Failure is not an option.

I was off a few weeks for the holidays but am now back and looking forward to putting more content out for this blog. Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Over the holidays, I had the experience of a lifetime, to experience weightlessness with a company called Zero-G, Through an invitation from the Omega Watch Corporation, I, and a few other watch nerds, traveled to Florida and the Kennedy Space Center. Omega is the company that outfits NASA astronauts since the days of the Apollo program. At Kennedy, we were merged with another group, outfitted with flight suits (we got to keep them!), given a safety briefing, and then taken to a runway used by previous Space Shuttle landings.

A 727 with the Zero-G logo awaited us. Our group included an honored VIP guest, former Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke. Duke was on Apollo 16 and is the youngest man to walk on the moon. Our group had the privilege to dine with Charlie and his wife, the night before our experience. He is gracious, humble and makes time for everyone. I mean, how often do you get to meet someone who walked on the moon!

As our group of about 25 would-be astronauts entered the plane, we strapped in and the plane took off. After it reached the right altitude, the Zero-G team broke us up into two groups. We were told to lay flat on the ground. Then came a series of what they call Parabolas. Up and down maneuvers where the plane travels upward at an angle of 50 degrees and you experience a pull of 1,8 times that of gravity on the earth. You are pinned to the floor of the plane, The pilots then reduce engine speed and a ballistic trajectory is followed. The plane free-falls for 22 seconds. Weightlessness begins.

We did fifteen parabolas in the experience. It was exhilarating to be weightless, doing one armed push-ups, flipping in the air with ease, bouncing off the padded ceiling of the plane, and being giddy with excitement. And guess who was there with us? Charlie Duke! Charlie is obviously an old hand at this but the glee on his face was the same one we all had. He's done this a million times but it was still fun for him. He wanted to share the experience with us. Always gracious, he took a lot of pictures with a lot of us which meant a lot.

We finished our parabolas and eventually landed back at Kennedy Space Center, What a thrill we all had. The two-day experience went so fast but will be with me for a lifetime.

When I got back home, I and my wife watched Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks for the millionth time. The phrase uttered by Ed Harris playing Flight Controller Gene Kranz was simple but powerful when he was confronted by naysayers who felt they couldn't bring Apollo 13 home. "Failure is not an option." In fact, I am reading Kranz's book now. Failure wasn't an option and because of the ingenuity and braveness of the astronauts and the team on the ground, they all came home safely,

I thought a lot about Charlie and his astronaut peers. Men and women like him who definitely are leaders and have "the right stuff." They exhibit a can-do attitude. They are calm in the face of adversity. It doesn't mean they aren't scared at times. But they know how to rely on their training, experience, and team, to see them through. They push the envelope. In the case of astronauts, they literally push past the bounds of earth to space. They don't quit. They are confident but remain humble. Charlie retired from military service as a Brigadier General in the Air Force. But he is as humble a man as you will meet.

And finally, "failure is not an option" for them. That doesn't mean they won't course correct if facts dictate that they must. But they see their objectives to the end, relying on the expertise of their teams to support them.

There are too many so-called leaders, in business and government, who are the complete antithesis of this. They have big egos. Just take a look at the debacle going on in Congress as I write this where there are a lot of big egos on display and very little in the way of leadership, They take credit when the credit should go to the troops. They talk tough but when things get tough, they fold. They are quick to blame others but never take the blame themselves.

While the Zero-G experience was wonderful, meeting a leader like Charlie inspired me. Inspired me to continue to hone my leadership acumen. Inspired me to do better. To be better, even while retired. To push it. To keep my ego in check. To treat people, all people, with respect. And above all, to enjoy life and have fun. Thanks, Charlie for the lessons learned and for your service to our great nation.

You truly epitomize the ethos that "failure is not an option."