Kevin Sweeney

Imagine flying an aircraft seated at the controls of the plane with everything working just fine, no weather problems, no one trying to shoot you out of the sky, everything is going according to plan. When suddenly the plane flips out and starts spinning out of control. You wrestle with the controls and finally get back to even keel and see that your controls are telling you that two of your four engines are on fire! You start running thru your checklist to deal with a fire when you find out that actually, the two engines you thought were on fire are actually just gone. Completely torn away from the plane and you are struggling to keep the craft level and safe for your crew.
This was not an imaginary scenario for Lt Col Kevin J. Sweeney, USAF ANG (Ret.). In his leadership book, Pressure Cooker Confidence, he relates how this story happened to him in real life when he and his aircrew had taken off to fly a refueling mission during Desert Storm and how the crew had to come together as a team to bring their aircraft back in and live to tell about it. He parlays this experience into a springboard to discuss leadership and how the leadership principles he believes in came together at that moment to allow him to remain in command of the situation and lead his team to a successful end of their mission.
I would sum up the lessons that Lt Col Sweeney believed are key to becoming a good leader as making sure that you prepare yourself well for what it is you want to do, be willing to put in the time it takes to be prepared, make sure you have prepared enough, overcome/channel your fears, visualize and believe in your success, and take time to enjoy life and reward yourself when you do well. If Lt Col Sweeney had to sum up in one proverb what he believes about leadership it would probably be the proverb his mom repeatedly told him as a child: “Pay the price and you will be rewarded.”


Ultimately I feel there are better books on the subject out there though this may be the only one by a KC-135 pilot.… (plus d'informations)