THE THOUGHTFUL ENTREPRENEUR PODCAST
Leadership in High-Stakes Environments
In a recent episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show, host Josh Elledge conversed with Anthony “AB” Bourke, the founder and CEO of Mach 2 Consulting. AB, a former fighter pilot, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur, shared profound insights on achieving peak performance and leadership skills. Drawing from his military experience, AB provided valuable lessons applicable to both personal and professional development. This blog post delves into the key themes discussed in the episode, offering actionable advice and detailed explanations to guide listeners in their journey toward excellence.
AB emphasized that leadership in high-stakes environments, such as the military, requires a unique set of skills that are equally applicable in the business world. Effective leaders must balance humility with confidence, make rapid decisions, and be adaptable to changing circumstances. Teamwork is another critical component of success, with clear communication, a safe environment for feedback, and disciplined execution being essential strategies for building a cohesive team. AB also introduced the practice of briefing and debriefing, integral to military operations and highly beneficial in business settings, ensuring clear objectives, identifying potential challenges, and reviewing performance.
Josh inquired about the traits and skills required to excel as a fighter pilot, and AB provided insights that are equally relevant to business leaders. The selection process for fighter pilots is rigorous, ensuring only the best candidates are chosen, and continuous training is essential for maintaining peak performance. AB also discussed current challenges faced by leaders, such as hiring and retaining talent, adapting to a rapidly changing global economy, and integrating artificial intelligence. Through Mach 2 Consulting, AB offers interactive programs and consulting engagements designed to help organizations implement principles of peak performance and leadership, making this episode a compelling resource for aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders.
About Anthony Bourke:
Major Anthony “AB” Bourke is a highly experienced F-16 fighter pilot who has flown tactical missions in countries all over the world. He has accumulated more than 2,700 hours of flight time in numerous high-performance aircraft and was one of the first pilots to fly his F-16 over New York City in the homeland defense efforts on September 11th.
“AB” has added to his combat experience in the business world. He ascended early in his career to become the top-producing mortgage banker in the Western US for a prominent mortgage bank. From there he helped build a low-tech startup which grew from $500K to $65M in revenue over 3 years. Following these two endeavors, AB combined his love of business with his passion for tactical aviation to build a global training company based on the lessons he learned in the military. As CEO he has shared his message of peak performance to over 50,000 people in 9 different countries. In his latest venture called Mach 2 Consulting, Bourke shares how fighter pilots, and other organizations where performance truly matters, have developed a feedback system to ensure continuous improvement and peak performance. He challenges businesses to employ similar systems in their own organizations, and teaches them how to incorporate these invaluable techniques to achieve their full potential as individuals and as a team.
About Mach 2 Consulting:
Mach 2 Consulting is an independent consultancy established to deliver specialist business innovation, technical and project management consultancy services for the Aerospace and Defence sector.
Providing critical support to meet our customers’ time, costs and quality requirements is our primary focus. Contact our friendly and professional team here or continue to browse our website for further information on how we can help you succeed.
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Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Want to learn more? Check out Mach 2 Consulting website at
Check out Mach 2 Consulting on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mach-2-consulting
Check out Anthony Bourke on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonybourke/
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Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00:05) - Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence comm and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now, it is Anthony. Abby Burke. Anthony, you are the founder CEO of Mark two consulting. You are a fighter pilot, keynote speaker, and an avid entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (00:01:18) - You've had a number of successful exits. Anthony, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Josh. Happy to be here. As a fellow military veteran business owner, I always love when we can just find great folks that have worn the uniform and now have taken their military experience and career and transformed that into making an impact in the entrepreneurial world. Anthony, could you tell us a bit about the work that you do and who you serve? Well, if you're talking about Mark two consulting, I,
Speaker 2 (00:01:50) - I am a keynote speaker who speaks 40 to 50 times a year, around the general subject of peak performance. Essentially, how is it that fighter pilots achieve peak performance in a very rapidly changing complex environment, flying jets? And how can you as a business person, as a human being, use some of these same tools and techniques to achieve peak performance? And what we know is a very rapidly changing and sometimes a challenging environment in business and in life.
Speaker 1 (00:02:18) - Well, I would imagine that today, that that is a very, I'd say sought after messaging.
Speaker 1 (00:02:26) - And what you share is and. Well, let me ask you this way, what you do is not about, you know, you know, this, you know, I live in a van down by a river, and, you know, you're just. It's about motivation. Can you tell me a bit about when you're brought in to organizations, what their goals are with your engagement and what your goals are typically.
Speaker 2 (00:02:53) - Yeah. Fair enough. Yes, I do have some stories about overcoming adversity, as I think we all do. But, I would say I'm hopefully very inspirational, but I'm also offering, companies tools that I learned in the military as a fighter pilot and as a leader that they can apply in their business. So ideas around leadership, teamwork, communication, discipline, execution, team alignment. And, I've just developed a new speech around safety as well, which we call the chain of events leads to the scene of the accident. So, for example, a typical, speech might, offer me introducing what I call as the feedback loop of regular briefing and debriefing.
Speaker 2 (00:03:37) - And, Josh, I know you're a former naval, journalist. and so you probably understand this, and most of your audience does, too. But the idea in briefing says, you know, you may be the best in the brightest fighter pilot in the world. You can have the greatest ideas or tactics or plans in your head, but if you haven't found a way to communicate those great plans, your great ideas to the people who are going to be flying with you, or of course, in the business world, the people are either working for you or with you. Then all of your ideas will be for not because you'll be flying solo and solo your wingman. And that's why when fighter pilots get ready to fly any kind of mission, whether it's a one hour training mission or a six hour combat mission, even though we've been preparing for hours for our missions, or just like so many of your viewers, in many cases you've been preparing for days or even weeks for your missions just before we get ready to take off.
Speaker 2 (00:04:33) - Or maybe better put in your language just before you get ready to execute your day, your week, your key client meetings and events. Fighter pilots always sit down and hold a briefing to ensure that when we walk out the door, jump in our cockpits, put on our helmets and start engines that we are going to be aligned, that we're going to be flying in formation, that we're going to execute at the highest possible level. And I think in both of our worlds that the mission is going to be safe. So I love talking to business folks about the power of briefing, how fighter pilots use it to drive better results in our world, and how business folks can use the same tools. And then I love talking about this concept of debrief. And Josh debrief essentially says, you know, I really don't care how good we think we are. I don't care how well we planned. I don't care how good our technology is. And I really don't care how well yesterday's mission went. The fact is, at the end of the day, at the end of the mission, no fighter pilot has ever flown the perfect mission.
Speaker 2 (00:05:38) - And I think it's probably fair to say that none of your viewers will ever have the perfect day week, customer interaction project or event. And that's why when fighter pilots are done executing our missions, we always, always, always call timeout and hold the debrief so we can learn from both the mistakes and the victories of today's mission. And we can continue to improve as individuals, certainly as a team. And maybe most importantly, so as leaders, we can find a way to call time out at the right time, create a safe environment, and solicit the honest feedback we need to keep us ahead of the threats, ahead of the competition, and ahead of the inevitable change that will continue to come our way. So, Josh, that that maybe is one little snapshot of some of the messaging that I share with my clients.
Speaker 1 (00:06:28) - Yeah, I appreciate that, Anthony. and you know what? I'm really curious about our folks that, apply to go to fighter pilot school. And I'm curious about what they what might show up in the application process or the interview process or during school, the personality traits or the soft skills that may be a requirement to excel in that kind of an environment.
Speaker 1 (00:06:57) - And I'm particularly curious about the people who don't make the grade. And why is that?
Speaker 2 (00:07:03) - Yeah. Boy, I would say that the military and now I'm talking about the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps when we're talking about fighter pilots who have invested heavily in trying to figure out what are the key traits that makes an effective fighter pilot today. And quite honestly, those traits may be slightly different than what made a great fighter pilot in World War Two or in Vietnam, because technology has changed so dramatically. But they have a very effective screening process, battery of tests, you know, written tests, some interviewing process. and they finally get to a point where they say, okay, you 100 people, seem qualified. We're going to send you to Air Force pilot training, and then you get to Air Force pilot training. Obviously, you need to become an officer for. First, and you can do that in a number of different ways. You need to fit into the military structure. Just being a great pilot isn't going to make you, a great military pilot, because you have to be able to play by the military rules.
Speaker 2 (00:08:09) - And then when you finally get to Air Force pilot training, you know, it's, you can expect that somewhere between a third or a half of your class will be washed out by the end of the year. wow. Yeah. And and so that's pretty challenging because what they're really trying to say, say is, you know, do you have what it takes not just to fly military aircraft, but to get along in our type of environment and work in a way that is conducive to success and being a team player. And so there are all kinds of things they put you through. And I, I've always said the secret to success and pilot training, and you may have heard Navy Seals or other special forces say this, cooperate and graduate. You know, you're going to get knocked in the jaw a few times, you're going to get beat up, you're going to feel terrible. Sometimes you're going to feel like you're never going to succeed, but just keep going. Never quit, never quit, never quit.
Speaker 2 (00:09:05) - And you'll probably make it to the other side.
Speaker 1 (00:09:08) - I would imagine that this topic comes up from time to time, when most people think of their exposure to those who are fighter pilots. sometimes I think we might be thinking of Top Gun, and, you know, we've got Goose and Maverick and these personalities and kind of this hot shot persona is how, different is the reality versus Hollywood's portrayal of fighter pilots?
Speaker 2 (00:09:34) - Yeah. fair question. And, I would say, like in any organization, you have a wide range of personalities. I would say that, Pilots in general are somewhat aggressive in their personality, meaning they like to get things done. They like to have their world organized. They like to know what's happening. They like to have a plan, and they like to execute that plan. but, you know, quite honestly, some of the best fighter pilots I've ever met, and I would say this in general in the military, are quite humble, they're quite understated, and they're not always that, you know, cocky, maverick type of, character that is so great in movies but maybe isn't always the most effective leader or pilot.
Speaker 2 (00:10:20) - So, you know, these are people that have a good, reasonable intelligence. I'm not saying they're the smartest person in their class. They have some pretty darn good hand-eye coordination. They have very good perception of three dimensions. so not just 1 or 2, but three. They can think rapidly on the fly. they can process information quickly and they can make decisions. And, I'd say those are the really the qualities. And, you know, my favorite fighter pilots are people that are that are humble and yet confident and, you know, that you can trust and that.
Speaker 1 (00:10:55) - All great traits.
Speaker 2 (00:10:56) - Pretty well in business as well.
Speaker 1 (00:10:58) - Yeah. I was just going to say that those sound like incredible traits for a leader. And speaking of leaders, in your work, you have such an active speaking schedule that you likely have a lot of time to have intimate conversations with top level leaders today. And I'm curious what pains or gaps or, maybe things that are coming up lately that you hear a lot that that seemed to be trending in terms of the things that concern leaders today and anything come to mind?
Speaker 2 (00:11:29) - I'd say some of the biggest things I'm hearing today are hiring and retraining great and retaining great people.
Speaker 2 (00:11:37) - you know, we've got a bit of a culture, coming on, certainly people under 30 that, aren't sure that they really, want to, work in an office that they think they, they they they may be able to live anywhere in the world. and and that may be true in some organizations. I, I wrote a article, just before the Super Bowl that said, would you bet on a team to win the Super Bowl who was training virtually? And, it's my personal belief that the best teams in the world, don't train virtually. They don't work virtually. They come together at least a few days a week and are working in an environment that shares a culture that develops mentorship, that builds a culture of winning. And, you know, you may be able to build a great team virtually, but I'm not sure you're going to be a world champion. So, finding and retaining good people seems to be an issue that's on the minds of a lot of CEOs. And then obviously, just dealing with, a rapidly changing global global economy where we, you know, where do we put our eggs? Where do we where do we focus? Because things are changing so rapidly, we need to stay ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:12:50) - And then the other one I'm hearing a lot about is how do we how do we incorporate AI in our world? where does it fit? Is it is it right, or are we going down a dark path? where do we use it?
Speaker 1 (00:13:03) - Yeah, yeah, I so tricky. I hear this a lot that if you're not using AI, you're likely behind. If you're using AI, you may be misusing it. So be very careful. But, you know, you can't, ignore it. Anthony, tell me about, your ability, for speaking. you're either, how someone would engage you. Do you or your team do anything besides keynote speaking? And if so, how else can you help?
Speaker 2 (00:13:32) - Yeah. well, the easiest way to find me is, you can Google my name, which I think is up on the screen. Anthony Burke, spelled Burke or my company mock to consulting. Mock. As you know, Mac is the speed of sound. Mach one is the speed of sound.
Speaker 2 (00:13:50) - Mock two is as fast as I've ever gone in the airplane that you see behind me, the F-16. So twice the speed of sound. About 1500 miles an hour or 20 miles a minute. that's really. We use that normally when we're running away from somebody, when we really want to get the heck out of dodge. so Mach two consulting comm. I'm also represented by, many speakers bureau or agents in the industry who I've been working with for over 25 years. So I'm pretty easy to find as far as you know, speeches today? I do everything from 18 minute Ted talks to 45 to 60 minute traditional keynote speeches. I do a number of, programs that are 90 to 120 minutes interactive programs. We don't go into breakout rooms, but we engage the audience in a way that they're not just receiving information one way. They're making some personal commitments to themselves, to their teammates. and as a company, I love those programs. And then I do half an full day consulting engagements around my topics as well.
Speaker 1 (00:14:53) - Yeah, AT&T, Bank of America, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Boeing, Bridgestone, Cisco, Home Depot High at McDonald's Napa. It is a white a laundry list of who's who have already engaged you your website once again mock two consulting.com. Anthony Abby Burke, thank you so much for for joining us and sharing your message and making a great impact in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:15:19) - Josh, really great to spend time with you and I hope our paths will cross again soon.
Speaker 1 (00:15:29) - Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.
Speaker 1 (00:16:10) - I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt in or email required, where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Make sure to hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning. That's right, seven days a week you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes every single day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur movement.