Turbulence

Can you remember your first airplane ride? How did you feel the first time you hit turbulence? 

My first flight was short. From Dayton, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois. I can remember the pressure I felt in my seat when the airplane sped down the runway. I remember my semi-stale pretzels and watered down ginger ale. (By the way, I only drink ginger ale on planes. Always have to get it, would never buy it. Weird? Anyone else?)

But my most vivid memory is the feeling of tremendous fear the first time the plane started to convulse. Without knowing what was happening I assumed we were going to die. With imminent demise in my immediate future I did what anyone would do and stuck my head between my legs. I call this "ostriching". Hiding while still be exposed.

In business I can also remember the first time I hit turbulence. However, at this point I was more of a frequent flier. So instead of firmly burying my head in the ground I did the next best thing, I ran.

Running is subjective in business. In this case I ran using excuses. I blamed my lack of success on others, business climate, circumstances... what ever I could think of to point the blame away from me. Unfortunately, I lost business relationships and friendships from running.

I. Was. Scared. 

Fear is a lack of experience and good mentorship. Mentorship from those who had been there and done that. Most importantly mentors who had survived turbulence. Thank God I found a mentor who told me to "slow the hell down". Take a breath. To accept my failure and allow for the blame to live with the leader. Understanding that true leadership is an ownership of failures and successes. 

This isn't a post on mentorship (mentorship post to come), but it's important to seek out a mentor. Be intentional with that relationship and find someone who's as close to where you want to be in life as possible. 

When pilots hit turbulence do they speed up or slow down?

Speed Up?

I thought the same thing. If you speed up you get through the turbulence faster. Makes sense, right?

However, if you talk to a veteran pilot they will tell you the only way you can make it through turbulence, keeping all passengers safe, is to slow down. 

Slowing down lets us firmly assess the situation and understand what's happening. 

In business, and flying, I still hit turbulence. After almost 10 years in business and about a million flight miles, I tend to sleep through turbulence. 

How do I sleep though turbulence? Simple, I remind myself planes don't crash do to turbulence and any destination worth going gets a little bumpy (sometimes really bumpy). I learned this through a combination of failures, successes, and great mentorship. 

Knowing this, I let each bump rock me gently to sleep and remember the thousands of times I successfully took off... and landed.