I always feel in awe of fighter pilots. The skill and precision required to fly and launch attacks and work in a team all at the same time just fills me with a sense of – how do they do all that? How do they learn to do all this?
I read a book Chicken Soup for the Indian Armed Forces Soul and would just lap up any of the real life stories with a pilot. I also read Panther Red One: The Memoirs of a Fighter Pilot by Air Marshal S. Raghavendran. This book gave me an entirely different perspective on fighter pilots. They seemed far more human though I must say this is probably because of the simplicity and straightforward way in which Air Marshal S. Raghavendran has put forth his experiences. As I read how he became a fighter pilot, it almost seemed effortless though I feel it is because of his constant unwavering commitment towards becoming and being a fighter pilot.
I feel I can go on reading more and more about Fighter Pilots and what they do, what their lives are like, how they think and how they make decisions.
In the article below, we see how fighter pilots “acquire data, turn data into insight, and then act on that insight.”
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/decision-making-top-gun-style/
If we navigate in our lives based on this principle – get all possible information, get insights, and act according to our insights, I feel we lead our lives in a more creative way true to our selves instead of leaving our lives on an auto-pilot.
