Waldo

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Waldo

I remember the first time I was deployed to Iraq during Operation Southern Watch.  I sat in an intelligence mission briefing with 50 of my fellow fighter pilots (my wingmen) where we were briefed on the multiple threats that scattered the enemy terrain in Iraq.  The SAM’s (surface to sir missiles) and AAA (anti-aircraft artillery) were everywhere – each with the reach and power to shoot us out of the sky.

I couldn’t help but notice the anxious feeling that was in the pit of my stomach. The dread, panic, and fear were almost overwhelming.  For the first time in my military career, I was going to be tested in combat. It was ‘go time’…time to put all my training…the years of study, focus, sacrifice, and sweat…to the test. From the Air Force academy where I learned the fundamentals of discipline and teamwork, to the 79^th Fighter Squadron where I learned to fly the sophisticated F-16 and the complicated tactics necessary to defeat the enemy. All of this training would soon be put to use.

But deep down I wondered if I was ready. How would I perform under this real pressure?  Would I get shot down? Was I truly prepared for this ultimate test? I thought to myself, what good was my military and fighter training if I wasn’t able to execute when it really counted? I had to get focused!

Despite my insecurity, the bottom line was that I was ready.  When I reflected on all of my training and preparation, the more confident I became. All of my previous work would allow me to win in Iraq.  I didn’t need to be afraid.

Each day, we’re faced with missiles of business and life that are being shot at us as we execute our missions.  How will you deal with them?  Will you take action, or shirk away in fear? Do you have the foundation of training, preparation and mental focus necessary to face those missiles with courage and confidence?

Winners work hard and plant seeds of success long before the enemy strikes.  That’s why WIN stands for Work it Now!

I recently received and e-mail from a friend who works in real estate (she is a very successful time share salesperson).  She wrote, “Waldo, I sure could use a sale (and some motivation from you) right now.  I know I’ll get over this slump, but business is terrible!”

I felt for her.

Yes – business is bad all over. Look at the economy and it’s quite clear that these are tough times. It’s a huge missile and it’s pointing at us all.

How we deal with this missile will ultimately determine whether or not we’ll defeat it. For it’s the tough times that determine the true character of a winner.  If you want to test the character of an individual in business, see how they act when the sales are down, when they’re having bad month, or when the competition is taking away their business.

Will you Forget Everything And Run or Focus Energy and Accept Responsibility?

Here are a few wingtips to help you to take action with courage:

1. Flight plan your day - Get up earlier, schedule your action items, reduce or eliminate your TV time, take a course on sales. Get focused on the preparation fundamentals that lead to business success.
2. Surround yourself with positive, successful wingmen – eliminate the Naysayers and attract the “Yaysayers.” These are your comrades of confidence who will lend you their wings to fly, but who will also hold you accountable for your actions.
3. Be a WingGiver – Help others. Remember, there are folks like you who are struggling (personally and financially).  Find a way to help ease their suffering with your skill, connections, and compassion
4. Be thankful – Appreciate all your blessings and take inventory where your life is going well, and don’t focus on the negative.

Life has its ups and downs.  As soon as we think we have it under control…BAM! Another missile gets launched at us.  Don’t resist it. Rather, accept it as a challenge to upgrade your flight status and strengthen your wings. Remember that winners deal with adversity by ensuring they have done the necessary work and relationship building before the missiles of life are launched.

If you wait until after the missiles are in the air, then it’s probably too late.

PUSH IT UP!^®

Waldo Waldman builds team unity within organizations as a high-energy leadership/inspirational speaker. A former combat-decorated fighter pilot with corporate sales experience, Waldo brings an exciting and valuable message to organizations by using fighter pilot strategies as building blocks for peak performance, teamwork, leadership and trust. His clients include Aflac, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, BG Products, NY Life, and Home Depot. To download Waldo’s Top Gun Motivation mission briefing, visit www.YourWingman.com or call 1-866-925-3616.

I’ll never forget the first time I flew the F-16. The rush of adrenaline was amazing. The tower controller cleared me for take-off and from the back seat my instructor pilot, Captain “Deke” Slaton, called out over the intercom, “Push it up, Waldo!”

“Yes, Sir!” I replied.

I nervously pushed up that throttle to full power and felt a kick in the seat unlike anything I’ve experienced in my life. 30,000 pounds of pure thrust. The power was unreal as I became airborne and in seconds accelerated to 350 knots.

I won’t forget how hard I worked to make it to the cockpit that day. But it paled in comparison to how hard I would work to stay there. I had to push myself beyond my limits to earn my wings and become mission ready in the F-16.

I’ve embraced the phrase “Push it up!” in my personal and professional life and use it as a call to action to my clients, fellow wingmen, and friends. I want you to use it as well because it symbolizes what it takes to win. It stands for maximum effort. It’s the thrust which drives you forward. It’s what gives you wings to fly.

Push it up means you:

• Put forth maximum effort
• Discipline yourself to take (the correct) action every day
• Commit yourself to your goal
• Stay focused until the mission is complete
• Face adversity with courage.

It’s about personal leadership, and you’re the pilot in command.

Push it up also means you’re a trusted partner in life – a wingman. Someone others can count on to get the job done. You have a disciplined, determined and passionate approach towards living every single day and you don’t need to wear a flight suit of fly an F-16 to develop it. It originates in your heart, is inspired through your attitude, and is executed through your action.

Let me share something with you. Success isn’t necessarily about motivation or even attitude. It’s about action. Action that leads to performance that leads to results. The world rewards results, not attitude… and while your attitude is a tremendous asset in your life and will likely inspire you to act, it’s not going to directly give you results.

Some say attitude determines altitude. I totally disagree. Here’s a better formula:

Attitude + Action + Ability determines Altitude.

What drives you to get out of bed every day ready to push it up and take action? Are you willing to work for it?

Hard work is the impetus to action. It’s the sun to the blooming flower and the sweat to the athlete. There is no substitute when it comes to success.

Winners in business and life possess a positive attitude that is seasoned with discipline, passion, and commitment. But at the end of the day, they take action to make it happen. Winners sharpen their sword and do the work to perfect their craft. Most importantly, they resist the temptation to ease up-to pull back the throttle-despite the missiles of life that are constantly being launched.

Push it up isn’t easy. But it separates the mediocre from the “Mach-1.” Are you pushing it up or pulling it back in life? How hard are you willing to work? The difference will determine whether or not you take off and reach new heights.

Contact the Wingman to have Waldo speak at your future meeting.
Call 1 (877) 925-3616 or email info@yourwingman.com.

As I write this article at my favorite Starbucks, I can’t help but hear the conversation next to me.  A middle-aged woman is having a coffee meeting with a peer discussing job opportunities, the market, and their personal networks. It’s obvious that she’s lost her job due to cutbacks and is networking like mad, reaching out to her wingmen and exploring job opportunities.

Sound familiar?

We all know someone who recently lost a job or who is struggling with their business. The economy is tough today. Sales are down, credit is tight, budgets are being slashed, and jobs are being cut.  We’ve all been affected. It’s just reality. And while we can’t control Wall Street, the only thing we can control is how we react to what’s going on. As my friend and wingman John Harrington of OTR Consultants says, when adversity strikes, “we either fear or we lead.”

If we fear, we crawl out of bed anxious, worrisome, and focus on what we don’t have.  We become strangled with doubt.  We strap into our jet ready to take-off, but push up the throttle with the brakes on. Doubt prevents us from releasing our brakes and destroys the warrior spirit. It kills performance which eventually leads to failure.

If we lead, we jump out of bed, acknowledge our fear (hey, it’s normal to be afraid when adversity strikes!), and then give thanks for what we have.  We gather our resources, plan the day’s mission, and then take action.  We focus on doing, not doubting…on performance, not philosophy. We understand that we’re in control of our jet and are ultimately responsible for results.

Here’s the question you have to ask yourself during adverse conditions: Will you fear or lead?

In turbulent times like today with the missiles being launched, we have to be warriors, not worriers.  Warriors confront the reality of their fears, and then lead by taking action.  When I flew in combat with my wingmen, sure we were scared. Sure we had doubt. But when it came time to execute, we prepared relentlessly and then took action as a team. We felt confident because we weren’t flying solo and knew we could count on each other for mutual support. Most importantly, we focused on our actions, not on our attitude.

In business, attitude alone won’t get you to take off.  Yes it’s important, but ultimately you have to take action for change to occur. Attitude gives the thrust, but action provides the vector.  You have to release the brakes on your jet and roll down the runway with a target and a plan, knowing full well what the stakes are.  I know it can be overwhelming and it isn’t easy. But let’s face it; the greatest results in business often require the greatest effort and risk.

I want to emphasize that being a modern day warrior isn’t about combat.  It’s about commitment, courage, and accountability. It’s about fighting for a cause that means something. Warriors fight for those they serve, but they also fight for freedom, peace, family, and love. Warriors work. Warriors live by the credo “the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in battle.” They plan and train with discipline and intensity and put forth the effort so that they never have to go to battle. As the great Chinese General and military strategist Sun Tzu wrote in “The Art of War,” the greatest victories in war are the ones that are never fought.

Most importantly, warriors are a beacon of hope for those in need. In essence, warriors are wingmen.  Warriors are your friends who refer business to you, who share their best practices, give feedback on your sales performance, and who take your keys when you’ve been drinking. They give their love and advice freely, but also help you be accountable to the most important wingman in your life…yourself!

Warriors are wingmen who will do what it takes to help you turn your fear into courage, push up your throttle, release your brakes and take-off. Warriors want you to win.

As we deal in these uncertain economic times, I would challenge you to lead rather than fear. Be thankful for the warriors in your life who fight the good fight and who give you the courage to release your brakes and take-off in turbulent conditions.  And last but not least, pray for the strength to be a warrior for your customer, your co-workers, and for those less fortunate who can’t release the brakes on their own.

Be a wingman – a warrior with a heart.

Never Fly Solo!

Your Wingman^®
Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman

Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman is a former combat-decorated fighter pilot with corporate sales experience. Known as “The Wingman,” he is an inspirational peak performance speaker and uses fighter pilot strategies to build teamwork, leadership and trust in highly competitive environments. Waldo’s clients include Aflac, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Bank of America, John Hancock, and Home Depot. To download his Top Gun Motivation mission briefing, visit Motivational Keynote Speaker or call 1-866-925-3616.

Waldo believes that the key to building a culture of trust lies with your wingmen – the men and women in your life who help you to overcome obstacles, adapt to change, and achieve success. In business and life, you should never fly solo! The solution to winning when the heat is on lies in the ability of every wingman in your organization, regardless of their role, to give 110% and support the team.

Waldo is a graduate of the U.S Air Force Academy and also holds an MBA with a focus on Organizational Behavior.  Audiences connect with him not only because of his extensive business background, but also because he truly speaks from the heart and has an infectious passion for helping people. Waldo’s captivating personal stories combined with dramatic jet fighter video footage and inspirational music (composed by him!) will encourage you to prepare diligently for every mission, face challenges with courage, build more meaningful relationships, and maximize your potential both in business and in life.

Waldo’s clients include Hewlett Packard, NY Life, Baptist Health Hospitals, Nokia, Home Depot, Philips Medical Systems, Bank of America, Panasonic, Honeywell, Aflac, MassMutual, and UPS.

For more information on Waldo and to receive his Top Gun Peak Performance mission briefing, visit www.yourwingman.com, e-mail him at Waldo@YourWingman.com, or call 770-333-9867.

Flying solo? You might think so. But take a good look around…You have support staff. You have managers. You have suppliers and distributors. And you have colleagues, family members and significant others. By placing your trust in those around you, you can overcome obstacles, adapt to change, serve your customer, and achieve success during adverse times. By placing your trust in your wingmen and by being a wingman to others, there is no mission you can’t complete in business or life.

Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman overcame a lifelong battle with claustrophobia and a fear of heights to become a combat decorated U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and highly successful businessman and entrepreneur. His motto is Winners Never Fly Solo! Through his captivating personal and business related stories and high energy videos, learn how you, like a fighter pilot, can succeed in highly competitive and demanding environments. Discover how to prepare diligently for every mission; employ loyal wingmen to promote integrity and trust; and lead your team with courage, compassion and conviction. Be inspired to take to the skies knowing that you have wingmen to help you face challenges and change with confidence while maximizing your potential in all aspects of your life.

Waldo’s clients include Aflac, Marriott Hotels, UPS, Medtronic, Nokia, MassMutual, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Shell Oil, and Home Depot. Past President of the National Speaker’s Association, GA Chapter, his book Never Fly Solo (McGraw-Hill) will be released in Dec 2009.  To purchase the book, hire Waldo to speak at your next event, or to download Waldo’s Top Gun Mission Briefing, visit www.YourWingman.com e-mail info@YourWingman.com or call 866-925-3616.

Waldo’s passion for training, organizational behavior, and leadership has been instrumental in the development of our motivational presentations. The ultimate goal of my

keynote address and training seminars is to empower your organization to maximize its leadership and sales performance in highly competitive and demanding business

environments.

Waldo will prove to you that the term “fighter pilot is a state of mind, not a job title!” and ultimately demonstrate that you don’t need to fly a jet fighter or wear a flight suit

to develop a fighter pilot attitude of success!
Our presentations are highly energized and fun multimedia programs with real jet fighter video footage and stunning graphics.

The air conditioned briefing room felt as cold as ice as I waited for the arrival of my instructor. I was a bundle of nerves. One more ‘busted’ check ride would put me one flight away from washing out of Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT). My dream of becoming a fighter pilot hung by a thread. I began to doubt myself.

What if I mess up again? What if I forget to call ‘gear down’ on final approach or fail to apply the proper spin recovery procedures? I repeatedly chair flew the maneuvers over and over and knew what needed to be done but kept re-playing the previous flights I failed in my head. I second guessed myself and my confidence dwindled. The sweat poured down my back.
In walked the instructor who would decide my fate, Major Jerry Free. A former F-4 fighter pilot who had little tolerance for mediocrity and laziness, he stood 6’3 with buzz cut hair and shiny boots. I was intimidated to say the least.
Not knowing what to expect, I stood at attention, braced myself, and saluted smartly.
He saluted back, looked me in the eyes, and reached over to shake my hand. “Ok, Waldo – it’s a new day, new jet! Are you ready to pass this flight, or what?”

He smiled.

Suddenly, the energy of the room shifted and I instantly felt more confident. All the stress and anxiety I had bottled up exploded out of me like a bullet. My mind became clearer as I thought to myself, “I can do this. Today, I’m going to fly like an eagle.” Major Free believed in me.

New Day, New Jet. Wow! I never heard that expression before. But somehow, those four words and the man who spoke them instantly changed my attitude from FEAR to FOCUS…from anxiety to action. I was ready to fly.

Some of you may be facing similar predicaments in your life that are testing your resolve, skill, and focus. Perhaps you are experiencing financial challenges or are having concerns at work as your company and clients adapt to our volatile economy. Missed sales quotas, budget cuts, and lost customers plague us. No mission is ever perfect, and neither are we.

We’re all human and have our limits. But sometimes, when we’re stuck and full of doubt, we underestimate our power to overcome adversity and perform at our best. We focus on our past failures and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel of success because our vision is darkened by our fear of future failure. We pull back the throttle of performance instead of pushing it up. In essence, we let our past define our future. This is the greatest challenge we face when dealing with adversity.

But I believe there is no reason for us not to live up to our potential each day and perform at our best. Fear and doubt are distractions that can de-motivate us and pull us off course. Don’t let yesterday’s failure define you. It’s how you respond that counts.

And while I do believe it’s critical for us to remain positive in tough times, no amount of motivation is going to replace the fundamentals of hard work and preparation. You have a job to do. You have the aircraft and are ultimately in control of your own jet. The question is: Are you better prepared to fly today then you were yesterday?

Success begins with self trust.

As you strap into your jet each day and conduct a pre-flight ‘attitude check’, ask yourself:

• Am I focused on my past failures or my past successes?
• How have I improved from yesterday to today?
• What actions will I take today to plant the performance seeds for tomorrow?

You can’t philosophize your way to success. The world (and your customers) are growing tired of rhetoric and philosophy. Today, we need performers who can get the job done.

But sometimes, no matter how much you prepare, it’s impossible to break the performance barrier on your own. So here’s the next and most important question you should ask when fear and doubt hold you back from flying your jet: Who are the wingmen in my life I can call on to help me fly?

Winners Never Fly Solo.

Wingmen inspire us. Wingmen give us hope and lend a “helping wing.” Wingmen reflect our greatness back at us and help us release the brakes holding us back from success as we face each new day with courage. They don’t fly our jet for us but rather give us confidence in our own abilities. They alter our mindset from “I can’t” or “I won’t”, to “I can” and “I will.”

My challenge to you is not to be inhibited from calling out to your wingmen for some encouragement when you’re not quite up to that tough mission. Ask for help. Be vulnerable. We’re all taking hits. Today it might be you. Tomorrow it might be them.

But don’t forget to be a wingman to others, as well. Keep an eye out for your colleagues who are struggling and who might benefit from a little lift as they prepare for that job interview or big sales presentation. Like Major Free, be a shining light and inspire them to realize their fullest potential.

In business and life, yesterday’s clouds can block us from seeing today’s blue skies. Let us not forget that each day is a new day and we’re blessed to have a jet to fly.

In the end, I passed my flight with Major Free because he made me realize that I was good enough to fly.
You are good enough. You’ve got wings. And you’ve got wingmen.

It’s a new day, new jet. Now go and fly!

Push it up!

Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman is a former combat-decorated fighter pilot with corporate sales experience. Known as “The Wingman,” he is an inspirational peak performance speaker and uses fighter pilot strategies to build teamwork, leadership and trust in highly competitive environments. Waldo’s clients include AFLAC, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Bank of America, John Hancock, and Home Depot. To download his Top Gun Motivation mission briefing, visit www.YourWingman.com, email info@yourwingman.com or call 1-866-925-3616.