The job of a combat helicopter pilot isn’t just stressful – it’s life-or-death. And the leaders of these highly trained forces don’t take the stress lightly, but instead double down on their commitment and drive those around them to extraordinary performance. The toughest test for any leader is to stay focused under intense pressure, and yet remain humble. They’re able to lead with great clarity and precision, inspiring teams in the heat of battle. It takes poise, courage, and strength of character to do what they do – each day flying into danger with a team by their side.
Brian L. Slade has held command positions in the Army and the Air Force and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, and fourteen combat air medals. He attended Utah State, where he earned a BA and was commissioned as an Army Aviation second lieutenant. He’s also earned an MA in aviation instruction. Brian currently serves as a lieutenant colonel for Air Force Combat Search and Rescue.
Topics
During this interview Brian and I discuss the following topics:
- What drew him into forces especially the officer corps
- How he kept the mindset to stay at the top of performance
- How he got prepared to operate in combat zone
- How he took over an already established team and got it to peak performance
- Why leaders need to commit with courage
- How to combat the great resignation
Guest Resources
If you are interested in learning more about Brian’s resources be sure to check out the following links:
- Get Your Copy of Cleared Hot TODAY
- Brian Slade on LinkedIn
- Brian Slade on FaceBook
- Brian Slade Instagram
- www.clearedhot.info
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Transcript
The following is an AI generated transcript which should be used for reference purposes only. It has not been verified or edited to reflect what was actually said in the podcast episode.
Prime, a man welcome to the show they scott I’m happy to be here is as crazy. We got to active, serving lieutenant colonels to afghan veterans on the show here today I am stoked yes, if er I’m not a lieutenant,
00:00:20
Speaker
I dunno what I mean alright you’re a lieutenant
00:00:24
Speaker
yeah though I got you, I feel that a girl’s yeah jacket it up. I didn’t realize you’re historic duty, yeah yup, yeah legit, I’m still like bust, my butt ten ten twelve hours a day, and then I come home and do this at night. Yeah just means we have to be careful.
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah nah had known much and cranked cares what I say.
00:00:48
Speaker
Probably in that boat too.
00:00:51
Speaker
Alright, first question: I love ass and military folks like this one, what drew you into the forces and to why the officer route of it?
00:01:03
Speaker
Well, I got a mixed answer for that. What drew me to the forces was very you know. It was a combination of things I I was patriotic for one, but I also had no way to pay for school, so you know two birds, one stone and- and I also was somebody who has always drawn to like you- know, adrenalin antics. If you will- and
00:01:23
Speaker
he writes an opportunity where I could- I guess three birds, one stone you know do something where I could fill that need pay for school and you know defend the country. So all of those things really just that appealed to me, but I didn’t start as an officer. I actually did seven years as an enlisted guy and the, and then I do
00:01:43
Speaker
what’s called the simultaneous membership program where I was able to get the benefits from being a list. The guy for school and the benefits have been an officer for school and and really worked out. Well for me that to see that dichotomy as well as far as like be able to lead as an officer but understand where the enlisted guy comes from cause, I’ve been there. You know
00:02:03
Speaker
yeah for sure. So we have a similar program appear to where the lasik eyes can can flip over there’s a couple of different streams, but the one that most go through is where the same thing to get sponsored for school and a and great for them. They keep their their pay as unlisted, which is much better than if you’re, going, though
00:02:23
Speaker
through what we call the r o t p program or rotc yeah down south right. So those guys getting big black big bucks compared to us are going through school. So it’s pretty good gig, but you’re you hit the nail on the head, though they they understand. You know when you have that experience, they the understanding of what it’s like on the front lines per se. You know turning wrenches doomed us do that
00:02:43
Speaker
been doing. The work ought be because there were there, they did it alright, yeah. So there’s literally turning orange flowers, a mechanic yeah yeah. I remember that now I remember that now
00:02:55
Speaker
so you went from mechanic to you know you just made a little minor change in career path from character. You, your flat apache gunships. As a note. Basically, it’s a natural path, it’s basically the same thing, taxi
00:03:09
Speaker
yeah, the pretty bad. I was go ahead while I was it while I was at college doing the artist. I knew I wanted to fly helicopters, but then I did a little but at what I did as I did this incentive right thing they had like you know a blackhawk show up and say: hey. You guys want to check this out and we
00:03:28
Speaker
went in there and of course they tried to make us puke by doing all the things that you didn’t know a helicopter could do and- and was I guess this is it. This is what I’m going to do and I didn’t realize how, like you just said it how bad ass the apache was until I ended up in the apache, because that was just a foregone conclusion. I was in a unit already
00:03:48
Speaker
had a patchy. So that’s where I was going to go, and I didn’t realize you know like it is that it is the creep you know it is, is the machine. So
00:03:59
Speaker
so, let’s talk a bit of a going through and experiences there. Then you know you go through the whole rotc program and I am sure, with young smooth sailing getting through the apache training. Note no hiccups!
00:04:12
Speaker
Well, I mean first, you gotta get branched into aviation, which is fairly when I was doing it was really competitive because there was so many dudes at wanted to do it though they were like yeah you gotta get ’em all that doesn’t look right. You’re out there like there was just like every little thing they were just trying to like weed through. So there was a little bit of nervousness there that I was going to
00:04:32
Speaker
to get weeded out for some nuance right, but luckily I made it through all that in fact, at one point they did. They found like two little granulomas in my long, which are fairly common to people that travel benign in nature, of course, but they were gonna. They were going to eliminate me for that, and you know I pushed it to get a waiver because I was like man come on, I’m almost there enough
00:04:52
Speaker
and then I got to flight school and- and you know, when you’re in flight school it up until that point in my military career it wasn’t hard for me to be at the top. I just I just had to push, and I was there. I was at the top when I got the flights go. I realized that that was just a bunch of dudes that were in the same boat as me. They never had to work hard to be at the top, so they were
00:05:12
Speaker
were there were there was all of us liked that now, all of a sudden, I’m like well crap, I gotta work hard to, though, because these guys are freaking good until they were all smart, and you know I never was really smart, but not. Luckily, the army gives a lot of weight to physical prowess and at the time I I was pretty physically fit and and I and that that waited out the the smartness. I guess, but
00:05:33
Speaker
these guys were smart and fit so I was like oh crept uphill climb, but pushed through that and then I then I went to apache trainee and man. When I flew that thing I got in it, I was dislike. This is my beast. This is my jam. It’s a you know. I I described it to my parents like it’s like a semi cause. I drove semi at will
00:05:53
Speaker
on point. It’s like a semi that operates like a ferrari as far as nimbleness and it can go with redirect treat the no three directions it has like it’s just so awesome and if called upon income level a city
00:06:05
Speaker
he yeah, that’s so cool up. Now he talked about that competitiveness. You know and obviously even getting to the flight training and then obviously it apaches been the cream of the crop of you know. How did you keep the mindset that you were to? You know you’re going to
00:06:25
Speaker
get through it? How? How did you manage to keep that mindset? Keep operating at that high level too? I I assume you’re you’re competing only so many guys, there’s only so many birds rights only so many, so many guys are going to get that hell, uh hilo. So how did you keep that mindset of keeping on top your gained through the whole flight training in in into you know, and eventually into your your firm
00:06:45
Speaker
first first cockpit for real,
00:06:49
Speaker
I mean honestly, it’s just like anything and it’ll. I I I played a lot of sports and I was a decent athlete naturally, but as super competitive, so I and I hated sucking so it’s just you know, keep pushing and keep pushing it. If you push harder than those around you eventually you’ll end up. You know,
00:07:07
Speaker
oh you’ll end up being a competitive, whether or not it’s natural ability or not, and I that’s really how I I feel like I was gifted. I wasn’t gifted with natural ability and a lot of areas, but I was blessed with that determination right so and that’s pretty much what kept me it was.
00:07:27
Speaker
Is it hard to keep focus? I was like this is what I want to do and there’s a lot of competition here and that actually drove me. I was like I gotta stay focused because there is a lot of competition,
00:07:37
Speaker
guys that are just some of her. Naturally gifted some of them are like me, you know they weren’t, but they were very driven. You know so so you just kind of I I thrived off of that. I fed off of that. You know like oh jeez, you know you can’t you can’t let your guard down cause.
00:07:52
Speaker
If you do, if you do some there’s somebody, that’s more than competent, that’ll, take your place
00:07:58
Speaker
yeah! So I’m hearing from you there is instead of you know what can the competitions and negative thing like all going to compete against these guys day in day out? He took that as a positive thing like and use that as your motive, like oh yeah, you know I’m going to use these guys. These guys are a top along and use them to motivate being pushed me. You know the iron strength, sharpens iron type mentality, vice hi,
00:08:18
Speaker
having the having it as a as a negative mentality, a mindset which I think is amazing, because so many people there would just be in that situation like up all these there just to get I’m done, I’m tapping it faced using the laws of way. I honestly think that a true competitor, craves competition right like you’re, not
00:08:38
Speaker
you’re, not super happy when you see it, but you also crave it till like call man this all right here we go, you know, so
00:08:47
Speaker
I would say that I’m not.
00:08:49
Speaker
I used to be like one of those guys. It was just ridiculous with comp competition and everything was a competition, the school story, one race say you wanted to. Who could do? No, I’m not like that any more. I realize that a board game is just a board game
00:09:02
Speaker
yeah after he finished the show. Are you going to tell me how you realize that I
00:09:08
Speaker
am still pretty competitive, even when I’m playing in trouble with my two boys
00:09:14
Speaker
yeah
00:09:16
Speaker
fast forward here? Let’s fast forward here, so you deployed a can or afghanistan the end up in kandahar, where I was at one point: let’s go, let’s go back, let’s, let’s go to the beginning, you know what what were you feeling? How did you prepare yourself for for that mission? I mean that mentally with your team, as as as offs
00:09:36
Speaker
there’s a leader going into your first real mission, know: how did you get ready to roll?
00:09:42
Speaker
You know for me it was. It was super. It was a surreal type of experience because our unit as a whole,
00:09:50
Speaker
all the experienced guys they hadn’t deployed either. So we didn’t really have a lot of guys to be like hey. What’s it like down there, what’s this, what’s it worth, what can we expect it was it was we had guys that were experienced in the aircraft, but they were they weren’t experienced it there weren’t any more experience of combat that I was right now as a platoon leader, going down there and
00:10:10
Speaker
actually ended up being our unit movement officer or an or advance party, which is basically the three of us that got downrange before the rest of the unit. So we were the first boots on ground for our unit and at yeah I didn’t know what to expect. I was sitting in the back of a c seventeen. Just you know bouncing up and down with my sergeants and you’ll. All three of us should just like
00:10:30
Speaker
yeah. Here we go what what? What is it going to look like an interestingly enough? It it. My first impressions were very contrary to what I would have thought it was going to be so we landed in the morning early morning of an embargo is where we we landed initially, and I dunno
00:10:50
Speaker
what I was expecting, but I just thought: maybe you would like stinker, be nasty because it’s like war in a like it’s going to be ugly forever, and when that thing that baca, that c seventeen started open and we were in the dark. You know it’s kind of like blinding with your eyes in the first wave of like fresh air from outside hit me and it didn’t stink. Now. Granted. If I landed in ca,
00:11:10
Speaker
kandahar have been a different story, but we landed a barroom, it actually smelled kind of fresh, and I was like what that’s weird and then it continued down the door continued down, and I saw the mountains and I just came from it off from the rocky mountains in idaho and utah, and I was like what is going on here. That’s actually beautiful, and so it just wasn’t what I expected,
00:11:31
Speaker
but in more ways than one, because when we deploy to afghanistan it was during a time when iraq was all the news right. Iraq was all over the news, and you didn’t hear anything about afghanistan, so we thought it was bts stuff either. Just not a lot going on in afghanistan and we’re going to go fly circles in the sky is going to be kind of boring could have been more wrong
00:11:51
Speaker
wrong. Obviously, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a book, but
00:11:56
Speaker
really what stood out to me- and this is what I used to teach perspective with guys- is like when we started first started flying and we hadn’t engaged with the enemy. Yet I’d fly over those mountains in those mountains were beautiful and then we would get a call and we would get a call and they would put that it would be a troops in contexts where they call a tick and
00:12:16
Speaker
we drop out of that beautiful suits. You know that serene view that we’re looking at and all of a sudden, we are fully engaged in a gunfight, fully engaged were talking to a ground force, commander, who’s, breathing heavy, and you hear gunfire in the background- and you can tell it’s just chaos on the ground and they just don’t want to get hit with fast, moving led right
00:12:36
Speaker
and then we’re bringing the heat with much bigger, fast, moving led right and that’s the that’s the intent. So everybody is focused now on this gunfight and- and I thought there was a really cool lesson in that egg- in that the problem that we see all over in ok, hinn, canada and the: u s: is people choose
00:12:56
Speaker
using a permanent solution to a temporary the problem and in what I’m talking about suicide right? So so there’s a analogy there when you’re talking about being in that gunfight when you’re in the middle of a gunfight, you feel like. That’s your life like that’s everything. That’s all your focus is on that moment and it is intense, but that
00:13:16
Speaker
gunfight will and the gunfight is finite. But the cool thing, even in odd places, uglies afghanistan as far as what’s going on in afghanistan, even in that place, those mountains are still beautiful, that snow on those mountains is still serene and, as you lift up even higher in the altitude, you can see the car
00:13:36
Speaker
of the earth and that’s frickin, just amazing, and I don’t care if you’re over the ugliest place on the planet this. So I always say I tell the story over and over again, so some people have maybe heard it again herded if they, if they listened to several podcasts, but I’ll, give you over the ugliest place on the planet. If you’re up at thirty thousand feet, you see the curvature of the earth. That is awesome right and if you go up in a
00:13:56
Speaker
space which I haven’t been and probably never will cause, I don’t sound fun to me, but if you look at the globe, how amazing is that and here’s the really cool part about that? There is no direction in space, so the beauty doesn’t go in every direction it just is it just exists? That’s the infinite! That’s the infinite perspective, not
00:14:16
Speaker
the gunfight that seems infinite and overwhelming when people are in it, both analogously and literally as we’re talking about when they’re in that that seems like their world, but that’s a fine you might come through with some scars. You might get beat up a little bit but er e, but it’s fine. I it will end, it will end,
00:14:37
Speaker
but the infinite is up there
00:14:40
Speaker
while that brought iran, while I’m here from you is your, let you look to the out
00:14:46
Speaker
the desired end-state as former navy seal larry. Yet none are former guest on the show would say right. You know, look look for! You know, look to where you need to get to where you want to be, and it’s it’s. It’s not necessarily there in that moment of chaos, but you know focus get through it and you’ll get to it and it’ll be okay. In nyc I talked to so
00:15:05
Speaker
many people, jan twenty, twenty, twenty twenty one. Twenty try to pandemic was rare on, so many people were just ah so tired of this mike will get there like. This is not the first time we’ve gone through a pandemic, it’s our first time, but not us as a species. It’s not our first time we’ll get there cause! Guess what we’re still here. You know spanish
00:15:26
Speaker
ooo, nineteen eighteen at happened. It was the same type of thing and guess what over still here. So I love that perspective thing that you that you talked about for sure and and in you all the chaos that goes on I’ve been there like literally been there right now I was in kandahar, like you know it. It’s interesting that I don’t know if I talked with
00:15:46
Speaker
as often and you are a beach to hear if you had a very similar thing cause he kind of hinted at but like when you get there, you just like before you’ve gotten shot at you’re, just like when some going to shoot at me like, like you’re, you’re kind of want to get that experience and get it done and over with so that you know what it’s like was that something similar for you to? Ah,
00:16:06
Speaker
oh yeah, it really was and you that sound that may sound weird people, but it for us when we got in the ballroom there were we had to split our our company up into two two places we put a detachment out of july bad, and then there was the rest of us at ballroom initially and the guys were added july. La bad were the guys that were getting called in to do all the
00:16:26
Speaker
these tech support right or the guy’s, a bargain primarily were flying, escort and ring routes where we didn’t really get into it with the enemy. At that as much and at this point it’s been a month in er, so I hadn’t. Hence even to my knowledge, I hadn’t even seen the taliban in also I I was like well, you know, and
00:16:46
Speaker
but I was starting to hear stories from the guise of july labatt of engaging the enemy and all those kind of things I’m like. I want to do my part, you know and and then they finally they did. I might. There was a reason there were some leadership challenges out there in july labatt. In my commander said on the send you out there, I need you to kind of figure out. What’s what and put
00:17:06
Speaker
it back together the way it needs to be put together, so he made me that attachment commander and I went out to july the bed while I was in july all abaddon, and that once again now now that now that whatever you wanna call anxiousness was even amplified, because I know I know: potentials increased to go and in and trade lead with the enemy
00:17:26
Speaker
and do you know even guys were still come back and they’re like they had an engagement, and I gotta talk to him right after they had it, and that kind of thing and I go out and who get called into a tick and in the guys with nothing, would happen like they wouldn’t shoot at us or anything just disappear. They say: hey we’re not gonna play today and I was it was frustrating. I call the tactical blue balls, you know, I’m just like man
00:17:47
Speaker
ready to go at a kick, kick get this done, and then finally, I had my first, my first engagement and it was a doozy I mean we rolled in and it was a daytime mission and we were flying in this really really steep slot canyon in on one side of the slot. Canyon was a convoy that was they’d had an id go off, so they were in
00:18:07
Speaker
basically in a bad way. They couldn’t press down the road and there were taken fire, but they couldn’t tell from where we had we. We thought it was on the opposite side of the the canyon so we’re flying over there trying to figure it out, and I had never really seen muzzle flash before in the daytime. So I I would, I later realized I hadn’t. I was seeing it, but I didn’t at this point
00:18:27
Speaker
point I didn’t realize that so as we were flying around we had just come, we were actually getting pretty aggressive in pretty low were about twentieth. I dunno twenty thirty feet over the over the ground and then we came out over the over the valley solely from like twenty thirty feet to about three hundred feet and right, as that happened, we got rocked with an r
00:18:47
Speaker
pg. I mean lifted that bird up a tour it like like. I got punched, then forgive it punched right in the bottle right like boom, like picking us up, and we lost him a created this I thought we were hit. I thought were hit by the rpg, but what had happened as the rpg, the air burst below us, or he slammed into the cliff now
00:19:07
Speaker
x to us, and it created this disturbed air that we couldn’t bite with our helicopter blades, and so we were falling, and so I thought that’s why I like we’re hit man first fight, we’re here. I’m done this sucks. I didn’t even get a chance to throw a punch right and I can see I remember so visually just seen the rock that we were going to hit at the bottom of that ravine. I’m like
00:19:27
Speaker
that’s where we are going to. I mean that’s our trajectory right there, but doug with the guy who was flying the back seat before champion of champions flies that thing outta there and then there’s this really good lesson. That’s taught to a young lieutenant at the time who just
00:19:44
Speaker
I probably would have stopped flying the helicopter, because I thought we were hit. I there was nothing left to do, but he continued to fly the helicopter, which is, which is a lesson for life to you know. How often are we in the middle of stuff and we feel like it’s a foregone conclusion. This is this is where it’s at. This is where it’s headed it done
00:20:05
Speaker
when if we just continue to fly the helicopter, just like you were saying recovered now, it’s announced in the rearview mirror you know, and he flew us out of that thing. We came back around and I started to realize what I was seeing was was muzzle flash and we started to engage the enemy with extreme prejudice
00:20:25
Speaker
and it was. It was surreal in a way that I’d pulled the trigger on the apache many times a target practice, but without was the first time, and that was my first time that I knew when I squeeze that trigger that I was taken life. You know there were men on the other end of that that, whereas convicted in their causes, I was mined. In fact they were very committed to try to make me.
00:20:45
Speaker
I lose my life for their commitment, and so was I
00:20:50
Speaker
and so that that exchange in that, why calmed I’ve? I recall it. I respect that enemy for that. For that reason not there cause, but for their conviction for their ability to go toe-to-toe with a machine that could kick their ass and did right and then we roll back around and we keep fighting
00:21:10
Speaker
and we did the same. The aim thing right in the same frickin spot in you know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expect a different result, but we got the exact same result. Luckily, exact same result result because he didn’t hit us again, but this time chunks of rock from the cliff hit the canopy. That’s how to
00:21:30
Speaker
close. It was everything and we went sideways this time. But now I had like ten minute old wisdom, though so I looked at. I looked at the instruments when, like oh we’re, still good we’re going to catch area, we’re going to fly to this day, which we did niall eight, the guy’s got their truck fixed and they got down the road. So my first engagement was pretty intense,
00:21:50
Speaker
a lot of lessons to be learned from it, but it was a success ultimately yeah. No, definitely all lessons into it. You hit on them right when trusting your team, ’em team members. Are you your your pilot, the time yeah I mean, but it’s been saved my bacon and taught me so much it just
00:22:10
Speaker
that just one moment he taught me so much lately
00:22:14
Speaker
so much in there. What I’d like to do? The rise go back to lieutenant slate, so lieutenant’s lady gets holiday and says: hey you’re after july bad and you’re going to take over this team, your your parachute new in something’s, not right, and we need you to take over his team. You know how to use a leader.
00:22:34
Speaker
They go in to this team that you didn’t train with. You know you knew them because they’re part of your unit and so for the audience you aren’t familiar with military lingo and speak. Think of, like your marketing in your told, just go over to sales and take over sales team. Alright, that kind of that kind of that kind of situation, so you could told
00:22:54
Speaker
take over the team and and and now be it’s leader and running. So how did you you’re one insert yourself into that team to make it gel and perform at their peak performance that? Obviously you guys need it at that time?
00:23:11
Speaker
Well, I mean, I didn’t know the guys and- and we had trained but together, but we would we’d been separated for about two months at this point in their experience of war. In my experience of war at that point were completely different right, so I was the guy coming in has like don’t know. What’s going on, man had been here doing this
00:23:28
Speaker
this right and and they were right in their correct, so that was the first things I had acknowledged that they had they had institutionalized. I did not. I had acknowledged that and say teach me right, teach me what you have. What let me know what’s going on here and hit what I realized pretty quick. You know open your ears and shut your mouth, but but what I realize
00:23:48
Speaker
jd is the guys that that we looked to you for wisdom and although the guys that that were the best pilots, because they’d been around for decades doing it, they weren’t the guys getting into fights. It was the young guys that were getting into fights, and so now you have this interesting out of sequence, wisdom, attainment. You know which
00:24:09
Speaker
she adds to it another complexity to team building, because it’s easy to say the guys have been fly along enough they’re, the guys that are going to have all the answers. That’s the natural order of things, but when you got a guy, the guys that are younger actually having answers that the older guys don’t have because they haven’t had that experience now you get egos in the way right,
00:24:29
Speaker
and so what I really had to go in there and do is listen first figure that out and then encourage others to listen as well through meetings where we we know we set the stage by having whiteboard where everybody could talk and round tables in those kinds of things, and you know just taken charge and saying: hey guys. Everybody’s everybody’s input
00:24:49
Speaker
here is equal because, because of the consequences right, when the consequences death every time you go out, if you do the thing the wrong way, I think we’re going to listen to people that that that went out there and did it and and came back. You know whether they did it right or wrong. There’s a lesson there and
00:25:09
Speaker
and what we finally started getting was guys. You know injecting wisdom from all different angles and, and it did start to become more cohesive and we did start to really really start to wreak havoc against the taliban in and lay and latham
00:25:23
Speaker
lay some blankets
00:25:26
Speaker
you don’t want to hear from. You is like you stole it. What water refer to as a as a sense of psychological safety, you you enabled the guys to speak up and speak their minds and in a military context, is so easy for us to be able to not do that with a rank structure in a hierarchical structure. You know you being the loo,
00:25:46
Speaker
lieutenant and, and then everyone else being whether they’re, cheap or warrant officers or and ceos or whatever. You know, and you been placed in charge as commander of that group. It immediately puts in the hierarchy, but instead it which a lot of people have a hard time with you did the inverse. She say no
00:26:06
Speaker
everyone’s input matters here because, just like you said lives are on the line, and I remember I was coaching arrows presenting to a group of business students once and I I kind of went that route, and I said you know with the military, were you know any day? It’s all those saved lives, but look at it from a business context. Business standpoint
00:26:25
Speaker
in I’ll make a long story, short hair, but I said it’s exact same thing as the end of the day, if you’re a poor leader and in your your your organization, your business fails, then people don’t have jobs, don’t have money, they’ll earn money to put bread on the under tables and provide for the families and keep a roof over their head know it’s their wives on on on the line just like that
00:26:45
Speaker
two, and if you look at it from that context, you need to go in every day and you need to fight. But you need to do it in a way that you’re one inspiring to motivating and three due at enabling your team to achieve its best
00:27:02
Speaker
yeah. I I learned a pretty valuable lesson as a high school kid trying to compete in football, and I started late. I started as a sophomore in high school, but I ended up being pretty good good enough to even get picked up by colleges and sit on the bench, but but basically dagger through
00:27:20
Speaker
right, good, but not that good. So
00:27:23
Speaker
one thing, my coach said that religious rang true with me and I I started applying it and basically I still apply it in everything I do, and that is if you’ll engage something with commitment. True commitment, not knowing what the outcome will be, just commitment and courage right, because not knowing what the outcome may be
00:27:44
Speaker
b requires courage. You do you don’t know where this is going to go. You don’t know how crazy this is going to get right and then the the equal sign on that equation is increased capability. As you up ply commitment encouraged to anything,
00:28:04
Speaker
you will have increased capability and from increased capability. You get increased confidence, and then you can start that cycle all over again. So it’s just this building
00:28:15
Speaker
equation that just builds on itself and builds on itself with in high school. I don’t notice has how he intended me to put to apply it, but- and this is in the book- the story- and you probably read it well what to tackle a guy. I got one of my guys came from the other side and hit my hand. At the same time, I was tackling him and it literally shoved my
00:28:35
Speaker
my middle finger, all the way back into my hand and so like folded up on itself and shoved it back in my hand, so to see anybody. Looking at the hand, I have three fingers and a thumb in a bloody stump right. That’s that’s really what it looked like. Well, I didn’t look at it immediately. It happened it hurt and I shook it and I didn’t look at it as just like. Oh you know, and I and I did,
00:28:55
Speaker
I think the figure was gone. I was just like it hurt and then I went to the next play and I got down to go to the next play and, as my hand, hit the ground. There was no return pressure for my middle finger. I looked down and it was gone and I was like. Oh my gosh. I lost my finger, you know, but now are in the play, so I actually we we did the blood I am.
00:29:15
Speaker
She got the tackle. This is something that we we figured out later. We watched the video like you actually got the tackle after you are missing your finger. You know, and I was like yeah it all. You do what you do and then I came out and I was tapping my helmet and my coaches yelling at me cause. I never left the game. I was on there from start to finish: offense defense or special teams. They like what the hell you’re coming off the field.
00:29:35
Speaker
Four and I’m like coach, I’m not sure, but this doesn’t look right. You know and and he’s like, oh crap in one of the you know, they’re like we’re going to stop this. This game and find a fingered. I was sitting there on the sideline holding my hand, kind of queasy and one of the coat one of the
00:29:50
Speaker
athletic trainers came over coaches and then, like look, I think, your fingers in your hand. I can see your finger nail sticking out and the insole is said. You just need a poll on that right and know. It’ll had a great day, grandma shook marry. Okay, I’m like yeah yeah, I’m just about the platinum pass out and and then went into halftime in that back. Then they could say this. I
00:30:10
Speaker
I don’t think you could get away with it now, but they said. Are you willing to go back at you want to go back out and play as yet? So we commitment right courage. This is where the courage came into my head. That’s where this applied commitment encourage, and so it hurt like a pitch, but we wrapped it all up. We went back out there and I played that that that game and the rest of the season, but that was just a powerful lesson to me.
00:30:31
Speaker
My coachman minute, by like play with his fingers, shoved back in your hand, but that’s how I took it and and is still drove a lesson deep inside of me, is that I just got better and better and it was because of that commitment encourage increased my capability and then you know, like I said, an average athlete was selected to be
00:30:51
Speaker
and a d one school. You know, and that’s that’s where that that’s, where the benefit? That’s, where the payoff comes
00:31:02
Speaker
yeah, I almost threw up at that section of luck by the way
00:31:05
Speaker
yeah ugh god like autism or you gotta. You are weak stomach. You do not want to read that story, cause you yeah. I was thorough. I am, I was crazy. I was blacked out. I mean I kept yeah, no doubt yeah. I think it’s of deuces myself, nothing like that, but
00:31:26
Speaker
what I want to hit at, though, is like that courage and commitment that you showed it his individual er. Sorry. What I want you to hit on after is like hesitant, inspire your t like the rally, your team. So that’s you know. That’s the whole point of that story, and I didn’t even finish it right so when I’m out there doing that right, every
00:31:46
Speaker
everybody wanted to be engaged in that game. More they’re, like dude, if he’s out here with a busted hand, frickin we can, we can suck it up and play the best of our abilities, and that was the really one of the other lesson. To that whole thing was I learned that if you lead, he never won, never ask anybody to do anything. You’re not willing to do yourself, don’t doesn’t mean you have to
00:32:06
Speaker
do it, but you gotta be willing to do it because ot sometimes roles and responsibilities dictate that you’re not going to do it, but never ask them any to do anything. You’re not willing to do they’ll, know, they’ll know if you wouldn’t be willing to do it yourself, but when you do something, do it with intensity and do it with purpose and people won’t just follow. You they’ll want what
00:32:26
Speaker
to follow you. They won’t folly because they feel like they have to you. They’ll feel like you because they want to. They will follow you because they feel like they want to be part of that. They want to be part of that support, a crew. They want to be part of that when they want to be part of that fight, you know, and and and so yeah. I’m glad you asked that question, because that lesson was very very important and it applies. The military buys the beer
00:32:46
Speaker
business. It applies to relationships. It applies to pretty much anything you can. You can think of yeah. It totally does right. You get you. I love that you don’t wrap up. You’ve got to show that you’re gonna do what you’re asking your team to do, because, if not like, you said dusty right through it, they’ll they’ll, they’ll, they’ll they’ll, see right through oliver up. You only
00:33:06
Speaker
talked a lot about commitment and encourage splinter from your from your experiences of it. Is you know I’ll preface the question with what I’m hearing a lot right now from leaders is: oh people aren’t committed. We had the great resignation going on there’s this problem with thirteen there’s that problem with their
00:33:27
Speaker
t. How do I do this? With my team, I e you know alto, I’m getting as like halloween stillness and are teamed in this day and age from your from your experience in your standpoint, so that we don’t have these issues and that our team themselves are actually committed error, they’re, going out with courage and they’re taking
00:33:47
Speaker
you know the ones that are taken, her fingers out of their hands and ain’t going up for the next tackle and stuff like this. How do we get our team’s young aligned with that?
00:33:58
Speaker
Well, I think the first thing you hit on his ownership- it’s ownership, this guy were all we can’t do it, because this get this this kid culture of this, that culture that I’m not arguing whether the culture has changed. Not that’s. Probably that is true. I can say probably that is true. Cultures changed, but er you later you’re, not if you’re in charge you’re in charge
00:34:17
Speaker
ash and- and that means that ownership is on you right and in in the st those same those same truths hold you still lead with intensity. You still lead with purpose. You still don’t ask them to do anything. You aren’t willing to do yourself, but if you do that and you hold yourself accountable accountable, you have every right to hold them accountable as well right
00:34:38
Speaker
and as they see that pattern, the guys that you want to keep your keep
00:34:44
Speaker
right. The guys of you will want on your team. They will rise up and be on your team right. There is also a filtering process if they don’t want to be there and that’s all the way that you’re leading your leaning that way. Those are the guys you want on your team anyway
00:34:59
Speaker
right so, but I would argue that most people will rise. Most people will arise. Most people will have more potential than they even realize themselves. Actually I’d say all people every person has more potential than they can realize, because in my mind’s eye we have infinite potential. So you’ll never understand it.
00:35:19
Speaker
You can never categorize it. You can never put a cap on it. It you, you can’t, you cannot define it because I think we have infinite potential. You know
00:35:30
Speaker
that my friend is the quote of the shower at their infinite potential. I absolutely love it,
00:35:38
Speaker
but I liked what you hit on and as the accountability aspect and showing up and leading with intense the leading with passion and conviction and purpose. I think right now, what’s happening is a lot of leaders out there filling to need walk on eggshells? Oh, I don’t wanna, I don’t. Wanna hurt, hurt their feelings or piss them off,
00:35:57
Speaker
because I’m scared, they’re gonna, lead leave. Well, I think acts actually the wrong way to go about it. I think where people, when people see that you know we have haven’t, you have a team there that is holding each other accountable, not a negative way. Like all you screwed up your sack, you you don’t know what you’re doing like hey. You got this wrong come here. Let me teach you, let me empower you. Let me lift you up.
00:36:17
Speaker
This is how I’m going to hold you accountable. I’m going to actually empower you and teach you what you need to do, empower you to do it and then fall up from time to time. If you’re you go astray a little bit to get you back on the right track. That is, I actually more motivating than going. I made a mistake, but I’m just going to fix it here. In the end, the and the employee sitting there going out of buses
00:36:37
Speaker
care. What I do, I can be what a row on how this is actually boring. It sucks and I’m not motivated because I’m not been actually challenge. So, oh, what’s this over here, oh look at this job posting, oh yeah. That looks interesting to give me a little bit more pay. Let’s give it a shot right like to me. That’s that’s the problem going on right now
00:36:58
Speaker
it starts. It starts with holding yourself accountable hundred percent, hold yourself accountable, hold yourself accountable, and then all roads lead from there right so and and and they’ll see that just like when, where we talked about earlier, if you’re, if you’re asking people to do things, you’re not willing to do they’ll know that and the opposite is true.
00:37:17
Speaker
If you’re asking people that you didn’t do things that you’re more than willing to do, they will they’ll know that and they will either fill a desire or drive to rise up to that or or or they’re, probably not the person you want in that. Then that position, which ought I, like, I say I’ll, reiterate this most of the time they’ll rise
00:37:37
Speaker
most of the time they will rise. So there’s not a lot of those dead weight. People, while I’m still active duty, you’re still active duty like or you’ll, combat, search and rescue is is, is my game these days and you know we eat a lot of new guys coming in and yeah. They have a little bit more lackadaisical view on life period
00:37:57
Speaker
altogether, but once they start feeling that camaraderie in that team unity and that credo of that others may live and know that they have a crucial part in that
00:38:10
Speaker
they’re they’re they’re committed they put it all over their cars, they put all over every. I mean I don’t do that, but, like you know they have, they were they. They were the swag they they they’re, proud to be part of that right in one enough guys, dont produce and are not given. It will give him a hard time if they do where that crap, like hey yeah internet
00:38:30
Speaker
stuff. Yet you know and that’s part of the camaraderie too
00:38:36
Speaker
yeah. I I currently work at a high readiness unit. So for what that means, the audiences, like I show up for work every day, not know if I’m coming home and I’ve been at times wherein I looked at one of my guys like hey, I need you to go on eg, goat, thursday, dec alright, and this was tuesday right, like forty, eight less than forty eight hours know
00:38:55
Speaker
notice and that’s just the life we live, but when people are getting screen like we go through a process called screen process the check to make sure that they’re good before they’re formally sent to us. I call him up before we even get to that point and say hey. This is what life’s like here. Let me, let me run down like. Are you all-in? Are you all because if you’re not all yeah, that’s cool, I don’t mind yoga this gigging
00:39:16
Speaker
for everybody?
00:39:17
Speaker
If you, if you say yes, then I need you, I need you in and I and to like yeah I’m like okay, let’s go so I bring ’em in and then we get you bring him into the team and stuff like this and we empower them and like hey, you know, this is your job to swine. Need you to do and what you need. I got your back I’ll do whatever I can, but it’s that team, that team aspect of karate,
00:39:37
Speaker
but again as I accountability, saying hey. This is what the organization expects from you and I need to know whether or not you can achieve that because if you can’t well, you know thanks, but no thanks, but you can the idea, but if you can and but you’re like hey, I’m not comfortable in this era that era no big deal, we could work with that.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yet I I like southern said there is you know this, this game isn’t for everybody? That’s true. There is a game for everybody. This might not be it. You know what I mean like like. We all have our own skill sets and capabilities and for the most part we naturally filter to where we where we can belong, and that’s why I say most the time
00:40:16
Speaker
rise, because they already naturally filter that way. They already chose in several times right, and so, even if they’re putting forth that minimalistic effort or maybe even have an attitude problem, they’ve already done things that say I want to be here. I saw voice of the time if we take ownership and we lead, though fall
00:40:37
Speaker
it was while we get it wrong and it’s just not a good fit, just not a good fit and that’s a leadership challenge in and of itself. You need to exercise tumors if the tumors there and it’s a tumor in its and it’s malignant haven’t taken a hard stance is actually better for the the health of the whole
00:40:55
Speaker
yeah, absolutely or you end up finding a better fit for that person. Whether you know more productive happier feel part of the team so for the leaders out there. What what brian is saying is isn’t like that. So it may come to the point where you need to terminate, but he also go ahead. Try different things before you get to that point like okay, you’re, not grey here, and I t literature
00:41:14
Speaker
or data angeles. Try you somewhere else. Let’s try in this job. I was that chop what actually interests you and actually have that conversation. But if someone has a character flaw where to show up and are like a cancer or they’re causing conflict offering center, then yeah, that’s gotta go hunt percent
00:41:31
Speaker
yeah, so we we re outrageously, just had an experience with this. We had an officer come over from the finance branch. What thought they wanted to be a pilot, a more than competent duck error rate and we tried to work through that tread. Do all these things, but it was just this phobia that was that was
00:41:50
Speaker
amplifying and growing. But this officer actually had this phenomenal skill set with administrative and clerical stuff because they came from the finance they just could do all kinds of things that us a lot was. Pilots have to do in our jobs because they make us do it and we’re like we hate that crap right and and so
00:42:11
Speaker
that’s a perfect fit for her. She is killing it she’s, getting all that stuff done and she’s more grateful now of that job, because she experienced the one that just wasn’t a good fit she’s like you know what I was where I was supposed to be. You know this is where this is where I need to be, and I can contribute here and she does
00:42:30
Speaker
us,
00:42:33
Speaker
that’s an awesome story behind them and we could go all night for two ago. Things got to come to them brother up, but before we wrap up, I do got a couple of last questions for you and the first question is the question as all the guests you’re at the peak performance, leadership podcast and that is, according to brian slade, what may
00:42:51
Speaker
makes a great leader up. I would say
00:42:56
Speaker
I would say ownership we talked on it. You gotta take ownership of your stuff. First right, you do that first and people will follow theirs. I mean leadership. There’s all kinds of you know
00:43:10
Speaker
important aspects, but I think if you take ownership, you can hone all those other aspects yeah. I I could definitely sense that coins. It’s interesting, that a lot of the military, a lot of military guests are former military guess they have something along the lines of ownership: accountability, stuff like that which gets bred into us, pretty quick, which is
00:43:30
Speaker
definitely I say, a good thing. I focused and show. How can people find you fall? You shameless plug? It’s all you now man have at it. You’re cleared hot
00:43:40
Speaker
yeah. Well, I’m going to give you all the links that you can. You could apply the thing, but I am on linkedin. Facebook is the grand her brian slade on all of ’em cleared hot dot info w w dot cleared hot, not infos. My website, amazon. You can get the book, then there’s it’s at some bookstores, but don’t wish to have gone to
00:43:58
Speaker
extorted bordered on amazon come to your front door. You can get it on my website too, but if I’m honest, it gets to your house faster with amazon and I’m not plug amazon, but but it is just faster that way, but I’ll shoot I’ll shoot you the links and anybody that feels like this reached out to them in any way we do have some follow on trainings two that are merely help with resilience
00:44:20
Speaker
yeah and for the listeners. Always it’s easy could lead the boss dot com forward. Slash two four, eight two, four eight links from shown its prime my friend, it’s been an honor, has been pleasure. Lieutenant colonel brown flip. Thank you very much, colonel. Thank you much for that.