It was another clear and crisp morning at 4 a.m. when we stumbled out of our tent and peered into the West Texas skyline to view the glow on the horizon. Ken, Jerry, and I quickly shaved and began our routine ten-minute stroll to the operational control center, where we were planning the next phase of the team’s flight operations.\u00a0 As operations team leaders, we were required to digest the newest intelligence, explore different courses of action, and create two to three plans for our team to accomplish the mission based on objective criteria.\u00a0 Following our briefings, our commanders would judge the courses of action based on the requirements and risk and decide on the appropriate option to execute. \u00a0We leveraged a time management principle called the \u201c1\/3 \u2013 2\/3\u201d rule. The rule is designed to control the amount of time used by senior leaders for their planning (1\/3) and allow the more junior leaders sufficient time to plan, rehearse, and role-play in preparation for executing their flight mission (2\/3).\u00a0 For example, if there were a 12-hour window to respond to a threat, our team would plan and present within 4 hours, and the flight crews would leverage the remaining 8 hours before executing the mission.<\/p>\n
The three of us were already working on limited rest for successive days.\u00a0 Because we were in the initial phases of testing out new aircraft for the U.S. Army aviation, there was immense focus and scrutiny from senior Army aviation leaders.\u00a0 This training was a key milestone within the Army\u2019s plan to roll out these aircraft across the globe, and we were informed that there was over a decade of preparation leading up to this moment.\u00a0 Our stress level was already high, and as the 20+ work hour days progressed, we slowly lost our ability to iterate well.\u00a0 We found ourselves giving in to the inertia of past decisions in our overall planning, which limited our creativity in solving problems under new and fresh intelligence and criteria.\u00a0 We had been successful for the past week, but with each successive day, additional layers of emotional and social pressure crept in.\u00a0 Leading up to this final day of mission planning, our commander took us aside and provided us with supporting critique and comments to help us navigate through.<\/p>\n
Additional Thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n In this week\u2019s reading, Clear Thinking<\/em>, Shane Parrish shares his \u201cpractical guide to mastering clear thinking.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 As I read through these chapters, I was reminded of a similar goal from Your Brain at Work[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, where Dr. David Rock presents a daily instruction guide to help focus, lower stress, and effectively aid the decision-making process.\u00a0\u00a0 Each author informs leaders to reduce the amount of noise and improve their capability to make correct decisions.\u00a0 They agree that clear, informed, and quality decisions come from discipline and situational awareness.\u00a0 I enjoyed the affirmation shared by both authors, where we can learn to train our brains to improve thinking. \u00a0\u00a0This would be accomplished through enhanced routines, practice consistency, and overall mental awareness.\u00a0 Parrish shares practices and tools to turn clear thinking into effective decisions.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Defaults<\/strong><\/p>\n To overcome our behavioral instincts, Parrish informs us of four prominent internal forces that might lead to poor or uninformed decisions. He labels these emotional defaults. Similar to the System 1 thinking, outlined by Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>[4]<\/a>, without mastering these defaults, our reactive responses and rapid decision-making process will lead to poor results.<\/p>\n Fortunately, there are ways to decouple our unconscious response to these defaults. While exhibiting a strong will appears to provide an appropriate corrective path, the people with the best defaults typically have the best environment.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Managing through these defaults on our own won\u2019t break the cycle.<\/p>\n Clear Thinking in Action<\/strong><\/p>\n Parrish outlines tools and considerations for making effective and timely decisions.\u00a0 As I read through his work, it reminded me of how maintaining our discipline prevented us from falling into the default traps during the planning and execution process while conducting our flight operations. Parrish outlines specific principles and safeguards to leverage while working through an effective decision-making process.<\/p>\n In the end, our discussion with our commander proved fruitful. He quickly reminded us of how objective we had been leading up to these final days, and he was extremely proud of our combined discipline and energy to solve.\u00a0 While the intensity and pressure of the moment were incredibly high, it was gratifying. However, behind all the accolades and hoopla, it most importantly gave us a solid operational foundation to build on in our careers.\u00a0 Moving forward, exploring the ideas, language, and tools that Parrish provides will continue to allow me to refine my practice around clear thinking and the thoughts and actions of my immediate leadership team.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Shane Parrish, Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results,<\/em> (New York, NY: Latticework Publishing, 2023), x.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Dr. David Rock, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long,<\/em> (New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2020)<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Parrish, xi.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, (New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011)<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Parrish, 11.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Parrish, 37.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Parrish, 128.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Parrish, 146.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Parrish, 161.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Parrish, 165.<\/p>\n\n
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