Carey Lohrenz, a leadership and strategy expert, knows what
it takes to win in one of the highest pressure jobs imaginable. She has spent
10 rewarding and challenging years planning, executing and debriefing complicated
missions as the first female F-14 Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy.
Lohrenz doesn’t work in your typical office - she spends
each work day in a $45 million jet working a very high stress role with a lot of
moving parts. In less than two seconds she goes from 0 to 165 mph in her jet to
bring men to a target and back again.
“That speed is physically exhausting so the hardest part is
staying conscious, “she explained in her keynote presentation at PW&WCBA
2013 in Disney World. “Meanwhile you are responsible for communicating on three
different radios to several different people in the air and on the ground.”
Working on top of an aircraft carrier is one of the most
dangerous industrious worksites in the world. The job has a clear focus of
mission– safely launching and recovering an aircraft. In order to complete each
mission successfully, Lohrenz has to consistently exemplify stellar leadership skills.
“When you can leverage strong leadership skills, you can achieve
growth and accelerate your career path.” she told the audience.
Here are some skills that Lohrenz developed to reach her
goal:
Be the Catalyst
A catalyst is someone who can align people and make things
happen faster. “That purpose, focus and discipline allow common people to achieve
extraordinary thing,” said Lohrenz.
Also, having a winning attitude and commitment gets you far.
How committed are your to your success and continued development? “If you lose
sight, your loose the fight,” she added.
Be Tenacious
Early in her life, Lohrenz was drawn to doing something with
an organization that put mission before self. She has to always be flexible, be
able to adapt to ever-changing situations and overcome any obstacle, which she
strongly advises people to do in any business.
The Commanding Officers had to identify only the people who
were able to do this well. “They want to break us to get us to the point of understanding
where we will break and be able to address those fears and challenges and work
through them. The fear of failure is so paralyzing because it makes us pass up
opportunities,” she explained. “But, breaking through this allows us to start
reaching our potential.”
Be Committed to Excellence
Lohrenz really wanted to blend in and be one of the guys,
but it turns out she became a pioneer in the industry. Because of this, she has
learned how much perceptions matter, your personal brand, professional brand
matters because it is how people perceive you.
“There can be a gap and you just need to know where you are
in those gaps so you can address those perceptions,” she explained.
Lohrenz said she and her team are process people’ and tend
to over-complicate things. They have highly effective processes of planning,
executing and debriefing after the event. “We understood peoples’ roles and responsibilities so we can
move easily into the execution phase,” she said. “In fact, one hour of effective
planning can save you 200 execution errors, according to Harvard Business
Review."
Be Resilient
Being a fighter pilot has its challenges. Lohrenz was used
as a platform for “why we can’t have women fighter pilots” in an international discussion
when she was just 24 years old She was pulled even out of her cockpit when the
Navy chose to not support her because they thought the issue would simply go
away. So, for a year and a half she was grounded and felt like her world was completely
shattered.
“There were days that I felt like I couldn’t breadth.
Everything I worked for was taken away from me,” she told us.
She later was given the opportunity to get back in the
cockpit and fly admirals and generals, but it was a very different life than a
fighter pilot. Soon enough, she was back
to where she was meant be as a fighter pilot.
“I stood up for what I believed in because the women came
before me fought so hard and I knew women would be coming up behind me,”
Lohrenz said.
Overall, her message today is: “Good enough is only your
entry ticket into the game. Be innovative in your path to success that will get
you where you want to go.”
So, be brave. Take risks. What are you going to do to make a
difference?
Amanda Ciccatelli,
Social Media Strategist at IIR USA in New York City, has a background in
digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business
strategy, marketing, and technology. She previously worked at Technology
Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and
feature stories in the tech industry. She can be reached
at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc.
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