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

Q4 planning is a good time to find out which of these three cost you this year. A quick test for drift: ask three people...
10/19/2026

Q4 planning is a good time to find out which of these three cost you this year.

A quick test for drift: ask three people on your team to state the main objective in one sentence.

Different answers mean each team has been working toward its own version of the plan.

Save this for your planning session.

Read more here: https://vist.ly/5nzda

10/16/2026

No crash, no roadwork, and you’re still sitting in traffic. It often starts with one driver braking a touch too hard and everyone behind them braking a little more. Teams do this too, when one small delay gets passed down the line. A bit of breathing room in the plan goes a long way.

10/14/2026

Anthony “Roby” Roberson traces his interest in flying fighter jets back to something simple. As a kid he wanted to feel loved and looked after. Once he saw what it took the people around him to do that, he wanted to do the same for others.

Today he’s an executive coach and speaker with Afterburner℠, still focused on helping people grow.

For your next event, Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5ncaq

10/13/2026

Most leaders are dealing with higher interest rates, tougher competition, and long-time clients who still expect their best, all at once. Perfection is off the table.

Vince Lombardi had a good answer for that: you’ll never reach perfection, but chasing it is how you catch excellence. That’s the thinking behind Flawless Ex*****on℠.

Aim high, check how close you got, and improve the next round.

10/12/2026

You can usually hear it before you see it.

A teammate’s voice gets tight, their answers get shorter, and small details start slipping.

Fighter pilots listen for the same signs in a wingman’s voice on the radio, because it often means too much is hitting at once.

A good leader responds by taking something off that pilot’s plate so they can get back to flying well.

That’s worth remembering the next time a good teammate has a rough week.

10/08/2026

"I wasn't a very good pilot." That realization came three short weeks into pilot training, followed by some dark, lonely nights spent wondering how to finish the program.

The response was a simple question about what could still be controlled. The answers were to stay positive around everyone else, help whenever someone needed it, and show up as the most prepared student in the flight room.

Most of us have had a stretch like that at work, where the effort is high and the results aren't. It's worth asking the same question before adding more hours.

Bring this story to your next event. Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5mi98

10/07/2026

The pilot riding a jet straight down is not agonizing over whether to eject. That decision was made long before.

He knew the exact triggers, airspeed, vertical velocity, altitude, that meant the aircraft was no longer recoverable. When the numbers hit, he acted. No deliberation.

That's the difference between a decision and a trigger. A decision in the moment is subject to adrenaline, hope, and sunk cost. A trigger set in advance removes all of that.

When do we pull the plug on the project? At what number do we cut the spend? Set the trigger now, while you can think clearly.

Want this thinking in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5md7c

10/06/2026

Facing a big challenge, most leaders look outward. New tools, new hires, new systems. The most valuable resource is usually already in the room.

The message to a room of subject matter experts was blunt: your first and most important resource is yourselves. And not just veterans teaching new hires, but experts learning from each other, across regions and teams.

That takes deliberate communication. The sharpest line: it's not enough to be great at what you do. For you to be great, you have to talk to one another.

Most organizations sit on expertise that never moves. Build the pipes.

Want this in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5m87w

10/05/2026

"Put it on autopilot" is one of the most misunderstood instructions in any cockpit, and in business.

Putting an aircraft on autopilot does not mean it flies itself unattended. The person flying still has to monitor the controls to make sure the autopilot is doing what was asked. Automation changes the job from flying to watching. It does not remove the watching.

Business does the same thing. We automate a process and stop monitoring it. We hand a task to a system or an AI and treat "it's automated" as "it's handled." Then it drifts, and nobody notices until it's too late.

What have you put on autopilot and stopped watching?

Want this thinking in your team? Chat to a Pilot: https://vist.ly/5k2wa

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