a, it is a very, new way of, of showing up as a person, as a human being.

679
00:35:49,208 --> 00:35:49,583
-Yeah.

680
00:35:50,541 --> 00:35:53,541
So let's, let's kind of sum this up.

681
00:35:53,875 --> 00:35:58,791
In a minute or less, Boo, minute or less, what's the one thing

682
00:35:59,333 --> 00:36:05,458
that a leader should be able to start doing to help become a iterative, effective leader?

683
00:36:06,458 --> 00:36:06,916
Debrief.

684
00:36:07,166 --> 00:36:07,583
That's it.

685
00:36:07,708 --> 00:36:08,750
I'll give it to you in two seconds.

686
00:36:09,458 --> 00:36:10,333
That's all you need to do.

687
00:36:10,666 --> 00:36:16,041
Do nothing else, but every single time before you open your mouth,

688
00:36:16,541 --> 00:36:18,291
before you send an email,

689
00:36:18,750 --> 00:36:21,416
before you write a PowerPoint presentation,

690
00:36:21,541 --> 00:36:25,375
ask yourself what am I trying to achieve here?

691
00:36:26,166 --> 00:36:27,625
What is my objective?

692
00:36:28,875 --> 00:36:32,000
And, you know, again, I've done hundreds of these.

693
00:36:32,208 --> 00:36:37,500
I've sat in a room, multi-billion dollar organizations, 50 leaders in a room,

694
00:36:38,166 --> 00:36:41,333
and asked them, what is the point of your existence in this business?

695
00:36:42,625 --> 00:36:43,875
And they, no one can answer it.

696
00:36:44,583 --> 00:36:45,166
They don't know.

697
00:36:45,708 --> 00:36:47,916
And that is a crying shame.

698
00:36:48,416 --> 00:36:51,416
That is not, that doesn't, it doesn't need to be that way.

699
00:36:51,916 --> 00:36:54,750
Because all they do is react to the world around them.

700
00:36:54,958 --> 00:36:55,958
So what do I do?

701
00:36:56,500 --> 00:37:01,208
And, and, and we pose the next question is I bet you just react all day.

702
00:37:01,208 --> 00:37:01,708
Is that what you do?

703
00:37:01,708 --> 00:37:03,250
And everyone laughs and they're like, yeah, that's what I do.

704
00:37:03,250 --> 00:37:04,958
I just react all day and solve problems all day.

705
00:37:05,416 --> 00:37:05,625
Cool.

706
00:37:05,958 --> 00:37:11,000
So let's, so let's now sit down and spend a few hours designing what a,

707
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:16,416
what a quarterly win looks like, a monthly win looks like, a weekly win looks like,

708
00:37:16,666 --> 00:37:18,083
and what is a daily win for you?

709
00:37:18,208 --> 00:37:19,791
Like, like let's really map that out.

710
00:37:20,333 --> 00:37:23,666
And let's just define three things a day that you're going to achieve.

711
00:37:24,500 --> 00:37:28,583
And through that process, all of a sudden you see the,

712
00:37:28,833 --> 00:37:30,750
the weight start to lift off these leaders.

713
00:37:31,333 --> 00:37:33,375
The, the wins just start to come.

714
00:37:33,916 --> 00:37:36,166
So I took two minutes, but I only,

715
00:37:36,500 --> 00:37:38,375
I took two minutes to explain the two seconds.

716
00:37:38,500 --> 00:37:39,000
I hope that's okay.

717
00:37:39,416 --> 00:37:39,958
(laughing)

718
00:37:39,958 --> 00:37:40,791
I love it.

719
00:37:41,041 --> 00:37:42,208
Boo, thank you.

720
00:37:42,416 --> 00:37:45,833
And thank you for being on the Leadership Growth Podcast.

721
00:37:45,958 --> 00:37:47,250
This has been fantastic.

722
00:37:47,791 --> 00:37:51,166
And guys, look, thank you for the wonderful service you're doing

723
00:37:51,375 --> 00:37:53,708
for the world to bring those two words together,

724
00:37:54,291 --> 00:37:56,041
leadership and growth.

725
00:37:56,500 --> 00:38:00,250
Those two words alone is what's going to right the ship for humanity.

726
00:38:00,708 --> 00:38:04,541
If we do both of those things and we invest in those two things,

727
00:38:05,125 --> 00:38:07,250
I'm really positive about the future of humanity.

728
00:38:08,458 --> 00:38:08,750
-I love it.

729
00:38:08,750 --> 00:38:09,666
-Well, it makes a difference.

730
00:38:09,666 --> 00:38:11,666
And I appreciate the endorsement.

731
00:38:11,666 --> 00:38:14,833
And really what you've helped to highlight today is

732
00:38:15,125 --> 00:38:22,416
the ability for leaders to really unleash and untap that ability to win every day,

733
00:38:22,958 --> 00:38:24,250
which is what people want to do.

734
00:38:24,625 --> 00:38:26,541
And, and I just, I love the way you framed that.

735
00:38:26,875 --> 00:38:27,666
So thank you, Boo.

736
00:38:28,666 --> 00:38:29,000
-Fantastic.

737
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:30,250
-Thanks guys. It's been an absolute pleasure.

738
00:38:31,083 --> 00:38:33,375
-To all our listeners, thank you for joining us.

739
00:38:33,458 --> 00:38:36,833
Please like, and subscribe, and look forward to listening to future

740
00:38:37,166 --> 00:38:40,375
Leadership Growth Podcasts as we talk about tips and tools

741
00:38:40,375 --> 00:38:43,416
to help us all become better leaders.

742
00:38:43,958 --> 00:38:44,833
Thanks again, everyone.

743
00:38:44,833 --> 00:38:45,291
Take care.

744
00:38:45,375 --> 00:38:45,583
Bye.

745
00:38:46,458 --> 00:38:49,458
If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague

746
00:38:49,750 --> 00:38:53,625
or better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show.

747
00:38:54,250 --> 00:38:56,916
And remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

748
00:38:57,833 --> 00:39:00,958
For more great content or to learn more about how Stewart Leadership

749
00:39:00,958 --> 00:39:03,416
can help you grow your ability to lead effectively,

750
00:39:03,916 --> 00:39:06,125
please visit stewartleadership.com.

Episode 54: Iterative Leadership in the Digital Age

What does it mean to be a “flawless” leader?

And is “flawless” leadership even possible?

Today’s guest believes it is. Christian “Boo” Boucousis is an author, keynote speaker, and CEO of Afterburner, an organization dedicated to building flawless leaders by applying principles and systems fighter pilots use to perform to their exacting standards.

In this conversation with Daniel and Peter, Boo outlines what flawless leadership looks like, how systems can relieve the pressures of leading an organization, and the power of a few small mindset shifts.

Tune in to learn:

  • The definition of iterative leadership
  • The power of setting objectives and focusing on outcomes
  • The right question to ask when it comes to AI

“If a leader can shift from saving the day into designing the wins, then all of a sudden we start to feel good,” says Boucousis. “My work is actually delivering results. This makes me feel good; it feels less like work now. It feels more like action.”

Questions, comments, or topic ideas? Drop us an e-mail at podcast@stewartleadership.com.

In this episode:

  • 00:00 - Introduction
  • 00:32 - Episode Topic
  • 00:53 - Bio - Christian “Boo” Boucousis
  • 02:23 - Building Flawless Leaders
  • 03:50 - How Christian Became a Fighter Pilot
  • 08:14 - How Christian Entered the Business World
  • 10:52 - The Value of the Fighter Pilot Model of Leadership
  • 11:28 - What Is Iterative Leadership?
  • 14:03 - How Leadership Is Changing in the Digital Age
  • 17:44 - What an Iterative Leader Looks Like
  • 20:08 - The ORCA Model of Debriefing
  • 25:49 - Using AI to Turn Disruption Into Opportunity
  • 27:59 - How a Leader Removes Distractions
  • 35:57 - The One Thing to Become an Iterative, Effective Leader
  • 38:31 - Wrap-up

Resources and Links

Stewart Leadership Insights and Resources:

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