Patrick Houlahan

TOPGUN Lessons Learned

I remember seeing the original TOPGUN movie as a kid and thinking, “that’s awesome and really cool.” However, it wasn’t until I had earned my very own Naval Aviator Wings that I began to understand what it really meant to be a “TOPGUN” graduate.

Graduating from TOPGUN wasn’t just a rite of passage and it wasn’t just a check mark along a career path. It was a validation of hours upon countless hours of hard work, introspective reflection, and attention to detail that is beyond reproach. It also came with an almost mythical charge to hold yourself and all those around you to the highest of standards.

In addition to the tactical instruction, I also learned what it meant to wear the TOPGUN patch and to be a TOPGUN grad. The lessons I learned at TOPGUN and the ways of conducting oneself as a TOPGUN grad hold true in Naval Aviation as well as in the business world. They are effective and timeless.

In my presentation “TOPGUN Lessons Learned,” I discuss the top six lessons (Purpose, Dedication, Humility and Honesty, Tough Love, Teamwork, Debrief) I learned from TOPGUN and how they can be used in business to develop and lead high performing teams. They are not hard to understand. However, they do take dedication. Let me share these lessons with your clients and their teams and show them how to become the TOP 1% in their marketplace.

Patrick’s interactive presentation will help your team members:

• Understand six key lessons taken directly from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, “TOPGUN.”
• Understand how to apply these principles to create engaged, inclusive, high-performing teams.
• Understand how these lessons are a game changer in any organization and are key to building and having a high performing team.

Dominate Change Management: How to Win and Lead in a Dynamic Environment:

If there is one constant in any organization, it’s that something is going to change; a change in products, processes, competitors, direction, leaders, employees, technology, etc.. Whatever you and your organization are doing today is more than likely not what you will be doing in the future. Change can be hard. Change can be disruptive. But can also create opportunities if you tackle it correctly.

In “Dominate Change Management: How to Win and Lead in a Dynamic Environment,” Patrick shares the techniques, procedures, and nuances that Fighter Pilot’s use to remain agile and win in a complex, dynamic, and ever-changing environment. These are the same tools that Patrick has used to execute at a high level in the business world and has trained countless organizations and individuals to use.

Patrick’s interactive presentation will teach your team members how to:

• Plan for, cope with, and lead through organizational changes.
• Create a safe, honest, and open environment and build a rapid feedback loop to deal with unforeseen circumstances.
• Align team members around a common goal, ensure that each member understands their tasking, and that they are mutually supportive across departments.

Simplifying Leadership: Keys to Leading a Successful Team (especially in a crisis:)

Leadership happens at all levels or at least we expect that it should. But where do our rising leaders learn to be Inspired, Compassionate, Mission-Driven Leaders? What are the key principles they should follow?

In “Simplifying Leadership: Keys to Leading a Successful Team,” Patrick delivers the key leadership principles necessary to take your leadership and your team’s performance to the next level. The keys to leading successful teams are not hard to understand, but they do take commitment. Patrick shares what he has learned and experienced over the past 30 years, leading top executives and millennials alike.

Patrick’s interactive presentation will help your team members:

• Understand and APPLY the key leadership principles required to inspire and build mission-driven teams.
• Understand how the key leadership principles are of paramount importance to employee morale and productivity.
• Understand how the key leadership principles foster a team-first mentality and aid in retaining their most valued employees.

Communication is Key: The Art of the Debrief and Building a Debriefing Culture:

The mission is complete, the sale is won or lost, and the quarter is over. What comes next? Is it time to go after the next client or time to get started on the next quarter? No, it is time to have a debrief. Take this time to review what your team did right, what they did wrong, what they can improve, and what they can learn. As a military and business professional, nothing is finished until the debrief is completed.

In “Communication is Key: The Art of the Debrief,” your teams will learn the steps and the art form of leading and conducting an effective debrief. Many companies review their productivity without ever getting to the heart of the matter. Unfortunately, they only review the surface-level causes and do not get to the root of the issue. They miss the opportunity to build best practices that can have an exponential impact on their business going forward.

Patrick’s interactive presentation will teach your team members:

• The steps and the art form of leading and conducting an effective debrief.
• How to create an open, honest, and inclusive environment where a culture of debriefing can flourish.
• How debriefing can drive agility and improved performance throughout their organization.

Fast and Effective Planning: Link Tactical Actions to Strategic Direction:

A senior executive once said, “We agree all the time at the executive level, but then things break down below us.” Has this happened in your organization? Believe me, this situation can
happen anywhere. But why does it happen?

In “Fast and Effective Planning: Link Tactical Actions to Strategic Direction,” your teams will learn how to plan and ensure a line of sight from the frontline employees to the strategic direction of the organization. Unfortunately, many companies do not build effective actionable plans throughout their organization, which allows their strategic direction to become diluted. Planning takes effort, but as Yogi Berra reminds us, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

Patrick’s interactive presentation will teach your team members:

• The importance of always understanding the “why” and reinforcing the strategic direction when building a plan.
• How to build consensus and alignment behind the President’s/CEO’s strategic direction and work effectively across boundaries.
• The critical steps to build effective actionable plans and how to link tactical actions to the strategic direction.
• How to plan and execute during a crisis.

Resiliency: How to Build and Lead a Resilient Team:

Life is hard. Pandemics, Politics, Business setbacks, and Personal setbacks can drag down even the most dedicated and successful person and team. Charles Swindoll is credited with saying, “…life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.” This is a perfect outlook for what we are dealing with today and what all of us have experienced at some point in our lifetime. How do we bounce back and lead our teams? How do we take a seemingly terrible experience and dig ourselves out? How do we ensure the “bads” do not define our lives and careers?

In “Resiliency: How to Build and Lead a Resilient Team,” Patrick shares professional and personal stories of resiliency that has led to his success. From the challenge that almost kept him from becoming a fighter pilot, the obstacle that nearly doomed his Top Gun dream, to being “let-go” in the business world, Patrick has always found a way to rise above the situation and persevere.

Patrick’s interactive presentation will teach your team members:

• How to lead during challenging times and build resilient teams.
• How to personally persevere and the one key step to keep moving forward and turn failures into successes.
• The processes and tools individuals and teams can use to ensure that the lows are never too low.