James D. Murphy - Business Is Combat: A Fighter Pilots Guide to Winning in Modern Business Warfare

In 1990, Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait, and in so doing put into motion the allied response known as Operation Desert Storm. In that memorably televised operation, one image was particularly memorable to me: Positioning himself behind one of the runways used by our jets, a cameraman caught a spectacular shot of twenty-four F-16s lining up for a tactical formation takeoff. Now, tactical formation takeoffs are a little unusual. For one thing, the jets dont wait until the runway is clear. Instead, they use what is called minimum interval spacingone jet starts rolling as another nears liftoff. Once they start, off they go, one after the other with no delay, each pilot pushing up the throttlescreating white-hot flames from the afterburnersuntil the entire package is in the air. It is a stirring display of air power. Even through the TV screen you could smell the JP-4 jet fuel and feel the ground shake from the thunder of the exhaust.

Now, imagine the same image, but with one tiny change: one of the pilots running toward the ramp with a donut clenched in his teeth, coffee spilling from the cup in his hand, yelling Wait! Wait! I got held up in traffic!

It wouldnt happen. Each of those twenty-four pilots knew the package was an abort if he didnt perform his individual part. No one was late. No one forgot to wake up on time. The only thing that might have kept one of those pilots from hitting his mark was a massive coronary, and even then hed have been checking his watch.

The point is, the execution of that extraordinary mission came down to people. For all its bristling hardware, the most powerful asset of the United States Air Force is the same as the most power ful asset of any companypeople. Jets dont fly without pilots, and if pilots arent ready to man their jets, the mission fails. And if too many missions fail, battles are lost and, sooner or later, so is the war. The same holds true for any company in the world, large or small. Today, more than ever, business is combat. And without an empowered sales force, without enthusiastic marketing, without customer service people who care about their product or services, theres no doubtyou may win a battle here and there, but youll lose the war.

The question is how to do it. How do you turn your customer service force into twenty-four fighter pilots ready, willing, and able to leap into the sky and engage the enemy? How do you empower your sales and marketing people so completely that theyre willing to risk life and limb for your company? There have been plenty of books about organizational structure, organizational behavior, the principles of effective management, and strategic planning in business. This book is about executionabout orienting you and your company toward the successful execution of individual missions. It outlines a people-first approach to business that aligns the company behind, not in front of, the individual missions undertaken by the individuals of the company. And its mission is to show companies how to give their employees all the tools they need not only to accomplish their daily tasks, but to excel.

What a powerful one-two punchto have the entire organization aligned behind you, and to have the tools to win. I should know: I was an F-15 fighter pilot for the United States Air Force. Every time I strapped on my jet I had the vast resources of the entire Air Force aligned behind me like the shaft of a spear. I had an array of mechanics, handlers, and weaponeers making sure I was good to go. I had an intelligence organization on the ground to brief me on my threats and their weapons. I had weather crews updating me on the environmental picture fully and clearly. I had airborne tankers aloft if I needed fuel. I had AWACS airplanes above me monitoring every moving thing in my airspace. I had fellow pilots in a wide range of aircraft protecting me by looking to kill enemy missile sites and anti-aircraft batteries. Best of all, I had years of advanced training behind me. I knew my jet, I knew my mission, and I had the tools to execute it flawlessly. Every time I left the runway, I had what I needed in my hands, at my back, and at the ready.

Thats what this book is abouttools. Not just any tools, but fighter pilot tools. Tools that can help you win in the combat of business. The lessons in Business Is Combat show you how to apply the time-tested disciplines and doctrines of the most forward- leaning organization in the worldthe fighter pilot community to your business today. It is a distillation of countless carefully conceived strategies, procedures, methods, and standards that have turned tens of thousands of ordinary men and women into victorious fighter pilots. I know firsthand, because Ive been through the system myself. I went from farm boy to fighter pilot in two years. When I started I barely knew how to fly; before I was done I was a flight lead and an instructor pilot in the most advanced fighter jet in the world.

I no longer fly the F-15. Today I spend my time training tens of thousands of people a year to apply the disciplines I learned in the cockpit to their own lives and in their own companies. I try to teach them everything I know about teamwork, planning, preparation, communication, discipline, observation, execution, debriefingeverything they need to know to improve their daily win ratios. It doesnt matter whether Im working with an accounting firm, a packaged goods manufacturer, an airline, a mass market retailer, a law firm, or an emerging technology company. It doesnt matter what size the company is, how far its leaders went in school, or how much money its employees make. The same principles apply. Why? Ultimately, business and combat both come down to absoluteswinning or losing, putting food on your table or losing it to another person, being ready for the unexpected, taking advantage of a rapidly changing environment, or being left behind. But the tools I recommend have been forged in the heat of air combat. In the lightning-fast, unpredictable world of the digital millennium, the tools designed to keep a fighter pilot alive arent just relevanttheyre indispensable.

In the chapters that follow, I will demonstrate that the most effective way to harness the incredibleand sometimes hidden power of people is to focus on execution. Thats the fighter pilot way. Thats the Air Force way. All you need are the right tools. Read on. And get ready to win.