Leadership CAPs

A friend of mine recently asked if I'd been blogging lately - which I haven't - so I thought I might add a few new items. The following was my answer to a question regarding leadership posed via the online professional networking site called LinkedIn.

Pilots have checklists. Some checklists are routine. Some are needed only for emergencies. But there are a few checklists that are so critical that they must be committed to memory. Pilots call these checklists Critical Action Procedures (CAPs) or "Redbox Items" because they are surrounded by a red outline in the aircraft operating manual. CAPs (AKA Redbox Items) are the steps that must be taken, perfectly in order and without delay, when the safety of an aircraft is in jeopardy. When pilots undergo the periodic simulator evaluation required to be rated to operate a particular aircraft, the evaluator always tests the redbox items – verbally and within simulator emergency sequences. How seriously do pilots take these CAPs? Air Force F-16 pilots are required to write out their CAPs – in ink, perfectly – at least once a month or they are grounded pending additional training. When the experience level of a squadron is relatively low, Commanders routinely require completion of a written CAPs test every week. Failure to speak or perform the CAPs perfectly in a simulator evaluation results in a permanent "failed" entry in the pilots record. As the Commander of a fighter outfit, I gave my pilots and other officers another set of CAPs – Leadership CAPs - and tested them often, measured their performance, and figured that performance heavily into my promotion decisions. My Leadership CAPs were adapted from an idea on loan from the book “The Leadership Challenge.” There are dozens of qualities that can be valuable to a leader. But extensive research has clearly identified four qualities – worldwide, across cultures and generations – which every leader MUST have if others are to willingly follow that leader. Those four qualities became my Leadership CAPs. 1. Honest 2. Competent 3. Inspiring 4. Forward Looking. Kouzes and Posner (the authors of “The Leadership Challenge) elaborate on those four qualities. Their findings are profound. Their research matched perfectly with my experience both in the military and in the civilian business world.