The Moment of Acknowledgement

For pilots, there’s a particular moment of acknowledgement during almost every flight.  Sometimes there are several if it’s a really great flight.  This moment normally happens during the cruise stage of flight where everything is calm and going smoothly, and you have nothing more pressing to distract you from that moment.  In that moment, you…

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“Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.”

In aviation, “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” is our absolute go-to baseline rule.  It’s born of the knowledge that if pilots fixate on solving a particular problem in an emergency, they can lose perspective on what’s really important – which is flying the airplane. For that reason, this axiom is hammered into our brains during training so that…

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Debriefing A Year – Conversations & Closure

As pilots, every flight undertaken both requires and deserves a “debrief”.  Every flight will have required its prep – gathering and dissemination of information; planning of routes, fuel, contingencies; briefing of crew, weather and air traffic control.  Once it’s been completed, a debrief is the most valuable tool we have to assess the flight for everything…

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The Value of Acknowledging the Year

The Value of Acknowledging the Year As the end of the year comes closer, I encounter more and more people who are barely hanging in there.  People who’ve spent themselves and who are grateful for the respite that the end of term, end of board meetings, end of projects and looming company shutdowns will bring.  It…

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Simple Year-End Thoughts

I had the privilege this last weekend of hearing Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, Founder of Gift of the Givers, speak at the Speech Day of my son’s school.  At a time of year where energy is flagging, chapters are coming to an end, people are parting ways, and a year that has asked much of us…

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