Afterburner

Afterburner Afterburner brings the fighter pilot mindset and ways of working to your team to build leaders, drive engagement and deliver results

09/03/2026

After a 31-year career that ended as a Brigadier General, Charles "Chaz" Campbell says two things made the difference.

First, keep the simple things simple. They planned every mission with a common, expected approach, the same language every time, so the team's energy went to the mission, not to figuring out how to work together.

Second, the debrief. He credits it for developing his skills as a pilot and as a leader, all the way to General. A discipline he ran for 31 years.

Both sound ordinary. That is the point. The advantage is running the simple, known ideas relentlessly.

Want them in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5h5fe

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09/02/2026

Her grandfather never mentioned that women were not supposed to fly. So she grew up assuming everyone did.

Michelle "Sonic" Ruehl was a kid on her grandfather's lap, looking at his books. He had flown the B-24 in World War II and told her she could fly big aircraft one day. He never said anything about who was allowed to.

She set her sights on the Air Force Academy, did not get in right away, took a couple of tries, and never stopped focusing on the goal. She went on to fly the C-130, MC-12, and T-53.

The words we use around people shape what they believe is possible. And not getting in the first time is not a closed door.

Want fighter pilots on your stage? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5gyx7

09/01/2026

Most teams think they have objectives. What they usually have is wishes.

A real objective is clear, measurable, achievable, and aligned to the destination the whole team is heading for. Miss any one and it stops being an objective.

Run your goals through it. Could everyone state it the same way? Will you know for sure if you hit it? Is it actually reachable? Does it move you toward the real destination?

Most goals fail at least one. And the objective is what kicks off ex*****on, so everything downstream inherits its clarity or its fuzziness.

Make sure your goals are actually objectives.

Want this discipline in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5guc7

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08/31/2026

The man who wrote the book on Flawless Ex*****on is coming back to prove it live.

James D. "Murph" Murphy, Afterburner founder, fighter pilot, and the original voice of our methodology, returns to the keynote stage under the Afterburner brand.

Thirty years of debriefs. One stage. Zero throttle-back. Now booking Q4 2026 and Q1 2027. If your team has a big mission ahead, get Murph in the room.

08/28/2026

Top Gun, in LEGO, is a fun watch. Top Gun, for real, with your team, is the actual offer.

The brick version is a nod to a movie we love. But what connects it to Afterburner℠ is the story underneath: high performers who plan, brief, execute, and debrief under real pressure.

That is the Top Gun Experience℠, and teams run it for real. Flight suits, mission planning, and the Flawless Ex*****on℠ cycle, played through together. We build with actual LEGO too, because a simple set on a tight clock shows how a team really works.

You can experience both Top Gun and LEGO with your team, for real.

Want to run it? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5gfxk

08/27/2026

Are there any burnt-out light bulbs in your cockpit?

Pilots ask this because of a hard lesson. A crew once became so fixated on a single burnt-out indicator light that no one was flying the airplane. They gave all their attention to a minor problem and flew a good aircraft into the ground.

One small issue. Full attention. Everything else failing quietly.

Is there a burnt-out bulb on your team? A small, visible problem pulling more attention than it deserves while the important work drifts?

The danger is that the bulb feels productive to fix. Meanwhile no one is flying the plane.

Someone always has to be flying the plane.

Want this thinking in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5gbia

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30 years. 2.2 million leaders. 3,500+ organizations. 85% of the Fortune 500.Every speaker on our team has flown the miss...
08/26/2026

30 years. 2.2 million leaders. 3,500+ organizations. 85% of the Fortune 500.

Every speaker on our team has flown the missions they teach. That was true in 1996. It's true today.

One Mission. One Moment. One Leader at a time.

08/26/2026

Raja leads all international markets for FIS. After two days with Afterburner, here is what stuck with him.

The marketplace is changing at an unprecedented pace, and to help clients transform, FIS has to transform first. The key is a shared process that drives everyone toward a common goal.

He pointed to Flawless Ex*****on℠ as that discipline. A common lexicon, common frameworks, the same way of operating, so outcomes become predictable instead of hopeful.

In a fast market, most companies chase agility and get chaos. When everyone operates the same way, speed and consistency stop being a trade-off.

Want this discipline in your organization? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5g7bq

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08/25/2026

When things get complex, most teams add more complexity. That is the mistake.

A process to manage the process. A tool to organize the tools. It feels like progress because it looks like effort. But you cannot out-complicate complexity.

In the most complex environments on Earth, if you want to move fast, you beat complexity with simplicity. Anyone can add a layer. Subtracting takes knowing what matters most and holding the line.

If your team feels slow and tangled, the fix is probably not one more system. It is removing three.

Simplicity beats complexity every time.

Want this in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5g37w

*****on

Some handoffs are a passing of the torch. This one is a formation flight. Meet our new CEO: Rob "Rocko" Ceravolo, U.S. N...
08/24/2026

Some handoffs are a passing of the torch. This one is a formation flight.

Meet our new CEO: Rob "Rocko" Ceravolo, U.S. Navy fighter aviator, TOPGUN graduate, and the founder who built the world's largest amphibious airline using the very principles Afterburner has taught for 30 years.

He didn't study our playbook. He flew it. And our founder, Murph? He's not going anywhere. Still on the Board, and back on the keynote stage, doing what he does best.

"Thirty years in, we're not throttling back. We just lit the afterburner," says Murph. The next 30 years start now. Full announcement at the link in bio.

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