Lead with your team by caring about them

An honest, exciting, emotional, occasionally shocking, authentic, determined, heartfelt, humble, rollercoaster exploration of leading with your team by truly connecting and caring about them to achieve success together. What might make this surprising is that it’s written by a US Navy fighter pilot, Top Gun graduate, fighter squadron commander, aircraft carrier captain and later Rear Admiral. This is a book that should dispel many myths about the idea of military leadership being about rank, status, position, and hierarchy. As Mike expertly illustrates military leadership at all levels is about service to others, humility, knowing your team, learning from failure, and persevering through adversity together.

There is something here for people at all life stages, another factor that sets this book apart.

- So powerful is Mike’s storytelling that I often felt like I was sitting in the cockpit of the jet with him, from glorious summer days and the fun of low-level flybys to the visceral anxiety of 7 failed night landings and the shocking reality of losing control of a $75 million fighter jet.

- Those with aspirations to become leaders and aviators will find guidance on the determination, learning, thinking ahead and effort required to succeed. Mike’s honesty about sometimes being cocky and the up and downside of the seeming invincibility of youth (oh how I’d like some of that back from time to time) and overcoming setbacks are the foundation of his leadership journey.

- Operational leaders will find powerful stories on overcoming setbacks and creating authentic connections with their team by knowing everyone by name and understanding their motivations. The way Mike acknowledges by name those who helped him avoid falling for the ego trap and into disaster is one of the most honest accounts of leadership I have read. How Mike lifted his teams and made them feel empowered and valued is the highlight of the middle of the book.

- Senior leaders looking to rekindle their motivation by mentoring and passing on their knowledge to others will find wisdom here too. The message is clear: no micromanaging, interfering or taking back control. Instead, senior leadership is about coaching, guiding, and removing barriers for those you lead. Mike’s lifelong integrity, gratitude and optimism are clearly expressed by his maxim “it’s the leader that sets the tone and the tone sets the culture”, a leader's behaviour matters most.

Mike’s acknowledgement of the support of his family and the families of his crews ends the book with a flourish. The need for balance, to help those we lead to have good lives and to check our motivations before demanding more from our people is life-affirming advice. I prefer books where the author also narrates and I feel hearing Mike's own words and emphasis add greatly to the experience.

Learn how to Lead to Win is a real “standing on the shoulders of giants” leadership book that had me hooked from its high-octane catapult launch to its final reflective and wise touchdown.

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