There is No Problem so Bad You Can’t Make it Worse
Thank you to all who have served and to all who have shared their knowledge.
The phrase, “There is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse” is a reminder to slow down and assess situations before acting.
Hasard Lee’s book, The Art of Clear Thinking, a Stealth Fighter Pilot’s Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions is a delight to listen to or read. Lee organized the book into three sections, Access, Choose, and Execute (ACE). Each section contains exciting stories to reinforce how important preparation is for making difficult decisions.
We often think of business situations as requiring difficult decision-making. Lee shares processes for making decisions while flying at 1000 mph…
I greatly enjoyed learning about how they revolutionized educational training for the F-35 and I hope other programs adopt their frameworks.
They focused on making sure everyone understood why information was being taught and how it could be used. If you don’t understand the why, it is expected you ask and the training becomes better for it.
The training was learner-focus. We aim for this in many settings but we often fall short. Building training that takes advantage of our unique experiences and viewpoints is very challenging. It requires customization and frequent updates. I wish I had had this!
They focused on coaching instead of evaluating. The instructors adopted the mentality that the students were already highly capable. Their job became to help facilitate learning.
The trainers continually assessed how technology could improve the training.
They utilized an apprenticeship model that helped students not only solve challenges but also better understand how to build their creativity and flexibility to handle future challenges.
They set aside time to debrief. During the debriefs they would walk through scenarios to reinforce learnings and talk about how to improve.
There is a lot more in the book and I’m inspired by the stories. I look forward to sharing more about their mental toughness training in the future.
