We look for captains

We are born to do something good, maybe also great, certainly to achieve more than we sometimes think we are capable of.

Let me first share a story from a book that I have recently read. The title is I Have Control (for now in German only) and the author, Christian Winkel, a pilot, shares an interesting event at the final interview for his co-pilot job at an airline. He was answering the question about who was responsible for decisions in the cockpit. And his response was “The captain.”

His interviewer reacted with: “You are here for a co-pilot job, right?”

And the aspiring co-pilot said: “Yes I am.”

And then he got the lesson from the interviewer: “We don`t look for co-pilots, we look for captains. The future captains.”

Evidently, despite the answers, he got the job, he became a captain, and flew successfully for a long time. Now he shares his lessons of flying and tries to apply them to business and life situations in general.

Fast forward to the Learning Solutions 2023 conference I recently attended and on which I had a chance to meet Mike Massimino, the former NASA astronaut. In his speech he said it was not possible to just “walk from the street into the cockpit” (of a Space Shuttle). Such journey is always a hard work and requires a strong perseverance (by the way, Mike succeeded on his fourth attempt).

What do these messages from these two inspiring individuals have in common? Something that Mike Massimino stressed out specifically: “Always ask for help. And speak up when you see something – better to be wrong in your concern than silent.”

In summary, be responsible anytime, be engaged in the work you do, work hard, participate, collaborate, contribute - even then, when you are “not yet there” where you want to be.

A co-pilot, one day to fly as a captain, will have to strongly collaborate with the captain. Active participation in flying decisions will make the co-pilot an experienced, trusted, valuable future captain. That is why airlines put a lot of stress on Crew Resource Management (CRM). That is why Mike Massimino, when he was preparing for a NASA astronaut, asked someone from the team of candidates (who was a better swimmer than himself), to help Mike prepare for the swimming exam (yes, they have to pass such an exam, too - in case they land in the ocean). That is why Mike was supported by his team from the Earth when he was repairing the Hubble telescope and ran into a problem … We could endlessly continue with “That is why” examples.

To conclude. You, we, all of us - deserve more.

We are not born for the average. But we should not just claim “more and better” – we have to work on it, earn it. Together.