Lessons in leadership and devotion ..Captain Thomas J. Hudner.

#leadershiplessons #whoswingmanareyou #triggeryourheroinstinct

Long before the fictitious Top Gun, there was the true story of a two unlikely friends, two devoted wingmen and two heroes of aviation legend, a real life example of the allegorical 'two little boys' in Rolf Harris's genius song lyric.

These extraordinary young men flew alongside each other in the 'forgotten war' of Korea, at the Battle of the 'Frozen Chosin' reservoir 26th November 1950 under Squadron leader Richard 'Dick' Sevoli. Both made history in an incredible story of integrity in life and dignity in death illustrating how the two are inexorably linked.

Jesse L. Brown (24) was the first African-American aviator to complete the US Navy's flight training program, a recipient of the distinguished flying cross and the first African-American naval officer to be killed in the Korean War. Tom Hudner (26) was a US Navy officer who rose to the rank of Captain and received the Medal of Honor for his actions, in trying to save the life of his wingman Jesse Brown during the Korean War.

Some say leaders have a calling, some like Shackleton responded to the call of the wild and to discovery, some respond to the call of change and invention like Lincoln and Tesla and others are called to action like Brown and Hudner.

The story goes that during a routine exercise, Jesse Brown's F4U Corsair developed an oil leak and went down into a remote valley, catching fire before it hit the ground. Tom Hudner on seeing his friend's canopy opening realised he was still alive, but saw he did not exit the plane so made the grave but immediate decision, to crash land his own plane at incalculable risk to himself in a 'wheels up' landing a - potential 'Kamikaze' suicide mission. Despite landing in freezing minus conditions, suffering a back injury which would take years to heal and straight into enemy lines, he waded waist deep in snow to try and rescue Brown whose leg was pinned under the bent fuselage.

Desperately trying to free Brown without success he then proceeded to pack snow on the flaming aircraft with his bare hands in an effort to stop it exploding. Meanwhile Jesse was trying to calm his friend, amidst his own awful predicament, saying, "we need to figure how to get out of here Tom," still acting with a team mentality and total composure.

Half and hour later a helicopter arrived with Charles Ward at the controls, who tried with Hudner to free Brown from the plane, by smashing the fuselage with an axe for some 40 minutes, but to no avail. Hudner was faced with the terrible dilemma of whether to stay or leave, but decided to leave Brown who was lapsing in and out of consciousness, on the advice of Ward promising he would be back for him with more help. Brown realising his fate, asked Hudner to "tell Daisy that I will always love her."....his last words were for his wife.

It was decided after some deliberation that it was too dangerous to operate a rescue mission in the unlikely event that Brown was still alive, so his F4U was napalmed and he was given a 'warriors funeral.'

So what is it to be a wingman in life?

Commander Dick Sevoli said;

"The hardest battle in all of life is being someone that people can count on, and that isn't defined in a single moment, you can earn that in a lifetime of showing up."

Not everyone can risk their life by crashing a plane for a 'wingman' friend or colleague but we can take something from this, by trying to show up whenever and wherever we can.

The expression to 'take one for the team' has in my mind, its heart in the Military, but actually its origins lie in 1970's baseball. It means to make a sacrifice on behalf of the team and we can apply this out of a sporting concept to Business, or to any setting in the team of humankind, where we suffer a chore, an inconvenience, a hardship or anything in which we have got someone's back.

A selfless act of goodwill for the sake of a colleague or someone else.

All the choices we make have consequences, so better to employ integrity, the most important leadership attribute and be the example, rather than simply to continually act in our own interests.

The Military make it their business to know their team, getting to know each other is ingrained in the fabric of the Forces, I call this the knit that pulls the garment together. They need to know they can depend on each other when it counts, to know your team and to know how they tick, is to love your team and be their tock. This clockwork rhythm of reciprocal altruism has to work to saves lives in war, it is the unified effort to 'bring everyone home.'

The concept of 'why you should never leave your wingman' is actually a slogan taught to employees in the US about behaviour based expectations. *(ref. J.M. Alonde).

'Just as Navy Pilots don't abandon their crew, employees are supposed to back each other, coach, mentor, counsel and support each other'.

That is what makes for a positive, two-way non-toxic unified work culture, everyone should enjoy this environment for nurtured growth. People have hidden stresses and don't always want to talk about it, leadership entails getting to the bottom of the people who help build your Business, knowing when something is off and proactively acting on that.

It is seeing that the engine is on fire, or that it's running on too many cylinders, then stepping in and doing whatever possible to prevent it from burning out..

....packing some ice on the flaming craft.

A good leader knows his team, recognises that no man is an island and that he is part of something bigger - a collaborative effort. "There is no "i "in team."

Tom Hudner made the ultimate sacrifice at just 26 risking his life for his good friend and lived until he was 93 so it didn't kill him, it won't kill us either to do the same in some small part. When we see something we might be able to fix or ameliorate... or notice a team member we can help, support .. take the pressure off in some way, we can make a small sacrifice. We can say to ourselves what Hudner said out loud defying orders and risking a Court Martial.

"I'm going in."

On occasion, life needs to be about defying orders, breaking rules and following ones own instinct to do what's right.

When it comes down to it, if we are only working for money and not for a purpose and we don't care about common goals, shared values, colleagues, the team, customers, or the overall sum, money becomes filthy lucre.

Whose wingman can we be today, tomorrow and the day after that.