The Expert Podcast

You may not be a pilot or ever be interested in being a pilot, but there are many great lessons from the world of aviation that can help you in business and even in your personal life. Today, we're going to look at five of the key requirements and standard procedures used by pilots that can be translated into personal life. Why would those things be good to look at? Well, think about how important it is to get things right in aviation—things like not crashing, surviving, and not dying. Aviation can be dangerous, and it's also something you want to have good results with. The same thing applies to business: you want to have good results and avoid danger. So if it's important enough for a life-or-death scenario like flying, these things can be used in your personal life. Here are five examples (and many others) that you can look at day to day in your business operations and even in your personal life to help you get more success and avoid danger.

The first one is the "read back." In aviation, you've heard pilots on the radio talking about clearances and approvals. The air traffic control system is what communicates with pilots. They give clearances and approvals to do things like "You can take off now," "Cleared for takeoff," "Cleared for landing." The communications that are important between pilots and air traffic control require a read back. In fact, "cleared for takeoff" is one of them. If the controller says "Cleared for takeoff," you have to say back, "Cleared for takeoff."

That's where you see in the movies they say "roger" or "copy," which isn't really accurate, but it's an example of that read back. The reason why is because certain things need to be heard correctly. We're going to listen to an example of what's called a "clearance delivery"—an IFR clearance. So before a plane takes off, the air traffic control system tells the pilot where they're cleared to go, take off, go to this altitude, take a left here, go to this place, and the pilot has a flight plan clearance they've filed. Before they take off, the air traffic control will say, "Here's your clearance." You, as a pilot, have to read it back to the air traffic controller, and they say, "Read back correct." It's so important to have all those details right that they require you to read it back. If you don't read it back, you won't be cleared for takeoff.

So, let's take a listen and see how that sounds and then we'll give an example of how to use that in actual everyday life. "Down to Lakeland 423 Mike Zulu, you're cleared to the Lakeland airport via radar vectors to join Victor 157 direct. Maintain 2000, expect 5000 ten minutes after departure. Departure frequency will be 118.6, squawk 3231." "All right, 23 Mike Zulu is cleared to Lakeland via radar vectors Victor 157, then direct 2000, then 5010, 118.6 and 3231. System 23 Mike Zulu will be back correct. Taxi to runway 36."

So you hear the controller gave the instructions for their flight to the pilot. The pilot read them back word for word—what the frequencies are, what their transponder code is, and all the different instructions. It's not important that you understood what they said, but just that the pilot read them back. Then, as soon as the pilot read back what his instructions were, the air traffic controller said, "Read back is correct. You're cleared to taxi to runway 36 to take off." So it's so important that those details are properly understood by the pilot that they actually have to say them back. It prevents a lot of errors. All of these rules in aviation came from prior bad events, like a crash where somebody did something wrong. The read back also eliminates misunderstandings. Maybe you didn't hear it right, maybe the radio was staticky, or maybe you thought you heard something but didn’t. Remember that old telephone game, where somebody tells a story down the line, and by the time it gets back to you, it's completely different? The read back prevents the telephone game.

So, how do you use that in real life? If you say something to somebody, after you say it, you can’t say, "Tell me what you just heard." Make sure they understand you correctly, but that might come off as calling them an idiot. Instead, you can use more subtle language. For example, "Look, here's what I want you to do: Take this contract, talk to the customer, ask them about their payment information, set up a meeting at two o'clock, and let them know that their partner is invited to the meeting." That's just an example of something you could do. Depending on the relationship you have with the person in business you're talking to, you might ask them, "So, those are four or five steps. Did I leave anything out? Any gaps? Do you need more information? Would you like me to explain it more?"

How are you going to present this to the customer? What are the four steps? If it's important that you have your person, your employee, your direct report, or your business partner, do things in a certain order, make sure that's part of the instructions. Many times, errors in business come from doing things in the wrong order. Sometimes it's important to do Step A first before Step B. If you don’t tell somebody that, they might decide, "Well, Step B is a little easier, so I’ll do that first," or, "Step C is more convenient, so I’ll jump ahead to that." Sometimes, that messes up the whole deal. So getting a good read back is important.

You’ve got to be careful with the wording because if you say, "What did you hear me just say?" that can sound condescending and arrogant. So come up with your own wording of how you want to get that read back done. Eliminating miscommunications, helping the person you're conveying information to understand it, will help both parties, and even a third party that may be involved. How many times did you look at a problem that happened in business—a catastrophe, a disaster, an inconvenience—and realize, "If the person just did what I told them, everything would have been okay"? Why didn’t you listen to what I said? You didn’t do what you were told.

Now, whose fault is it if somebody didn’t do what they were told? The communicator’s or the listener’s? You might say, "Well, it's the listener." But if what you're trying to do as a communicator is to get the listener to do something that helps them, then make sure that the message is very clearly described. What you hear in your own head, what you're thinking in your own head, is your own language. Even though we all speak, presumably, English (or other languages in other areas), there are still differences in understanding. Your internal dialogue has the benefit of understanding the model, the vision of what you're trying to convey, but the other person doesn’t. They've had 30 seconds of you explaining it to them. So, remember, there may be details that you didn’t include because you thought they were assumed. Don’t assume everything. Read back is important. Use that to your advantage.

Another important air traffic control procedure is the word "unable." ATC (air traffic control) stands for air traffic control, and you might think that it means the air traffic controller tells the pilot what to do. They’re in charge, they're the boss, they're the controlling authority, but that's not true. They're there to separate one plane from another by making them fly in different parts of the sky and land at different intervals. They don’t necessarily tell the pilot what to do; they give the pilot guidelines to get done what the pilot wants to do in a safe way.

For that reason, if an air traffic controller tells you, as a pilot, an instruction or clearance, and it's not safe, you can't do it. It’s perfectly legitimate to tell that controller, "I'm not able to do that." "Unable" is a perfectly acceptable response to ATC. One word: "Unable." Everybody knows what that means. If the controller tells you to climb and maintain 2000, you just say "Unable." That’s it. The controller will then figure something out. They might tell you to climb to 5000 or turn right 20 degrees. Whatever it is, they’re trying to get you out of conflict with another aircraft. But their best plan might not match your best plan.

"Unable" is a perfectly good response. You don't want to use it just for minor inconveniences, though—it has to be something pretty serious. How does that translate to real life? A lot of us are people-pleasers. Somebody asks or tells us to do something, and we just do it. How many times does that come back to create an annoyance, an inconvenience, or a resentment later? How much better would it have been to say, "Unable"?

Now, you’re not on the radio and don’t need to shorten phrases to keep blocking other radio traffic. You can say more than just "Unable." You could say, "I’m wondering if there’s another way to do that" or "That wouldn’t be the best thing to do. Is there any other option?" Or, "Can we talk about that more?" Don’t jump right to "Yes" if it’s not something that matches what you want to do. Even if it is something you want to do, you might want to ask more. "What went into that decision?"

Not jumping right to "Yes" is a good thing. If a pilot just accepts whatever clearance or instructions are given to them and it makes them crash, now the pilot’s dead. There are many instances of flights that ended in disaster because the pilot never thought to say "Unable" or question something. There was a woman who was flying a single-engine private plane, and she had no experience flying at night. The air traffic control gave her clearance to land at the airport, but she was really uncomfortable with it. She didn’t feel good about the procedure. She asked the controller if they could circle the airport and give her more time to land. The controller said, "No, that's not what we're gonna do." They gave her the clearance for landing, and it was too dark for her to see anything. The result was that she crashed and died. She didn't say "Unable" when she felt uncomfortable with something.

So, don’t be afraid to say "Unable" in your business life. This is a tough one. How many times have you said yes when you should’ve said "Unable"? Sometimes you have to evaluate things, and if you're uncomfortable, take time to assess the situation. Your comfort, safety, and well-being are the most important thing for your future.