Episode 192: Carey Lohrenz – The 1st Female F-14 Tomcat Pilot: Fearless Leadership, Top Gun, Courage

Carey Lohrenz is a dynamic communicator with an incredible story. As the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot, she was a pioneer in military aviation. Having flown missions worldwide as a combat, mission-ready United States Navy pilot, Carey Lohrenz is used to working in fast moving, dynamic environments where inconsistent execution can generate catastrophic results.

Carey is uniquely qualified in the fundamentals of winning under pressure, reducing errors and overcoming obstacles. Her mastery of these fundamentals can help your team triumph in this high-risk, time crunched world. Her experience in the all-male environment of fighter aviation and her ability to pass on the lessons learned in her career allow her to deliver insight and guidance from a credible platform.

As a high content Keynote Speaker, who is both motivational and inspirational, Carey Lohrenz inspires Fearless Leadership and increased team performance. Carey has been requested by name from some of the top Fortune 100 businesses. Her ability to connect with both an audience and on a one-on-one level, coupled with her knowledge and experience in leading high-performing, diverse teams, has made her highly sought after as a business consultant and leadership speaker.

Carey Lohrenz is the author of “Fearless Leadership: High-Performance Lessons from the Flight Deck.” She resides in Chanhassen, MN and is currently working on her Masters in Business Administration in Strategic Leadership. (CareyLohrenz.com)

Episode 192: Carey Lohrenz – The 1st Female F-14 Tomcat Pilot: Fearless Leadership, Top Gun, Courage

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The Learning Leader Show

“The best have the courage to step up.  Don’t ever think others are better than you or they have advantages that you don’t.  Step up.  Do the work.”

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

  • Common themes of leaders who sustain excellence:
    • Mindset about how they view setbacks
    • Have a comfort in the uncomfortable
    • They are always learning, constantly striving for more
  • How JJ Watt seems to embrace “the suck”
  • Carey answers the question… “Why was she the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot?”
  • Going to Miramar to train as a fighter pilot — The experience of it…
    • Some of Carey’s classmates flew in the movie Top Gun
  • Call sign: Vixen
  • Where was Carey deployed?  World wide on aircraft carriers.  Discreet missions
    • Carey has landed over 150 times on an aircraft carrier and many times at night
    • Listen to her detailed description of what it’s like to fly at night over the ocean (pitch black)
  • An aircraft carrier = “Looks like a postage stamp… I have to land in 1.2 seconds on it”
  • How does Carey overcome the palpable fear?
    • Constant repetition
  • Why write the book Fearless Leadership?
  • The 3 Fundamentals of Fearless Leadership
    • Courage
    • Tenacity
    • Integrity
  • Courage — You will be filled with self doubt.  “The best have the courage to step up.  The ability to go for it even when they’re afraid.”
  • “The most successful people I’ve seen do what they need to do even when they don’t want to do it.”
  • Keys to building a great culture
    • Be a great wingman
    • Trust
    • Get help with your blind spots – have open lines of communication built on trust
    • Must hold each other accountable
  • What is the military’s secret weapon to improvement?
    • Debriefs:
      • What was supposed to happen?
      • What did happen?
      • Why was it different?
      • What can we learn from this?
      • How do we incorporate this next time?
  • The military has the ability and processes in place to learn faster than the competition.  Businesses can do this too, but most don’t.
  • It starts with the Leader — “This is what I did wrong… And how I will fix my mistake.”

“I went from Mach 2 to pre-school.”

Continue Learning:

You may also like these episodes:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 071: Nate Boyer – Green Beret, Texas Football, The NFL

Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence – The Best Answers From 178 Questions

Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

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Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell

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