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Text copyright © 2012 Richard R. Rierson

All Rights Reserved

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Table  of  Contents  

PREFACE:  A  CRISIS  OF  LEADERSHIP   4  

WHAT  IS  LEADERSHIP?   6  

CHARISMA  &  LEADERSHIP   7  

RULES  VS.  COMMON  SENSE   9  

COURAGE   11  

COMFORTABLE  WITH  CHAOS   13  

KNOW  YOUR  PLACE   15  

ACCEPT  ACCOUNTABILITY   17  

GIVE  APPRECIATION   19  

TEAMWORK   20  

“HACK  THE  CLOCK”   22  

MY  FRIEND  JIM   24  

BIOGRAPHY   27    

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Preface:  A  Crisis  of  Leadership  

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; Tis’ dearness only that gives everything its value.”

So begins the opening paragraph of a very famous essay in American history titled The American Crisis. It was written in December 1776 by one of our greatest founding fathers, Thomas Paine.

Thomas Paine did not sign the Declaration of Independence; nor did he help draft our Constitution; he was not an accomplished politician; and he never became a great war hero. Thomas Paine left his mark on history as the voice of the common man; a gifted writer who stirred the hearts and minds of the Colonists as they struggled for independence.

When Paine penned the first pamphlet of The American Crisis he was actually imbedded with George Washington and his troops as they were retreating out of New York. Washington had lost every major battle in New York and finally succumbed to defeat with the British chasing Washington through Trenton, NJ. The British held up in Trenton while Washington retreated across and set up camp along the southwestern banks of the Delaware River.

The situation was quite dire for the Colonists in December 1776. Many of the voluntary enlistments began to expire in December, so Washington saw a large portion of his forces head back to their farms and families. In addition, inadequate shelter, food, and weapons in the midst of an early harsh winter further tested the waning morale of Washington’s dwindling troops. The Continental Congress had also begun debating if Washington was the right man for the job, and was seriously considering a replacement. The Revolution, which had begun with such courage and enthusiasm five months earlier, was on the verge of collapse,

Thomas Paine finished the first part The American Crisis in mid-December and when Washington read it he was so motivated and inspired he declared it mandatory reading to the entire Continental Army. He read it aloud to his troops on Christmas night 1776; the night of Washington’s famous midnight crossing of the Delaware during driving sleet and hail. Washington launched a surprise attack and defeated the British at Trenton, NJ; despite the fact Washington was outmanned and outgunned.

The victory at Trenton was a huge tactical and psychological victory for the Colonists. Though they still had a large difficult road ahead, this victory marked a turning point for the revolution. Many historians attribute a large portion of this victory to the writings of Thomas Paine. John Adams even said that “George Washington would’ve never raised his sword hadn’t Thomas Paine raised his pen.”

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What I love about this piece of American history was that, in the midst of a deep crisis, it was passionate common-sense inspiration from a common-man that helped turn the tide; simple & eloquent writings that inspired everyday citizens to do the extraordinary.

I believe we’re in the midst of a new American crisis; a crisis of Common-Sense Leadership. Everywhere we look from our personal lives, our households, our communities, our government; it’s all seems out of control. There are no shortage of challenges and obstacles.

These problems demand solutions for sure; but these solutions need to come less from the “larger-than-life” public figure and more from you and I. Our solutions need to be based in a grass roots, individual based, leadership philosophy.

A leadership philosophy that puts less emphasis on the “charismatic”, and more emphasis on what it means to be Calm, Confident, Consistent, and Courageous in every aspect of our lives. A leadership philosophy rooted in Common Sense.

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What  Is  Leadership?  

I came across an amazing book titled Toward A Meaningful Life by Rabbi Simon Jacobson. It’s a fascinating read that gives a fresh perspective on every aspect of our lives; from birth to death, love and marriage, family, etc.

I especially love the following excerpt that deals with the question “What is leadership?”:

In our secular society we tend to think of a leader as a person who’s well connected or who is powerful or charismatic or wealthy. We judge leaders by what they have. But a true leader should be judged by what he has not: Ego, arrogance, and self�interest. A true leader sees his work as a self�less service towards a higher purpose. As the sagists say leadership is not power and dominance. It is servitude. That doesn’t mean that a leader is weak. He derives great strength from his dedication to a purpose that is greater than himself…

….A true leader shows us that our world is indeed heading somewhere and that we control its movement. That we need not be at the mercy of personal prejudices or prevailing political winds, that none of us is subservient to the history or nature; that we are history and nature. That we can rid the world of war and hate and ignorance, obliterate the borders that separate race from race and rich from poor.

Still many people have lost faith in contemporary leaders. The solution is not to resign yourself to the sad state of affairs but to search for and demand a leader of sterling character. The ultimate goal should be to have all the benefits of a democracy and the benefits of a visionary leader. It’s important especially today to distinguish between leadership and demagoguery.

A demagogue may inspire people but his motives are impure and his expectations are unrealistic. It is wise to be a bit skeptical when assessing a leader. Is he truly devoted to his mission or just seeking glory? Is he truly interested in the welfare of others or simply building a flock for his own self-aggrandizement?

A true leader does not seek followers. He wants to teach others how to be leaders. He doesn’t want control. He wants truth. He doesn’t impose his leadership on others, nor does he take away anyone’s autonomy. He inspires by love, not coercion. When it comes time to take credit, he makes himself invisible. But he is the first to arrive at a time of need, and he will never shrink away in fear. He is so passionate about your welfare that when you consult him for guidance, it’s like coming face to face with yourself for the first time.

I think the last paragraph is remarkably poignant and timely for where we are as a nation today.

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Charisma  &  Leadership   How important is charisma when it comes to leadership?

When we think of leadership or ask people to define what makes a great leader, we often gravitate to the high-profile leaders with big egos and larger-than-life personalities.

In Nov 2011, Forbes published an article titled “Egomaniacs make the best leaders.” In this article they reference a study by four professors that studied 78 CEOs in the pharmaceutical / bio-tech industry and they concluded that “narcissism and hunger for attention lead to innovation and daring decision-making.”

There is certainly a ring of truth to this theory; after reading the Steve Jobs biography I’m convinced that Steve Jobs genius and creativity was driven by his ego and narcissism.

Personally I’m less concerned about ego and a larger-than-life personality being the bench mark definition of great leadership.

I’m a believer that all of us should think and act like leaders; that we all have the potential to be great in some sort of leadership capacity.

I also think that people often don’t think of themselves as leaders because they feel they don’t have the personality or “charisma” to be a leader.

I have seen many aspiring leaders spend a great deal of energy and effort on looking or acting the part of the leader. All of their leadership development centered on developing their charisma.

Instead of studying on how to develop a larger-than- life personality, one should spend their time and energy learning how to be:

• Calm • Confident • Consistent • Courageous

Regardless of our charismatic style, all of us can become better leaders if we devoted our life to these Four-“Cs”; instead of developing a personality.

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Charisma, for the most part, is more of a God-given talent. It’s great if you have it; but you will get more return on your personal growth investment learning how to be calm, confident, consistent, and courageous in every aspect of your life.

Jim Collins in his book “Good to Great” has a great chapter on this topic called “Level-5 Leadership”. In his book he argues that all of the “Great” companies of our time had “Level-5” leaders at the helm. Leader-5 leaders:

• Are ambitious, but ambitious first & foremost for the company, not themselves. • Display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated. • Are fanatically driven, with an incurable need to produce results. • Attribute success to other factors than themselves; often acknowledging good

luck, not personal greatness, for their success. • Look in the mirror and blame themselves when things go poorly.

Charisma can be a great enhancer and motivator to leadership; but it has to be backed up with substance and genuine character for it to be effective and long lasting.

Charisma can also be a dangerous thing; it’s an authority that defies natural logic. Regardless, history is replete with tragic example upon tragic example of people following charismatic leaders without character and substance.

Great leadership is not defined by your charisma.

Great leaders focus on learning how to be modest & willful, humble & fearless.

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Rules  Vs.  Common  Sense   Rules can be a good thing. We need them in our society for order, civility, and safety.

In the aviation community, pilots literally live and die by them. It’s been said that a pilot’s Flight Manual (rule book) is written in blood; you don’t follow what’s in the rulebook, bad things can and will happen.

In Navy/Marine Corps aviation, the rulebook for all aircraft is the NATOPS flight manual. In the opening paragraph of this manual is this blunt statement: “This manual contains vital and required information on all aircraft systems, performance data, and operating procedures required for safe and effective operations…..Read this manual from cover to cover; it’s your responsibility to have a complete knowledge of its entire contents.”

Pretty clear-cut and straightforward; you don’t follow the rules you’ve got a good chance of losing your wings, your aircraft, and your life.

There’s another statement in this opening paragraph that is equally powerful and important. It states: “This manual, however, is not a substitute for common sense and sound judgment.”

In early 2000 I was a military flight instructor teaching students how to fly the Cessna T-37. On one particular flight I was evaluating/instructing a student on his fourth flight in the touch-and-go landing pattern. On our third landing, right after touch down, we were shocked to see four deer beginning to bound across the runway, on a direct collision course with our flight path.

We were in a very precarious position. Traveling around 100 mph on the runway, with four deer 800 feet in front of us, we didn’t have many options or much time to react. In fact we were in blatant violation of three flight-manual “rules” that prevented a safe take-off.

First, we didn’t have enough power. Rulebook says you can’t take a T-37 off with less than 100% power on the engines. Our engines were at 88%; slowly spooling up to full power.

Second, we didn’t have enough speed. Rulebook says you can’t take off with anything less than 105 knots. We were at 88 knots; slowly accelerating with the notoriously sluggish engines.

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Lastly, we were at 100% (full) flaps; which meant we had too much drag for take off. Rulebook says you shouldn’t take off with anything more than 50% (half) flaps.

Though the rules were stacked against us for getting airborne, common sense told us that it was not smart to hit four deer head-on, traveling 100 mph, with nothing to protect us but hollow sheet metal and a Plexiglas canopy.

In the end it was the broken rule of 100% flaps that saved us. Though we had too much drag with this setting, and not enough power to overcome this drag, we did have some extra lift. Just enough lift in fact to “pop” the aircraft eight feet in the air; up and over the four deer allowing us to avoid hitting them head on. Though I actually did hit two of the deer (hitting one with my nose gear and clipping another with my wing); the accident investigation concluded that I averted near certain fatality by choosing not to hit all four deer head on and instead choosing to break the “rules” and fly over the deer.

The reality is there’s no manual, set of rules, process, or law that can cover every situation or scenario. This is certainly true in the above example and in aviation in general. It’s true in leadership as well.

Too often we focus on being effective managers and making sure that all of our rules and processes are followed to the letter; sometimes at the expense of common sense.

As leaders we have to keep our eyes on the big picture and realize that rules are man-made and can’t deal with every possible contingency.

Leaders realize that rules and process are required, important and necessary; but leaders also realize that doing what is right sometimes is in direct conflict with what the rulebook dictates.

Leaders understand there is no substitute for common sense and sound judgment.

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Courage   When I think of the concept of courage I’m often drawn towards those larger than life, uncommon examples of valor that are held in reverence and awe.

For example, Medal of Honor recipient Sgt John Basilone on Guadalcanal repelling 3,000 Japanese for three days and nights without sleep, rest, or food; or Neil Armstrong taking control away from the computer and manually flying the Lunar Module to a safer landing spot on the moon with only 40 seconds of fuel to spare.

It’s easy to understand courage in this context; these “life and death” type scenarios. But what about courage in the “everyday” that we are required to exhibit?

I think most of us equate courage as fearless acts of valor that are reserved for larger-than-life scenarios. It’s easy to look at these type of fearless acts and wonder if we have what it takes to exhibit courage; and therefore be a leader.

It’s important to note, however, that exhibiting courage does not mean that one acts without fear. In fact fear is actually a requirement of courage. Courage is the act of being scared to death and doing what’s required anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from World War I Ace Eddie Rickenbacker where he said, “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.”

In this context, every day we are faced with courageous choices and acts. Every time you act upon your gut instincts; every time you listen and follow your heart; every time you choose to do the right thing; you’re exhibiting courage.

It takes everyday acts of courage to deal with your life situations, love, family and work.

Maybe you’re required to step forward, make a fool of yourself, and lead your team in the Birthday Song for one of your employees.

Maybe you need to tell your kid no about going to the “party of the year” where all of her friends will be going.

Maybe you’re the father, who for the first time ever, decides to lead his family in grace over the evening meal.

All of these acts require courage. I realize that they’re not “life-and-death” type scenarios, yet there is still an element of fear involved in each. Regardless of the fear

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level, it’s just as important that we put aside the fear and do the right thing.

Don’t discount the everyday acts of courage that are required in our lives.

You need courage to hold your family together when they seem to be falling apart.

You need to have courage to not lose heart when met with failure.

You need courage to be a leader.

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Comfortable  With  Chaos   As a father of four daughters (ages 15, 13, 9, & 7), I feel I’m qualified to speak with authority on the concept of living and dealing with chaos.

As if having children isn’t challenging enough, we are also the owners of one extremely large German Shepherd, a loving & needy Boxer, two mini Dachshunds, four feral cats, and three horses.

Needless to say, there’s never a dull moment at the Rierson household.

The reality is that all of us are dealing with ever increasing levels of chaos in all aspects of our lives. The question becomes how do we effectively deal with the chaos and uncertainty that surrounds us.

Though I’m not an advocate of bringing gasoline to a fire and adding to the chaos, I’ve resigned my thinking and mindset that uncertainty and chaos are inevitable. Therefore I focus on how to become comfortable operating and excelling within an unpredictable chaotic environment.

I love President Eisenhower’s quote with regards to planning: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

One of the biggest lessons learned from my ten years with the Marine Corps was that endless training and planning was less about executing flawlessly and more about being prepared to deal with the inevitable unforeseen and unpredictable.

Planning is critical for success, but you must realize your plan becomes worthless the moment you put your plan into effect. It becomes worthless because you are guaranteed to encounter something that you weren’t expecting.

Once you accept this reality you become much more effective as a leader; successful leadership demands the ability to remain flexible and making timely decisions in the face of uncertainty.

I’ve seen a handful of leaders become crushed and demoralized because their plan didn’t come to fruition. Often their plans were overly detailed, rigid, and granular; unable to effectively deal with the unforeseen.

To counter this, we as leaders need to focus our energy on effectively communicating the

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overall intent and desired outcome of our plan to our people. The details, or the “how”, of the plan need to be left to your functional leaders.

By keeping most of my focus, as the leader, on the desired outcome I therefore foster an environment of initiative, creativity, and aggressiveness for my functional leaders.

In addition to creating this environment it is imperative that you support and encourage decentralized decision-making. In other words, once your intent is clearly communicated you need to be prepared to allow your functional leaders to make as many autonomous decisions as possible.

Without decentralized decision-making your plan becomes bogged down and overwhelmed by the inevitable unforeseen.

Remember, chaos is unavoidable. Learn to become comfortable within a chaotic environment by:

• Realizing that planning is not for perfection but for the unpredictable. • Communicating the intent/outcome; leave the “how” to your functional leaders. • Supporting decentralized decision-making down to the absolute lowest levels.

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Know  Your  Place   Knowing your place as a leader has little, if anything, to do with where you reside in an organizational chart.

Instead it has everything to do with fully understanding what you can affect in your current situation as a leader; and consequently putting all of your energy and focus on where you can be the most effective.

Recently a seasoned project manager I work with came to me to vent frustrations in his current role. His leadership position was especially challenging because he was on a rather large and highly visible project that required him to exert influence in all directions – for the people that worked for him, for those at the same level as him, and for those that he worked for.

His role fit the true John Maxwell definition of a “360-Degree Leader”. Typically when we think of leadership we think of the one person at the top of the organization. The reality is, as John Maxwell points out, “ninety-nine percent of all leadership occurs not from the top but from the middle of an organization.”

This project manager was frustrated because he felt that those above him weren’t listening or valuing his extensive experience enough. His perspective was that senior leadership was more concerned about politics and sugar-coating reality instead of dealing with the brutal facts of a slipping schedule and a ballooning budget.

He felt stuck in the middle; trying to influence leadership above him from committing to unrealistic timelines and unworkable budgets while at the same time keeping his team motivated and enthusiastic in the wake of such demanding pressure.

I empathized greatly with this manager; it’s always frustrating when you’re on the front lines and it appears you can see the path to victory more clearly than the “top brass” and you’re unable to influence their decisions effectively. It’s moments like these that have challenged me the most as a leader.

To put things in perspective for this manager I shared with him an analogy; I told him that his position and situation reminded me of a young infantry platoon commander during the June 6th, 1944 invasion of Normandy (D-Day).

I asked him to picture this young leader who, after Pearl Harbor, volunteered to join the Army in early 1942. Shortly after joining he subsequently married his high school sweetheart, found out his new wife was expecting, and began preparations for his deployment to England.

Once in England in early 1943, this young officer found himself in the middle of one of the largest and most strategically important 14-month planning and training cycles the world has ever seen; setting the stage to drive the Germans from France and ultimately destroy the Nazi regime.

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I asked this manager to picture this Lieutenant in the “Higgins” boat the morning of the June 6th, 1944 invasion; he hasn’t seen his wife in for almost 1-1/2 years, he’s never seen his new baby, he’s frustrated at the invasion planners for not listening to him about having the proper winter gear, he knows he will never get home until Hitler is defeated, and he’s worried about dying. He’s become exceedingly overwhelmed by all of the things he has absolutely no influence over; he’s lost sight on what he can truly affect.

Though he has little direct control over if Hitler will be defeated, the command decisions of those above him, or if he will ultimately live or die; he can choose to set the example and provide leadership to those immediately around him. In that overwhelming moment, the most important thing he can affect is the lives of the 25 men around him in that tiny Higgins boat. Encouraging words, a positive attitude, taking care of our people; all are basic leadership requirements we can’t lose sight of.

As leaders we pride ourselves on seeing the big picture and providing big solutions; but you have to be honest and humble about what you can affect in any given situation. Focusing too much on the large victory, the overwhelming situations, and the frustrating circumstances takes precious time and energy on what we can truly affect. When faced with this situation, take a step back and remember “D-Day” and take care of those people and situations that you can most positively affect.

 

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Accept  Accountability  

Accountability & Responsibility.

People often use these terms interchangeably; often believing that they mean the same thing.

If you are interested in dipping your foot into the leadership pool, you must understand that there is a subtle but very powerful difference between accountability and responsibility.

As a leader you must understand that you can delegate responsibility to numerous individuals all day long; but only one person can be held accountable.

Every aircraft I have flown have had multiple crew members. Flying the KC-130 I had a Co-Pilot, Navigator, Flight Engineer, First Mechanic, & Load Master. Each of these five crew members had unique functional responsibilities that were required for a safe and effective flight.

The Flight Engineer & First Mechanic were responsible for all the systems and maintainability of the aircraft. The Navigator was responsible for air drop computations and secondary navigation. The Load Master was responsible for all cargo loads and weight & balance information. As the Aircraft Commander, I had my own functional responsibility with the Co-Pilot to safely take-off, fly, and land the airplane.

But, as the Aircraft Commander, I had the additional weight of being ultimately accountable for everything that happened on that aircraft.

In other words, if one of my functional leaders failed in their responsibility, I was the one held to task for the failure. If my Navigator ultimately fails to navigate me to Hawaii, and I end up ditching the aircraft into the ocean, as the leader I must be held accountable for the Navigator’s failure. If my Load Master damages the aircraft with a forklift while loading the cargo bay, I have to answer and accept the full consequences of his mistake.

Too often we feel justified in throwing our team members immediately “under the bus” once they fail in their functional responsibility. What separates and defines you, however, as a true leader is having the moral courage to protect your team members from their honest mistakes and accept the full brunt of their mishap yourself.

This is easier said than done; no matter if it’s a $5 dollar or $5 million dollar mistake, it’s never easy to stand-up and accept the fault of others. It’s hard to accept this accountability because the reality is you may lose your position, title, or job because of the mistake of someone else.

But that’s the price of real leadership. The good news is that more often than not you will ultimately be rewarded for standing up and taking the heat for your folks. By having the courage to rise-up and accept accountability, you will breed loyalty, respect, and dedication from your team members that is unsurpassed and hard to define.

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There is never a shortage of opportunities to truly accept accountability in our lives.

If you want to consider yourself a true leader, be prepared to have the courage to do what’s right regardless of the consequences.

Remember that you delegate responsibility and hold accountability.

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Give  Appreciation   When I look back and replay the tape on some of my leadership failures, the failures often stemmed from me taking my eye off of the simple and obvious. The times I have failed as a leader were those times I was focused on myself.

As leaders we have to realize the basic essential hunger that rests in all of us; the desire to be appreciated, approved, valued, and accepted.

It’s so basic and ripe with “common sense”, but if we as leaders could learn to focus all of our energy on serving others, we could overcome many of the problems that are plaguing our businesses, schools, homes, and personal lives.

If you want to be appreciated, then you must show & give appreciation. You want to be approved and valued, then you must generously dish out approval and value. You want to be accepted, then you must learn to accept others and love them where they’re at.

As the famous saying goes about recognition: grown men die for it and babies cry for it.

Some of the best leaders I have worked for were those that were generous in their appreciation and validation. Receiving a simple thank you note, e-mail, or verbal praise at a meeting meant more to me than any fancy award or formal recognition. The key was that their appreciation was genuine and sincere.

The beautiful thing about appreciation is that it’s one of those gifts that the more you give away, the more you’ll get in return. Don’t be stingy with this valuable gift.

Remember, at the root of all successful leadership is a servant heart. Despite what you are feeling inside, be deliberate in choosing to focus your energy on others.

It’s never about you; it’s always about them.

 

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Teamwork   Nothing of real significant value can be accomplished by a single person. I love John Maxwell’s assertion that “one is too small a number to achieve greatness.”

No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to find one example of genuine achievement that was performed by a lone human being. There was always a team involved.

Leadership certainly requires individual & innovative risk taking; but without teamwork true greatness will never be realized.

I’ve gleaned many a lesson on teamwork from my prior experiences with the Marine Corps, aviation, and in business. My greatest and most memorable lesson in teamwork, however, came from being a member of a collegiate rowing team.

Rowing is the ultimate teamwork sport. All team sports have similar traits and characteristics that can be applied to everyday life and business; but the rowing aspects of teamwork are exponentially magnified. Technically everyone and everything has to be exact; the height of everyone’s arms & hands, the rate everyone slides up the rails, the timing of when the oars hit the water.

From a mental and practical aspect there are no individual stars in rowing; there is no place to hide. If you don’t pull your weight everyone instantly knows it. Because of this implied “peer-pressure” aspect there’s an unusually high requirement of mental and physical endurance . It literally takes months of practice for the same eight-crew members to achieve the same sense of self, rhythm, & consistency.

When a crew finally does achieve this synchronicity, after weeks of incessant training, an astonishing wave of power takes over the boat. What had previously been strained and difficult (and seemingly normal) all of a sudden becomes easy and poetic. It’s as if all of the previous egos, naivety, and insecurity of eight individuals is finally squashed, everyone becomes in tune with each other, and you feel as if all the power in the world is coming through your oar. Ultimate teamwork nirvana is realized.

Rowing set the stage and expectations for me early on what the true benefits of teamwork are, and what can be achieved through it. It takes a team to do anything of lasting value.

I love Chuck Swindoll’s essay The Finishing Touch that sums up the importance of teamwork:

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Nobody is a whole team…We need each other. You need someone and someone needs you. Isolated islands we’re not. To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support. And relate and respond. And give and take. And confess and forgive. And reach out and embrace and rely…Since none of us is a whole, independent, self-sufficient, super-capable, all-powerful hotshot, let’s quit acting like we are. Life’s lonely enough without our playing that silly role. The game is over. Let’s link up.

In this day & age of the where it seems the culture puts tremendous value and hope in the narcissist self-important leader; let’s have the courage to take a step back, become a lot more humble, and understand the true value of teamwork.

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 “Hack  The  Clock”  

Panic is bad.

It’s inevitable that at some point in your life you will face a situation that will require you to remain calm under pressure.

Your child is choking, a customer is irate and irrational, a team member is not pulling his weight, you come upon a car accident, you fly your aircraft through a flock of birds on take-off and lose all of your engines...

How you respond to stressful situations will make or break you as a leader.

As leaders you have no choice but to remain calm, regardless of the situation. Therefore it’s required leaders learn how to compartmentalize their emotions and fear.

A compartmentalization technique I learned in aviation is what’s called “Hack the Clock”.

For every aircraft there is a handful of emergency action items that pilots are required to commit to memory. These “boldface” memory items are steps requiring immediate action in order to keep the aircraft flying and/or safe. Pilots study and practice these critical items until they become second nature.

The challenge when faced with an aircraft emergency is executing the boldface steps too quickly. There has been more than one aviator who has shut down a perfectly good engine (while the engine on fire remains running) because they rushed through their “second nature” boldface items.

Its human nature to want to put out an engine fire light as quick as possible; but it’s imperative that a pilot take all appropriate time necessary to make sure that the correct immediate actions are performed on the correct engine.

To help slow things down and help control the natural “fight-or-flight” response to danger, many aviators do something innocuous before performing any emergency action item. The technique I used was pushing the timing button on the navigation clock (e.g. Hack the Clock).

Pushing this button is not required and certainly doesn’t do anything to alleviate the emergency situation; but it does allow me to slow things down and let my brain catch up to the initial surprise and concern. The idea is to prevent me from executing an instant, incorrect, and possibly fatal reaction.

It’s important to understand that this technique doesn’t remove the feeling of concern or fear, rather it’s a technique to control or compartmentalize your natural reaction to respond immediately.

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I found it interesting what Captain Chelsey Sullenberger had to say about how he felt moments after he realized that he lost both engines shortly after takeoff, prior to his miracle landing on the Hudson River: “It was the worst sickening, pit-of-your stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling I’ve ever felt in my life….”

By all accounts from those on the plane with him, and from what we all heard on the radio transmissions, he was the epitome of calm cool professionalism. Little did any of us know what he was really feeling inside.

As leaders we can’t afford to fold or lose our bearing under pressure. The good news is that we can all learn how to compartmentalize and control our natural tendency to react.

The next time you’re faced with a crisis or emergency, your first step should be to do something innocuous (i.e. hack the clock, scratch your head, take a breath, etc.) to help you recover and maintain control.

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My  Friend  Jim   I want to tell you about my friend Jim Goodrich. Jim, who is 85, lives in Enid, OK. I met him in 1999 while I was stationed at Vance AFB.

Jim is an Iwo Jima Marine. He never knew his mother – she died when he was only two years old. His father was left to raise him; but as Jim put it his dad was “kind of an alcoholic”. His father was an oil field worker who spent a lot of time in Oklahoma and Texas. Jim says he “was handed around until I was old enough to take care of myself. I spent a lot of time by myself, often weeks at a time, going to school on my own and so forth.”

When Pearl Harbor happened Jim was only 15 years old. He and a couple of buddies tried to enlist in the Marine Corps, lying about their age. They were turned away by the Oklahoma City recruiter.

Six months later in mid-1942, after Jim had turned 16, he gave his father an ultimatum and told him that he needed to help lie about his age to the Marine recruiter or Jim was going to run away and join the Canadian Navy. His father reluctantly agreed and seven months later Jim found himself in the middle of Pacific island-hopping campaigns of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and eventually Iwo Jima.

Of all the Marine battles, Iwo Jima is held in special awe and reverence. Iwo Jima is a small speck in the Pacific; it is 4.5 miles long and at its broadest point 2.5 miles wide. Iwo is the Japanese word for sulfur, and the island is indeed full of sulfur. Yellow sulfuric mist routinely rises from cracks of earth, and the island distinctly smells like rotten eggs.

The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 Feb – 26 Mar 1945) was one of the bloodiest in WWII. The island was defended by 22,000 Japanese and it took more than 70,000 Marines to take the island.

Out of the 70,000 Marines there were 26,000 casualties (6,800 killed & 19,200 wounded).

Out of the 22,000 Japanese all but 216 were killed on the island.

To put this in perspective, this one battle produced more US deaths (6,800) in 45 days than the entire last ten years of fighting in Iraq & Afghanistan (6,600).

On the first day of the battle, Jim was now an 18 year old Corporal; a machine-gun squad

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leader in charge of 12 men. As the transport hit the beach Jim told his best friend, “See you later tonight.” Jim went left, his friend went right and Jim never saw his friend again. He never knew what happened to him.

The man in front of Jim was hit in the neck with a bullet the moment they stepped on the beach; as Jim put it, “I don’t remember who he was, but I had to step over him and keep going. It was total chaos.”

For 19 days Jim fought in this living hell, witnessing unspeakable death & destruction, never once seeing the face of a living Japanese soldier (the Japanese were entrenched in 11 miles of underground tunnels and bunkers). Not until the 10th of March when he climbed out of a shell hole to be faced with a Japanese machine gunner about 30 yards away. “I sure remember his face!”, Jim told me.

Jim turned to get back into cover and remembers having a feeling like “a hot red poker going through my back and out my stomach.” Jim tried to get up a run after he was hit, but it was no use; his legs gave out on him.

Fortunately Jim fell back into a shell hole and had cover from his attacker. As he lay there on his back, looking up at the sky and feeling the seeping wetness, he was sure that this was the end for him.

At that moment a Navy corpsman came running by and triaged his wounds, gave him a shot of morphine, and evacuated him back to the beach.

Jim had escaped sudden death, but was nearly killed again with a morphine overdose once he got to the aid station. Another corpsman was about to give a second (lethal) dose to Jim because the first corpsman hadn’t marked Jim’s forehead with the letter “M”. Jim was fortunate to be lucid enough during his current morphine stupor to stop the second assuredley fatal dose.

When Jim was finally on a transport to the floating Hospital ship, Jim felt optimistic and hopeful that maybe he was going to be ok. Yet he was completely dejected and demoralized once reaching the ship when they told him they had no more room.

Jim was sent back to the beach where a doctor crudely put him under the knife in a make shift operating room on the sandy beach head; examining all of his internal injuries and eventually removing five-feet of damaged intestines.

Eventually Jim made it off the beach and back to Guam and Hawaii for five months of rehabilitation; the war was finally over for him.

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I’ve seen the scars on his back and stomach; the letter with the bullet holes and brown stained blood he was wearing in his blouse pocket; the letter from the doctor who performed the surgery on the beach – expressing amazement and joy that Jim was recovering well; and I’m humbled and utterly amazed by his story.

I have to constantly remind myself that he experienced all of this between the ages of 16 and 18. Then I think about what I was doing when I was that old; where my biggest stress in life was if I had to work at my part time job on a Friday or Saturday night.

Every time life gets stressful or frustrating, I try reminding myself of Jim’s story. Put into perspective, nothing compares to what he went through at such a young age. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting with Jim and I asked him how all of these experiences defined him and his life. He answered that it didn’t so much define him as it refined him. He learned how to appreciate every single moment, that life is truly a gift. Most importantly he said he learned what love was really about; the love he feels and felt for his foxhole buddies is something he said is hard to describe.

We owe a lot to Jim and for the thousands like him who have served; each having their own unique and memorable story. If you met Jim on the street, you would never know the amazing back story that is his life. Jim’s request for all of us is to make sure we get those stories from our grandparents, parents, & neighbors; before it’s too late.

Jim didn’t start telling his story until about ten years ago; I’m so glad he decided to share.

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Biography   Richard Rierson is currently a commercial pilot and a certified John Maxwell Leadership Speaker, Trainer, & Coach.

Richard is also the host of the popular Podcast “Dose of Leadership” where he interviews today’s relevant leaders & leadership experts.

Richard’s previous positions include Vice President of Operations & Vice President of Brand Communication for Value Place Hotels; Director of New Product Development & Director of International Operations for The Hayes Company; and Boeing 727 Flight Engineer for American

Airlines.

Richard also served ten years active duty as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps and has served the last ten years part-time with the Kansas Air National Guard & Air Force Reserve. He has accumulated over 4,000 flight hours as an Aircraft Commander in the Lockheed KC-130, Boeing KC-135, CRJ-200, and as a Military Instructor Pilot in the Cessna T-37.

Richard is a born & bred Wichita, Kansas native and received his BS of Computer Science from Wichita State University in 1991. He is also a 2007 recipient of the Wichita Business Journal’s annual 40-Under-40 award.

He currently resides in Andale, KS with his wife of 20 years and four daughter’s ages 16, 14, 10, and 8.

To learn more about Richard or to inquire about Richard’s speaking and consulting services, visit www.doseofleadership.com.