Brett Vance, Host of Jet Jockeys, Weighs in on the Challenges of Leadership

LOS ANGELES, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Great companies are forced to constantly maintain an image of unity and strength, even when the executive team might not see eye to eye. Easier said than done, however. At the end of the day, executives are still just people, and people often have wildly different ideas of what defines and drives success. When running a company, it's important to keep a team moving in the same direction, even when the members have contrasting perspectives and opinions.

According to Jet Jockeys Host Brett Vance, there are a few different ways this can be possible. "One of my favorite topics is Leadership," explains Vance, "as a former Air Force Officer and Commander of a Flight Test Squadron, I have some significant hands-on experience with this concept."

It's true. Vance has had a decorated career as a military test pilot, and Jet Jockeys is his newest exciting venture. The docu-reality series involves values such as leadership and bravery, and Vance does for aviation enthusiasts what Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs has done for the dignity of the trades and what Neil deGrasse Tyson of Cosmos has done for our sense of wonder about the universe. The sacrifices, accomplishments, and challenges of pilots are front and center in each episode, and leadership is also commonly addressed.

"Absolutely foundational to leadership success is competency in your field," Vance continues, "you must have the technical expertise and commensurate experience in your field to succeed in a leadership position. People will ask you for advice and seek your opinions in that field, so you have to be comfortable executing every aspect of what you do."

The next step might not be easy for those who are socially inhibited. Vance believes that getting out of "your shell" is the only way to keep advancing as a leader. "You have to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you," states Vance, "the leaders around you have been installed in their respective staff positions because they are excellent at their jobs and also have significant leadership skills in their own fields. When you as a commander need a particular service from one of these offices, seek their counsel. You have to make the effort and introduce yourself."

It takes time to cultivate these workplace relationships. Jeffrey Hall, a researcher from the University of Kansas, published a study in 2018 about how many hours it takes to make an acquaintance. According to Hall, people become casual business partners after around 50 hours of interaction. Close friendship starts at around 200 hours. Team-building exercises can certainly go a long way toward building that trust among a business team.

There are plenty of opportunities to drive community amongst an executive team: establishing meetings with clear objectives as well as cross-functional teams to widen perspective and generate more creative solutions can go a long way towards creating a cohesive team. Building these connections outside of the regular day-to-way work can do wonders for team morale.

The final step is to work on the everyday skills that comes with a leadership position. "Now you're ready for the hard part," elaborates Vance, "After you have the basics in place with personal competency and a great staff, you have to focus on the day-to-day, in-the-trenches leadership. My going-in approach was that I would never ask my people to do what I have not already done or would not be willing to do within my realm of expertise. Your people look to you for guidance and need to know you are trustworthy."

That means taking time to know a team and their skill sets. A strategy for this is by having one-on-one conversations with employees when first taking a leadership position. Employees enjoy seeing their leaders interact with them and their daily work. Autumn Manning, CEO of YouEarnedIt, believes that strong cultural direction from the top has a trickle-down effect: "It starts with the CEO and the executive team. If there is clear alignment and buy-in there, then it's up to everyone else to drive it and own it."

When faced with a fragmented executive team, uniting them may seem like an impossible mission. It's not. Getting back to basics and remembering that they, too, are human -- with their own set of ideals and challenges -- is a great first step in level-setting. From there, it's about providing a safe space for establishing trust and understanding each other's varying experiences and perspectives so the team can come together in support of the greater company values.

"When I was first assigned as a U.S. Air Force Squadron Commander, I was required to attend what we called Squadron Commander School. It lasted two weeks and had tons of life lessons and keys to leadership success for us," concludes Vance, "one of my favorite take-aways from this experience was from one speaker who told us when you're out in front leading your people, be sure to turn around now and then see if you're being followed. If no one's there, you're just taking a walk. I'll never forget that."

SOURCE Jet Jockeys