Leadership

4 Communication Skills I Learned From Real Top Gun Fighter Pilots

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Carmine Gallo speaking to elite fighter pilots at the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, Yuma, AZ

Tom Cruise is the perfect actor to play an elite fighter pilot because, like the professionals he portrays in Top Gun Maverick, he approaches his work with an uncompromising commitment to excellence.

I know why Cruise insisted on putting IMAX cameras in real fighter jets to capture the intensity of the experience. I’ve had the rare opportunity to ride in a F/A-18 Hornet with a pilot from the Navy’s Blue Angels. I’ve also sat behind the controls of a $10 million flight simulator, and been invited to speak to TOPGUN and Marine Corps aviators who are among the U.S. military’s most elite pilots.

When fighter pilots are racing through rugged terrain at supersonic speed, they don’t have time to read detailed instructions. Instead, their reactions are drawn from years of experience, thousands of hours of practice, relentless feedback loops, and clearly articulated mission objectives.

The following communication skills required to be a top fighter pilot will help you soar in any field.

1). Life-Long Learning.

A commitment to life-long learning is deeply ingrained in the military culture. As a result, flight commanders are among the most voracious readers I’ve met in any field.

When I spoke to a class of Marine Corp aviators at a graduate-level course in Yuma, Arizona, I was impressed with the variety of books they read beyond required textbooks. Some of them read my books on communication while others focus on history, biographies, and psychology books. But they’re all readers. Constant and never-ending improvement is a foundational element of leadership.

2). Debriefs and Feedback Loops.

Debriefs are the hallmark of a successful mission. A debrief occurs after a training mission (or a real one) and often lasts longer than the actual flight.

In most cases, the lead pilots are responsible for conducting the debrief, and they begin by identifying their own mistakes. Even if the mission went smoothly, there’s always room for improvement. By acknowledging their own mistakes, leaders give tacit permission to the rest of the team to identify those areas where they could have performed better.

Hold debriefs with your team. For example, if you launched a new product or service, ask the following questions: What went well with our product launch? What did we learn? What mistakes did we make that we can avoid next time? Above all, encourage yourself and others to recognize their mistakes and express a commitment to fixing them next time.

Carmine gets a tour of Harrier jets with the famous Black Sheep Squadron

3). Clear and Concise Communication.

Clarity is at the heart of a mission brief. And clarity is achieved through the acronym BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front).

BLUF is a concise recap of the essential message (no more than three sentences), and it’s always ‘up front.’ Every person on the flight team must be crystal clear on the objective—the big picture, and that’s what BLUF delivers.

Apply BLUF to your emails, memos, and presentations. Start with the big picture before diving into details.

Carmine gets an inside look at a Super Cobra attack helicopter

4). Exceptional Presentation Skills.

Only about 1% of fighter pilots get chosen to be instructors because they not only have to be among the best aviators—the role also requires exceptional communication skills.

Those applying to be instructors in the TOPGUN program must pass a grueling test: deliver a four-hour presentation from memory (no notes or reading from slides). The only way to pass with flying colors is to practice. Many candidates practice for months in front of their peers. I’ve noticed that the best leaders are gracious when they hear positive feedback, but they encourage their peers to tell them what they did wrong and where they can improve. Great leaders have the confidence to invite criticism, and they use that feedback to be even better.

Carmine gets an up-close look at the cockpit of a V-22 Osprey

It takes passion, dedication, and an unrelenting commitment to excellence to reach the top in any field—qualities that make real Top Guns stand out.

Storytelling Tips from Stephen Hawking’s Co-Author

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Leonard Mlodinow co-authoring books with Stephen Hawking

People who reach the top in nearly every field have different skills, of course, but they share one thing in common: they’ve learned to express their ideas to inspire others to action.

Dr. Leonard Mlodinow is one such expert. He’s co-written two books with his mentor, Stephen Hawking. He also writes scripts for television shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In short, Mlodinow knows science and storytelling.

I interviewed Mldoninow recently about his new book, Emotional. You can watch our entire conversation on my YouTube channel, CarmineGalloTV.

Carmine Gallo and theoretical physicist, Leonard Mlodinow

Mlodinow credits Hawking for helping him understand that teaching complex ideas to non-experts requires a different set of language tools. Most of us don’t understand formulas outside of our field (which is why Hawking insisted on just one formula in his mega-bestselling book, A Short History of Time). Hawking also told Mlodinow that people resonate with stories.

Mlodinow fills his book with stories, both person and historical.

Personal Stories. Mlodinow uses his parents, both of whom are Holocaust survivors, to explain how the brain interprets traumatic events and experiences.

Historical Stories. Mlodinow writes about the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and how he survived the famous wreck of his ship, Endurance. The story of Shackleton’s 800-mile journey in a lifeboat opens a chapter on happiness and how people can stay positive despite facing daunting prospects.

“People love stories and it pulls people along,” says Mlodinow.

Find stories to make your content relatable. If people relate to you, they’ll be more likely to follow you and take action on your ideas.

Talking Leadership with Beloved Houston Philanthropist, ‘Mattress Mack’

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You’re lucky in life if you get to know some people who make you a better person. The best part of my career is that I get many opportunities to build relationships with inspiring people who lift me higher.

One of those leaders is Jim McIngvale, known throughout Texas as “Mattress Mack.” Mack and his wife, Linda, started Gallery Furniture in Houston in 1981 with $5,000, a dream, and an extraordinary work ethic. Today, Gallery Furniture is the most profitable furniture store per square foot in the U.S. And Mack doesn’t forget the local community that helped him achieve his dream.

Mack made national news in August of 2017 when Hurricane Harvey brought 70 inches of rain to Southeast Texas. Mack opened his stores as shelters for hundreds of families who had been flooded out of their homes. When reporters asked him why he was so generous, Mack replied: “How can I not be? We’re Texans and we take care of each other.”

Mack is at it again this week as the people of Texas battle an historic cold and ice storm that’s knocked out power to millions across the state. Within hours of seeing the need, Mack rushed into action and opened his galleries for anyone who needs shelter. He delivers the message on Facebook and through local media. What he doesn’t say often say publicly is that he also pays for everything out of his pocket — clothes, warm meals, and any other materials that people need to take care of themselves and their families.

During my time with Mack, I helped him craft his story to share with a broader audience through TED talks and other platforms. I saw first-hand how beloved he is in the city of Houston. Everywhere we went, people would greet him with a smile or a hug and shout “Mattress Mack!”

We attended a banquet in his honor, one of many requests and awards he regularly receives. On the drive home after he had received a standing ovation at one ceremony, we talked about his deep catholic faith and his servant attitude toward leadership.

Mack then turned to him and gave me a lesson I’ll never forget. Mack said,

“It’s our obligation to take care of the last, least, and lost in our society.”

As a business leader, what are you doing to give back to your community and to make the world a better place? Mack told me that he has a simple criteria to judge a company’s impact. He asks, “Will the customer miss you?”

Thousands of Houston residents would miss Mack, but thankfully he’s still giving back to help others achieve their dreams, too.

The Tiger Woods Hero’s Journey in One Remarkable Graphic

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Tigermania is sweeping the nation after Woods’s remarkable comeback, winning the Masters after his first victory at the Augusta National golf course 15 years earlier. “It’s a story we’ll be telling our grand-kids,” said one spectator.

Nike, the brand that stuck with Woods through ups and downs, didn’t wait that long. It released a 51-second ad within minutes of Woods putting on the green jacket. Nike is a brand steeped in narrative. Its senior executives are even coached to be ‘corporate storytellers.’

Nike knows a good story when it sees it. A good story has a beginning, middle and an end. A great story has highs and lows. And humans are wired to love great stories.

Nike scored big this week with its ad showing videos and images of Tiger Woods from the age of 3 to winning his fifth Masters at the age of 43. Words on the screen reminded viewers that Tiger has experienced “every high and every low.”

The headlines that accompanied Woods’s victory also framed his journey in the context of epic stories. In the New York Times, Thomas Friedman used Tiger as a metaphor for the ‘game of life.’ One writer declared, “The Greatest Comeback Story in the History of Sports.” A UK newspaper called it “A True Story of Redemption.”

What’s going on here?

Woods’s story is irresistible because it follows a time-tested formula that mythologist Joseph Campbell identified in his 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

In its simplest form Campbell’s hero is called to an adventure (Tiger’s quest to become the greatest golfer of all time), meets a mentor who provides wisdom along the journey (Tiger’s dad, Earl), faces challenges and temptations (Tiger’s domestic and physical problems), and returns triumphantly as a transformed person (Tiger wins the Masters for the first time in nearly 15 years) and “becomes the person he wanted to be,” according to Sports Illustrated.

In filmmaking and storytelling, the challenges—which Campbell called ‘The Road of Trials’—must be serious and progressively difficult because it’s in the struggle that the hero discovers what they’re made of. Screenwriters call it the ‘all is lost’ moment when the hero appears to be defeated. Awful things did happened to Tiger Woods and we knew all about them.

Yes, Woods’s adventure follows Campbell’s structure. And his trials were awful, which makes the road to redemption all the more powerful. According to Campbell, it’s through struggle that we learn who we are and what we’re made of.

The Tiger Woods comeback story is a reminder that we process our world through the lens of narrative. Stories stick. Stories educate. Stories inspire. Share more of them.

Carmine Gallo is a popular keynote speaker, a bestselling author whose books have been translated into 40 languages, a communication advisor to the world’s most admired brands, and a graduate school instructor at Harvard University. 

Public Speaking is No Longer a ‘Soft Skill.’ It’s Your Key to Success in Any Field

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Carmine Gallo speaks to banking executives about the role of persuasion in leadership.

After interviewing billionaires and CEOs, entrepreneurs and scientists for my new book, Five Stars, I’ve concluded that it’s time to stop referring to public speaking as a ‘soft skill.’ A wealthy investor at Y-Combinator, the iconic investment firm behind startups such as Reddit and Airbnb, convinced me to stop using the term. During our conversation, he called out my mistake.

“Let’s talk about a soft skill like storytelling,” I said.

“Soft?” he shot back. “If an entrepreneur can’t tell a convincing story, I’m not investing. You call it soft. I call it fundamental.”

Warren Buffett would agree. He says investing in yourself is the best investment a person can make—and public speaking is the best investment of all. Buffett has put precise cash value on communication. “The one easy way to become worth 50 percent more than you are now — at least — is to hone your communication skills,” Buffet says.

The Growing Value of Changing Minds

In a world built on ideas, the persuaders— the ones who can win hearts and change minds—have a competitive edge. While researching my book, I spoke to economists and historians like Deirdre McCloskey at the University of Illinois. She conducted an impressive research project to prove that old-fashioned rhetoric—persuasion—is responsible for a growing share of America’s national income.

McCloskey analyzed 250 occupations covering 140 million people in the U.S. In some cases, persuasion played a more limited role than others (think firefighters versus public relations specialists). McCloskey reached the following conclusion: Persuasion is responsible for generating one­ quarter of America’s total national income. She expects it to rise to 40% over the next twenty years. McCloskey’s research was taken up by another economist in Australia who reached a similar conclusion.

To understand why persuasion is no longer a soft skill, we need a short history lesson. In 1840, nearly 70 percent of the U.S. labor force worked on farms; today less than 2 percent of Americans work in agriculture. Manufacturing’s share of the labor force has dropped from 40 percent in 1950 to under 20 percent today. Income from manufacturing continues to fall as robots replace workers and artificial intelligence takes over repetitive tasks once handled by humans. The main task of the jobs that are left—and the new ones created—is to change minds. As McCloskey explains, “Nothing happens voluntarily in an economy, or a society, unless someone changes her mind. Behavior can be changed by compulsion, but minds cannot.”

By calling public speaking a ‘soft skill,’ it diminishes the skill’s value in a world that cherishes the ‘hard sciences.’ Public-speaking isn’t soft. It’s the equivalent of cold, hard cash.

Why the Best Ideas Fit on the Back of a Napkin, According to Richard Branson

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After twenty years of studying persuasion, I’m convinced the best pitch should fit on the back of a napkin. Here’s why.

Americans lost a true maverick and innovator when Southwest Airlines founder, Herb Kelleher, passed away at the age of 87. While the business news was, understandably, focused on the brand’s financial success, I’ve always been intrigued by one extraordinary event at a St. Antonio bar in 1967—the day the idea for Southwest was first planted.

I devote an entire chapter to Kelleher in my book, The Storyteller’s Secret. The story goes like this. At the St. Anthony Club in San Antonio in 1966, two friends meet for drinks at the bar. Rollin King is a Texas businessman. Herb Kelleher is a gregarious, whiskey-swigging lawyer. They’ve been kicking around a business plan to get into the airline business. What happens next is brand-making history.

Rollins reaches for a cocktail napkin. At the top of the triangle, he writes “Dallas.” On the bottom left, he writes “San Antonio.” On the bottom right, he writes “Houston.” Their vision was simple—to create a small, local airline connecting three Texas cities. People would fly instead of drive between them.

“You’re crazy,” Kelleher responded. “Let’s do it.”

And with that, Southwest Airlines was born. It democratized air travel for millions of Americans who, previously, couldn’t afford to fly.

This week the hotel commemorated the meeting with a special edition cocktail napkin. They sent me a photo of the design which you can see below. If you’re near the hotel, stop in for a drink and feel the energy!

If a cocktail napkin isn’t handy, a beer coaster will do. Just ask Richard Branson—which I did. In this video interview with the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Virgin, I ask Branson why he prefers pitches that can fit on a napkin, envelope or—in a real case—on a beer coaster.

Baseball Legend Reads Carmine’s Books to Raise His Public-Speaking Game

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Alex Rodriguez chooses Carmine’s “Talk Like TED” as a must-read book.

Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) had one of the most storied careers in baseball history. Today he’s learning about storytelling to become more persuasive and successful as an entrepreneur and investor.

I was thrilled to see that A-Rod included one of my books in his 2019 reading list. The book is “Talk Like TED” which is one of the most popular public-speaking books in the U.S. and in many parts of the world.

As the CEO of A-Rod Corp, Rodriguez has expanded beyond the baseball field to invest in real estate, sports, wellness and media. He’s also a guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank. A-Rod’s portfolio of assets is worth close to half a billion dollars. With that kind of wealth, the price of a book is minimal, but I hope the lessons he learns will be invaluable.

Thanks, A-Rod!

-Carmine

Dream Bigger With the New Book Bill Gates Calls His ‘Favorite of All Time’

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StevenPinker_Cover

After reading Steven Pinker’s new book, Enlightenment Now, you might never complain again about a delayed flight or a long line at Costco. And if you do, you’ll feel bad about it.

Pinker, a Harvard psychologist and Pulitzer-prize winning finalist, has written a book that Bill Gates calls his “favorite book of all time.” In the 500-page book, Pinker tells “the greatest story seldom told.”  What is the story? In a sentence,

 

The world has made spectacular progress in every single measure of human well-being and almost no  one knows about it.

Pinker reminds us of the daily gifts we take for granted. For example:

“Newborns who will live more than eight decades, markets overflowing with food, clean water that appears with a flick of a finger, and waste that disappears with another, pills that erase a painful infection… critics of the powerful who are not jailed or shot, the world’s knowledge and culture available in a shirt pocket.”

The graph below shows the stunning progress that America and the developed world has made since the recorded calendar began in the first century. As Pinker notes, the history of civilization has been marked by extreme poverty among everyone except a few nobles. Massive wars that collectively killed millions were common, as was famine, starvation, and early deaths (most children never made it past their 5th birthday), and no access to the life-saving medicines, vaccines, and procedures that have only arrived in the last half century.  Around 1820, something changed. The ideals of the enlightenment—freedom of ideas—began to flourish. And then suddenly—BOOM—the world made “spectacular progress in every single measure of human well-being.”

Pinker_Graph (1)

The Mental Bias That Will Hold You Back
So why don’t people know this story? Blame a mental bug we’re all born with—the availability bias. In 1971, Nobel prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman and his academic partner Amos Lewis Tversky discovered the bias. They defined it like this.

People estimate the probability of an event or the frequency of a kind of thing by the ease with which instances come to mind.

In other words, if you’re glued to the news and you stick to the echo-chamber on Facebook or among your friends and peers, your view of the world will be distorted by the problems and bad news you’ll hear over and over.  Our brains are wired in such a way that we look at the available information and extrapolate the future based on what we see today.

According to Pinker, “Every day the news is filled with stories about war, terrorism, crime, pollution, inequality, drug abuse, and oppression…news is about things that happen, not things that don’t happen. We never see a journalist saying, ‘I’m reporting live from a country where a war has not broken out.’”

What does all this have to do with leadership? Bill Gates says you cannot move the world forward if you’re not motivated by the progress that is happening every day. It’s only by learning about what works that we can spread the progress. If you consume negative news, studies show you’ll become more glum, have a higher and distorted picture of risk, higher anxiety, lower mood levels, more hostility, and—very dangerous—fall into learned helplessness, which means you give up on bettering yourself. And remember, A great leader sees around the corner. You’ll be more successful if you recognize and manage the bias.

Great Leaders Have Perspective

Pinker advised us to maintain perspective. “Not every problem is a Crisis, Plague, Epidemic, or Existential Threat, and not every change is The of This, the Death of That, or the Dawn of a Post-Something Era…problems are inevitable; but problems are solvable,” Pinker writes.

The story of progress is truly “heroic, glorious, and uplifting.” If you need a lift, pick up Pinker’s book. It might change your life–it did for me and Bill Gates.

Carmine Gallo is a popular keynote speaker and bestselling author. Carmine’s new book, Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great, is available for pre-order (June, 2018 St. Martin’s Press)