Blog

Take a look at our insights into the latest trends of leadership and development programs.

Why Team Building Events Are Essential for Business Success

A well-planned team building event can improve collaboration, morale, and performance. Learn how it drives long-term business success and team alignment.

Flawless Execution Prevents Cognitive Decline

How FLEX Helps Leaders Combat the Cognitive Decline Epidemic

Discover how the FLEX method helps leaders combat cognitive decline, sharpen decision-making, and stay ahead with powerful cognitive models like Situational Awareness and OODA Loop.

The Homer Simpson Effect on Critical Thinking

Leadership Development

You’re not facing a shortage of talent. You’re facing an environment where distractions, fast information, and cognitive overload are quietly eroding your team’s ability to think critically.

Think Fast, Lead Faster: Effective Leadership in a World of Declining IQ

Keynote

Effective leadership has never been more important than now. Society, on average, has a declining IQ. Learn how Flawless Leadership helps you stay ahead in a dulling world.

Think Like the Enemy: How Red Teaming Exposes Weaknesses Before Reality Does

Keynote

Red Teaming exposes weaknesses in your strategy before they become threats. Learn how this approach helps teams stay ahead by testing and refining plans.

Building High Performing Teams: Psychological Strategies from Keynote Leaders

Keynote

Discover new methods for building high performing teams. Empower your workforce with proven psychology-based strategies.

Front View Of Afterburner Pilot Giving Speech

From Vision to Execution: How Keynote Speakers Align Teams with Company Goals

Keynote

Learn how keynote speakers unify teams with company goals. Explore proven strategies that transform vision into real success.

Why Understanding Team Building Psychology is Essential for Organizational Success

Keynote

Unlock organizational success with Team Building Psychology insights. Enhance collaboration by understanding core motivations and behaviors.

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10 Ways Keynote Events for Team-Building Transform Corporate Culture

Keynote

Experience how keynote events for team-building ignite collaboration. Discover impactful strategies that reshape corporate culture.

Analyzing Your ROI: Measuring Keynote Impact on Team Performance

Keynote

Discover how to measure keynote impact on team performance. Gain insights that boost ROI and fuel organizational success.

Why Tailored Corporate Team Building Keynotes Deliver Better Results

Keynote

Check out how tailored corporate team building keynotes drive deeper engagement. See how personalized strategies produce meaningful, long-lasting results.

Why Leadership Development Training Sucks — and the Data to Prove It

Leadership Development

Most leadership development training programs fail—costing businesses billions without delivering real results. Discover why traditional leadership development doesn’t work and how to implement a high-impact, action-driven approach that drives measurable success.

Side View Of Fighter Pilot Writing On Poster On Wall

Steps to Simplify Your Business Strategy for Better Execution

Keynote

Simplify your business strategy for better execution. Learn actionable steps to streamline plans, align teams, and achieve organizational success.

2 men writing in notebooks during symposium

3 Simple Ways to Eliminate Task Saturation

Leadership Development

Discover simple ways to eliminate task saturation and reclaim productivity today. Learn efficient strategies to lighten workloads and energize teams.

How Shared Goals Foster an Inclusive Company Culture

Keynote

Build an inclusive company culture with shared goals. Discover the benefits of inclusivity and actionable strategies to foster collaboration and success.

Front View Of Fighter Pilot Doing Presentation

Silos to Synergy: 5 Strategies to Create a Collaborative Company Culture

Keynote

Transform your workplace with strategies for a collaborative company culture. Learn how to break silos and create synergy for lasting success.

Front View Of Male Fighter Pillot Giving Presentation In Front Of Crowd

How Organizational Silos in Business and Miscommunication Hinder Success

Keynote

Overcome organizational silos in business with proven strategies to improve communication, boost innovation, and create a thriving workplace.

Front View Of Man In Lanyard And Business Casual Facilitating Event

Harnessing the Power of the Subconscious for Leadership Mastery

Goal Execution, Leadership

Discover how the subconscious leadership mind can boost decision-making, productivity, and creativity. Learn actionable techniques like visualization, affirmations, and habit stacking to enhance focus, emotional intelligence, and leadership performance with Afterburner’s proven frameworks.

How a Keynote Speaker From Afterburner Can Help You Start the New Year Off Right

Keynote

Start the new year off right by transforming workplace frustrations into opportunities for growth with an Afterburner keynote speaker.

Christian Boo Boucousis speaking on stage

How to Pick the Right Guest Speaker for Your Event

Business Culture, Goal Execution

Learn how to pick the perfect keynote speaker for your next event! Discover tips on aligning with culture, engaging audiences, and driving results.

How To Successfully Plan A Company Team-Building Event

Keynote

Learn essential tips for planning a successful team-building event that boosts morale, enhances collaboration, and strengthens team bonds.

Clear Signs It’s Time to Host a Corporate Team-Building Event for Your Employees

Keynote

Discover the signs that a corporate team-building event is needed, from low morale and poor communication to high turnover and a lack of collaboration.

Employee Burnout and High Turnover: The Unseen Impact of Poor Leadership Development

Keynote

Poor leadership development weakens team morale, lowers productivity, and hinders organizational growth, causing lasting negative business impacts.

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Profit Loss from the Top: How Poor Leadership Impacts the Bottomline

Keynote

Poor leadership affects more than morale, it hurts your bottom line. Discover how developing strong leaders can drive growth and prevent profit loss.

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Sabotaging Growth: 7 Ways Weak Leadership is the Ultimate Business Risk

Keynote

Weak leadership hinders growth, innovation, and morale. Discover how strong leadership empowers organizations to experience long-term success.

What Makes A Great Leader?

Leadership, Motivation

Explore essential leadership qualities that elevate teams and drive success. Learn how leaders inspire growth, boost morale, and achieve business goals.

Front View Of Afterburner Team Building Exercise

5 Reasons Why Leadership Events Are Essential for Employee Engagement

Keynote

Boost employee engagement through leadership events. Inspire morale, build skills, and strengthen retention with keynote speakers and workshops.

The Top 5 Attributes of a High-Impact Leader

Team Building

High-impact leaders developed through Afterburner’s training can transform organizations and drive excellence in today’s environment.

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Afterburner Black

Keynote

Discover how Afterburner BLACK redefines leadership development with strategic simplicity, agility, and collaboration for modern businesses.

Employees collaborating together in a conference room

Mission Critical: Why Every Team Needs Debriefing

Debrief, Leadership

Discover the important of debriefing and how your team can continuously grow using these best practices.

Four Key Items to Include in Your Next Corporate Event

Business Culture, Strategic Planning

Increase enthusiasm and produce better results with these four key items for your next corporate event.

Decoding the Three Crucial Leadership Situations

Decoding the 3 Crucial Leadership Situations

Leadership, Leadership Development

In this leadership symposium, our focus is on Flawless Leadership, a concept vital for navigating the complexities of leadership in the contemporary world.

Why You Won’t Achieve Your New Year’s Resolution and How You CAN!

Motivation

Did you know most people fail in their New Year's Resolution? Find out how you can succeed with these helpful tips!

Reimagining Your Sales Kickoff: Infusing Innovation and Connection

Business Culture, Motivation

Staying engaged in a very average sales kickoff can be a major struggle. Explore our tips for increasing enthusiasm.

Image of team working on tablets together

Closing the Execution Gap: Transforming Meetings and Strategies

Debrief, Goal Execution, Leadership

Closing the execution gap is key for growing your business. Check out these helpful tips for improving your processes.

The Three Biggest Obstacles to Building Trust as a Leader Today

Leadership Development

Building trust as a leader in today’s rapidly-changing business world is hard. Learn the biggest challenges leaders face, & how to overcome.

Man giving presentation to team in a conference room

4 Questions You Have to Ask When Creating a Strategy

Leadership Development

In business, strategy is what makes a difference. But most people don’t actually understand strategy. Ask yourself these 4 questions before creating a strategy.

Chess pieces set up correctly on chess board

8 Reasons Why You Need Great Strategy and Execution

Strategy

The top 8 reasons your current strategy development and execution are keeping you from long-term growth in the face of a global pandemic.

4 Ways to Boost Your Team’s Morale and Hit Your Revenue Targets

Team Building

Four ways to your processes and team culture that you can make to boost morale and turn yesterday’s revenue miss into tomorrow’s direct hit.

Fueling Business Agility: The Strategic Pivot

Goal Execution, Strategy, Team Building

Discover the strategic pivot and its crucial role in business adaptability. Empower your team with Afterburner's expertise for agile business.

Want to make better business predictions? Flawless Execution is the answer.

Business Culture

The art of superforecasting accurately can be a huge boon to your organization. Flawless execution gives you the tools you need to do it right.

Combat Distractions and Boost Your Revenue – Fighter Pilot-Style

Team Building

Afterburner specializes in helping teams combat distractions, implement cross-checks into their workflow, and hit revenue targets.

Three fighter jets flying in the dusk sky

How to Build Accountability in the Workplace – and Why It Matters

Business Culture

Learn why accountability in the workplace is key for businesses of all types, and how to make your team more accountable.

3 Steps New Leaders Must Include in Their Strategic Planning Process

Team Building

Times of turbulence are not ideal for new leadership, as it symbolizes more change. Here are 3 steps new leaders must take for success.

4 Tips for Improving Teamwork in the Workplace

Team Building

Successful businesses are founded on basis of teamwork. Focus on improving teamwork in the workplace with these 4 simple tips.

How the Fighter Pilot Mindset Can Elevate Your Corporate Event

Strategic Planning

Afterburner gets your team in a room with real Fighter Pilots so you can learn how to incorporate their mindset into your next corporate event.

Team leader at office providing insight to her team

Unlocking the Power of Purposeful Action in Work and Life

Business Culture

Explore our your team can unlock the power of purpose action in the work and personal lives.

Empowering Decisions Through Debrief Culture

Business Culture, Debrief, Leadership

Unlock better decisions with Debrief Culture. Explore fear's impact, continuous improvement, and breaking loops for enhanced decision-making.

Afterburner providing leadership training on stage

Unleash the Leader Within: The Top Gun Experience for Trust Building

Debrief, Leadership, Motivation

Find out how working with Afterburner helps improve trust throughout your organization.

Afterburner helping clients during session

How Debriefing Can Skyrocket Your Productivity by Over 400%

Debrief, Leadership, Motivation

Learn how the Debriefing Method, inspired by Fighter Pilots, can skyrocket productivity by 400%. Transform your business today!

Employee working on a project using a tablet

Navigating the Era of Busyness: Achieving High Performance

Leadership, Motivation

Our ability to think critically and effectively is under siege in this age of information overload, where a myriad of apps govern our daily lives, and each one is susceptible to change.

Mastering Decision-Making in a World of Chaos: Lessons from Harvard Business Review Magazine

Business Culture, Leadership, Motivation

Explore how the Harvard Business Review helps in mastering decision making in a challenging world.

The GID Mindset: Maximizing Time for Success

Leadership, Motivation

Explore the meaning of the GID mindset and how it can help you and your team achieve their goals.

Embracing Failure: Turning Setbacks into Soaring Success

Leadership, Motivation

Discover the transformative power of embracing failure through structured debriefing. Learn how adopting this practice can lead to continuous improvement, growth, and remarkable success.

Afterburner team inspiring employees on stage

Soaring to Success with The Afterburner Top Gun Experience

Leadership, Motivation

Unlock your team's true potential with Afterburner's exceptional team-building techniques. Discover four essential techniques derived from elite military teams.

The Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Embracing Disruption

Leadership, Motivation

Explore how Afterburner's Fighter Pilot Guide is the key to embracing disruption in a chaotic world.

Fighter pilot outside of plan assessing the terrain

Unlocking the Power of Execution: Three Levels to Success

Leadership, Motivation

Explore the three levels of success that allow your team to unlock the power of execution.

Exploring the Depths of Deep Performance

Motivation

Find out the importance of deep performance and how your team can leverage these strategies for better outcomes.

Afterburner team providing valuable insight to a client

Four Simple Steps to Execute Your Business Strategy Like a Fighter Pilot

Motivation

Afterburner offers four simple steps that allow your team to execute a business strategy like a fighter pilot.

Winning Small Every Day: The Secret to Achieving Success

Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation

Success is a fundamental aspect of our lives. From the moment we start dreaming about our future goals, success becomes the benchmark of our accomplishments.

Using Brain Chemistry For Building High-Performance Teams

Team Building

Flawless Execution is a methodology born from the application of real-world lessons. "The Leading Brain" provides examples using it in building high-performance teams.

What If Your Teams Were Truly High Performing?

Team Building

A one-day, high energy Afterburner experience is the fastest route to building excitement and inspiring your team to perform at their best.

Afterburner staff giving presentation to office employees

5 Leadership Skills to Get Your Revenue Engine Roaring in Q4

Leadership, Leadership Development

Five skills leaders need to apply as the year comes to a close, so you can lead your team to success.

How to Build a Team Culture That Brings Out Your Best

Business Culture, Motivation, Strategic Planning

Why building a solid team culture matters now more than ever, how to build a team culture that powers performance. Get six expert tips.

Employees huddled around table and working together

How to Build Confidence and Clarity During the End-of-Year Revenue Crunch

Strategic Planning

Learn how teams can build confidence and clarity they need to boost motivation and execute during the end-of-year revenue crunch.

Employees listening to in-office presentation

Your Action Plan for Closing Critical End-of-Year Opportunities

Goal Execution

Learn how you can align your team within the right culture, mindset, and execution rhythm and end the year on a revenue high note.

The Best End-of-Quarter Use of Technology in Business

Business Culture, Goal Execution, Strategic Planning

Read about some tips for the best use of technology in business during the last month of the quarter. Get more resources.

A Word from Murph: Right Now, Leadership in Business Means Going Back to Basics

Inspiration, Leadership, Leadership Development

Afterburner’s founder shares a winning back-to-basics approach to leadership in business, and why it’s key to navigating economic turbulence.

Top Three Threats to Employee Morale in Today’s Economy

Business Culture, Leadership, Motivation, Team Building

Here’s how to recognize threats to Employee Morale in Today’s Economy and neutralize them before they impact your team’s revenue performance.

How to Unlock the Power of a Common Mental Model

Business Culture

Learn how Afterburner can help your team overcome growing pains and take your growth to new heights by developing a common mental model.

Build a Powerful Employee Retention Strategy in 3 Steps

Team Building

Learn how an Afterburner event can build the team-wide excitement and strategic alignment you need to strengthen employee retention.

Want a Collaborative Team? Watch Out for Communication Silos

Team Building

Helping teams build a strong culture of collaboration and communication, through a framework informed by the ideals of elite military teams.

Stage Close Up Fuzz And Afterburner Team

Fighter Pilot Ideals in Business Settings: The Origin of Afterburner

Leadership, Team Building

Afterburner trains teams across the business world in fighter pilot ideals. Empowering them to execute at an elite level.

Afterburner Announces Collaboration Featuring the Film Top Gun: Maverick

Leadership, Motivation

Afterburner Inc is collaborating with Paramount Pictures, CMX Cinemas, and Silverspot Cinema to host events in movie theaters across the country.

Combat the Challenges of Leading Remote Teams

Business Culture

Afterburner CEO Joel “Thor” Neeb and members of the Afterburner team share tips to help you combat the unique challenges of working in virtual environments.

Reimagine Your Strategic Alliances in 2020

Business Culture, Debrief, Goal Execution, Strategy

W will share the universal principles that companies are employing as they rapidly transform to capture emerging market opportunities.

5 Ways Teams are Aligning for Success in a Virtual Environment

Business Culture, Strategic Planning, Strategy

Explore how leaders are aligning their teams around shifting strategies to achieve post-pandemic success.

The Secrets to Making the Right Strategic Shifts During the COVID Crisis

Business Culture, Strategy

Afterburner CEO Joel “Thor” Neeb, shares insights from assessments with dozens of companies and results that helped them make the right strategic shifts.

Why Preparing for the Unexpected is Essential

Goal Execution

In business and life, nothing ever goes exactly as planned, but that's why planning is essential. We use the following 6 steps do so.

7 Ways Teams are Winning RIGHT NOW in the COVID-19 Disruption

Business Culture

In this webinar, we share the universal principles that companies are employing to capture emerging market opportunities.

Combat Chaos and Win with the Fighter Pilot Debrief

Debrief

To combat chaos, it's critical to assess your environment and capture lessons learned with a Fighter Pilot Debrief to lead effectively.

Colleagues smiling and giving each other high fives

7 Leadership Tips to Motivate Your Remote Employees

Leadership Development

Disengaged workers cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars per year. But, it can be tough to motivate your employees when you're leading remotely.

COVID-19 is Not a Snow Day

Leadership

The coronavirus pandemic is impacting all aspects of life, but lessons from elite military teams can help you stay focused during this period of uncertainty.

3 Ways to Improve Your Situational Awareness

Leadership Development

Situational Awareness plays a vital role when executing in complex business environments. Here are 3 tips to improve your awareness.

Afterburn team explaining the Flawless Execution model

How to Create a High-Performing Remote Team

Team Building

It’s becoming more common and necessary for employees to work remotely, and your team must have foundations, communication, and processes to enable this.

Dealing With Task Saturation With Task Shedding and Task Sharing

Business Culture, Task Saturation

How do you make sure you have the right team, and prevent task saturation? One answer lies in the practice of Task Shedding and Task Sharing.

Team sitting and listening intently to presentation

Identifying your Task Saturation Coping Mechanisms

Leadership Development, Task Saturation

The biggest obstacle to Flawless Execution, no matter how detailed your plan or briefing, is task saturation, and it's a silent killer to your productivity.

Afterburner team standing in front of Rams wall image

Lessons from the NFL on an Agile Workforce

Business Culture

The key to adapting to change is to create an agile workforce, something we can learn from the NFL.

Successful Teams Set the Tone

Team Building

Setting the tone isn't just for missions executed from a cockpit - it's for missions executed anywhere, and it's key for building a successful team.

Team strategizing together at the office

Why Your Annual Strategic Plan Will Fail

Goal Execution

It's annual strategic planning season, but there are lots of ways that it can go wrong. Watch these common mistakes so you can execute a successful strategic plan.

Why is Tone so Important When it Comes to Communication in Business?

Leadership Development

Communication is vital in the workplace. What many don’t realize is that your tone can affect communication in business both positively and negatively.

Afterburner during the Flawless Execution presentation

The Benefits of Red Teaming

Goal Execution

Every mission is faced with its own unique sets of challenges. Never assume that you’ve created the ‘perfect plan’ until you’ve done some red teaming.

12 Things to Consider When Setting Business Goals

Goal Execution

Take into consideration these 12 things when aligning your business goals with your High Definition Destination.

Man holds up three fingers during presentation

4 Steps in Building an Effective Business Strategy

Goal Execution

Whether you’re outlining plans for future growth or determining a product roadmap, you’ll need a plan to get you across the finish line.

Afterburner giving a team meeting to a company

Inspiring Success through Continuous Improvement

Team Building

Continuous improvement in the workplace is a two-way street, explore how this can help grow your business and team.

Afterburner discussing objectives during presentation

4 Common Root Causes of Business Problems

Goal Execution

Explore the four common categories that are usually responsible for those problems that we help identify through root cause analysis.

Afterburner team giving a presentation in outdoor tent

Understanding Your Business Threats

Goal Execution

When developing strategic plans, it’s important for you to be able to recognize and understand these two types of business threats.

Afterburner clients engaged in team activity

Identifying Your Available Resources

Goal Execution

Knowing and identifying all of your resources is what's going to allow your business to negate any threats and accomplish your goals.

Harnessing the Power of the Debrief

Debrief, Goal Execution, Leadership

The Fighter Pilot Debrief helps you hold on to your best practices and remain agile. Learn how to implement debriefing here.

Team strategizing using note cards on table

Set Your Team up to Win this Year

Goal Execution

Now that you’ve spent countless hours painting the Future Picture it’s time to set your team up to win.

Team members paying attention during a strategy session

Is Ongoing Training Included in your 2019 Strategy?

Business Culture

The point of ongoing training is to not only sharpen the employee skills but to also put yourself in a position to jump ahead of the pack.

Employees participating in a debriefing session

Connecting Strategy to Action With The Brief

Goal Execution

Connecting strategy to action is vital to your success and we ensure that connection with The Brie.

Team leaders brainstorming with employees

5 Reasons why Leadership Development is for Everyone

Leadership Development

As a leader in your company, encouraging leadership development all around is imperative to the growth of your business.

Digital Transformation: Using Emerging Technology as a Strategic Resource

Business Culture

The key to using technology as a strategic resource is to build momentum. Explore why a digital transformation should be a complete reboot.

Afterburner team helping client during workshop

7 Characteristics Your Team Needs to Be High-Performing

Team Building

Explore the seven characteristics your team needs to be high performing.

4 Ways to Build Trust Within Your Team

Team Building

Trust is key in all facets of your life, both personal and business related. Check out our guide on how to build trust within your team.

Building a High-Performance Team: Professional Sports and Your Business

Team Building

Explore how you can learn from professional sports about building a high-performing team.

Why Simplicity is the Key to Your Business Strategy

Business Culture

Simplicity is key when it comes to building your business strategy. We’ve put together some quick tips for you as you implement your business strategy.

Debriefing Check-in: How’s your team doing?

Business Culture

Debriefing can transform the way your team approaches issues and how your team members work together.

The Best Team Wins

Team Building

Check out these helpful tips and a review about the book The Best Team Wins.

Aligning Your Goals with the Team’s Corporate Mission

Business Culture

In this webinar, we will talk about how to align your goals without losing sight of the HDD or your personal buy-in during the execution phase.

Group of employees working around a desk

How Our Team Building Training Model Differs From Others

Team Building

A truly unique professional team building course that can transforms your staff. How elite military training techniques can be applied to corporate environments

Talent is THE Competitive Advantage in the Modern Economy

Leadership Development

Explore how building talented teams provides the greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy.

WHAT IF? Creating a Contingency Strategy

Goal Execution

In this webinar, we will discuss the keys to creating a contingency strategy plan.|In this webinar, we will discuss the keys to creating a contingency strategy plan.

Take Your Team Building Training to the Next Level

Team Building

In this webinar, we will discuss strategies and facilitation techniques that give you the most value from your team dynamic.

LOCKED Article Series #5: The Leadership Checklist – Communication

Leadership Development

Afterburner offers seminars on strengthening communication and leadership strategies. If you're ready for our keynote, contact us today.

Leadership in the Age of Social Networks

Leadership Development

Explore the keys of providing strong leadership in the age of social networks.

How to Unlock the Power of Diverse Teams

Business Culture

In this webinar, Joel “Thor” Neeb shares insights on building a diverse team and leads to inclusion and success.

LOCKED Series #4: The Execution Leadership Checklist – Knowledge

Leadership Development

Execution leadership means taking action and action requires knowledge. Afterburner breaks down the steps necessary to take the right actions.

How Banks Can Achieve Flawless Execution Like The Military

Business Culture

Flawless Execution is not just a goal or a motto. It’s a methodology that was born and bred in the high stakes world of combat aviation.

LOCKED Series #3: The Leadership Development Checklist – Experience

Leadership Development

Expertise is an important part of leadership development, and for a team: a team needs some experience in order to carry out a successful mission.

Cracking the Culture Code with Flawless Execution

Business Culture

Nurturing a strong, high-performing culture is the most difficult challenge a leader faces. Learn how to crack the culture code with flawless execution.

FLEX YOUR MUSCLES: How Flawless Execution Helps You Achieve Your Individual Goals

Goal Execution

In this webinar, Joel "Thor" Neeb shares the top challenges our sales team clients face and gives you actionable next steps.

LOCKED Series #2: The Leadership Development Checklist – Discipline

Leadership Development

What actions can you take to build a high-performance team? The second part of our leadership development checklist deals with the idea of discipline.

Afterburner team at the NASCAR Hall of Fame

From The Frontline To The Finish Line: What I Learned From One Performance Team

Business Culture

What makes a team perform well? Share some lessons learned from the Richard Childress Racing campus in North Carolina, and those teams perform together.

Employee writing daily tasks in notebook

LOCKED Series #1: The Leadership Development Checklist

Leadership Development

What do leaders of high performing teams do? Our leadership development checklist can help you gain the skills you need to lead your high-performance team.

Motivation and Flawless Execution

Motivation

Motivation comes from establishing a process and then executing it. Our Flawless Execution model helps create motivation and gets amazing results.

Fighter jets participating in an air show

3 Tactics to Improve Your Sales Performance

Goal Execution

In this webinar, Joel "Thor" Neeb shares the top 3 challenges our sales team clients face and gives you actionable next steps to improve sales performance.

Planning Fundamentals: The “Why” of the Planning Process

Leadership, Leadership Development

Explore the fundamentals of business planning and thy 'why' behind these important processes.

Image of group of fighter jets flying above mountains

Debrief Like a Pilot: Secrets for Business

Debrief, Leadership, Team Building

If Fighter Pilots devote time to learn from their actions, how can your business afford not to do the same? Learn to debrief like a pilot.

Organizational Gravity: 3 Steps To Defying The Powerful Force Of Obsolescence

Business Culture, Leadership

Balancing the benefits of organizational gravity comes down to maintaining clarity of purpose and approaching every task as an opportunity to plan well.

Instruction Manual for Decision-Making & Flawless Execution In the Digital Age

Leadership Development

Principles by Ray Dalio is a mashup of autobiography and rules for living and working, including how to make decisions to flawlessly execute today.

6 Combat-Proven Keys to Driving Successful Change Management

Business Culture

If you’re like most teams, your individual contributors are performing great – but is this driving successful change management in your organization?

Lessons Learned and Air Force One: The Secret Weapon In Continuous Improvement for Your Company

Business Culture

Lessons learned are experiences distilled from a project that should be taken into account in future projects to fuel improvement efforts

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World With Flawless Execution – Book Review

Leadership Development

"Originals" is a very compelling read that underscores the principles of the Flawless Execution method that we seek to teach at Afterburner.|

Operation Debrief: The Secret Weapon of High Performing Teams

Business Culture, Debrief, Leadership

Unlock your team's potential with The ORCA Debriefing Process, the secret to high-performing operations teams.

How to Achieve Organizational Alignment on Your Team

Business Culture

Organizational Alignment takes thought, attention, and communication. Learn to orient your team properly at the outset and have truth mindset.

Improve Your Business Agility with Flawless Execution

Business Culture

Many individuals and organizations struggle with business agility, but you don’t have to be one of them! Learn to be profitable in a turbulent environment.

WHITE SPACE: Two Good Reads for Leadership Development in an Age of Distraction

Leadership Development

Leadership development means being disciplined and establishing a routine to disconnect and think.

The Value of Military Leadership Development & Experience In Turbulent Business Environments

Leadership Development

Military leadership development and experience is a key component to driving success, especially in turbulent business environments.

Flawlessly Improve Your Sales Execution Strategy

Business Culture

When you’re battling constant change, simplicity always beats complexity.

What Can We Learn About Business Execution From Emergency Action Crews?

Motivation

The process of the Flawless Execution model were built on the success of small teams responding to immediate need.

Expressing Your Core Competencies to Improve Execution Strategy

Goal Execution

Defining your core competencies as a business-knowing what you're really good at-can really help your execution strategy and to capitalize on your strengths.

How to Connect Strategy and Execution to Achieve Mission Success

Leadership Development

If you cannot effectively connect strategy and execution, all that time spent in planning sessions can go to waste, losing the inspired alignment you built.

Side Effects of Flawless Execution

Motivation

We know that in pursuing Flawless Execution our teams and organizations change. You won’t be able to stop your team from becoming more agile & developing leaders.

Improving Team Performance With Checklists and Mutual Support

Team Building

There are many ways you can boost your team performance: a few of our favorite tools include making use of checklists, and relying on mutual support.

Elevate Executive Coaching with Strategic Debriefing

Debrief, Leadership Development

High-Impact Leadership and organizational success begins with strategic debriefing. Here's how the Fighter Pilots do it.

Learning to Learn: Debriefing for Continuous Improvement

Business Culture, Debrief, Goal Execution

Are you stuck in the cycle of repeating the same mistakes? Debriefing can help you break the cycle and achieve continuous improvement.|

Team leader in front of employees giving presentation

Executive Consulting For Corporate Leadership Development Programs

Leadership Development

In today's management environment, new tools for corporate leadership development programs have emerged, including the popular .executive consulting.

Team Building Training Exercises: Why Rhythm Matters

Team Building

Team building training in the business world bears many comparisons to a metronome in the musical world because of the crucial importance of rhythm.

Team in conference room listening to presentation

Flawless Execution Tools for HR Professionals

Leadership Development

The need for strong and effective leaders is one thing that every organization has in common.

A Foundation for Modern Business Strategy

Business Culture

The business section of your local bookstore is filled with business strategy titles, but we wanted to give some our favorite recommendations to guide you.

Bridging the Continuous Improvement Gap

Business Culture

Having trouble bridging the continuous improvement gap? Check out these helpful tips.

Professional Team Building & the Final Step to Agility

Team Building

Why is it a critical professional team building exercise to look back at the successes and breakdowns of every one of your plans? To make the next one better.

The Steps to Making Your Team a Successful Team

Team Building

For the past twenty years we've delivered experiential learning programs to every kind of organization you can imagine, including building successful teams.

Building an Agile Team With Team Diversity: Do You Have a Veteran On Your Team?

Team Building

When leaving the military, it’s hard to know if your skills and training will translate in civilian life. However, you could become an agile team veteran.

Biggest Mistakes New Agile Teams Make

Business Culture

Explore some of the pitfalls that new agile teams may fall into when trying to improve performance, provide insight for avoiding them.

Contingency Strategic Business Plans and Flawless Execution

Goal Execution

There are many uncontrollable threats that occur all throughout your strategic business plan: learn how to deal with surprises and the unexpected.

Image of chess board with various white pieces and one red piece

Red Teaming Wasn’t Inspired by a Zombie Flick: A Red Team Book Review

Business Culture

What is a red team? Red teams are a decision-making improvement tool. Red teaming doesn't make execution plans; they make the plans you execute better.

Military training exercise with helicopter

Leading Successful Teams During a Crisis

Leadership Development

No matter your industry or title, sooner or later, everyone will experience a crisis. Learn the steps successful teams take to work through any crisis.

Hope is not a Strategy when Building High-Performance Teams

Team Building

Building high-performance teams is made possible with training workshops and corporate leadership development programs.

Group of employees working together in a conference room

Use a Red Team to Elevate Your Strategic Business Plan

Business Culture, Leadership

A Red Team is a peer review of strategic or project related plans. This team is asked to review a strategic business plan, and are essential for a business.

[Webinar] Flawless Execution is Agile for Business: Improve Your Agile Team

Business Culture

The business environment is moving faster than ever before requiring Agile teams to embrace change as individuals and as organizations.

How to be a Valuable Red Team Member and Drive Team Performance

Team Building

A great Red Team simulates first contact with your customer’s desires, your organization’s idiosyncrasies, your competition’s will, & drives team performance.

How Having a High Definition Destination Helps Your Strategic Business Planning

Goal Execution, Leadership

Goal-setting is vital to proper strategic business planning, and to being successful. Having a high definition destination will help you get there.

Trust & Flawless Execution: Building High Performance Teams & Organizations

Team Building

Flawless Execution, the model for building high performance teams and organizations we teach and use at Afterburner, is on display in Paul Zak's "Trust Factor.

“Imperfect But Still Impeccable”- When Failure is not an Option in Business Execution

Business Culture

We discuss the importance of mutual support within your team and how it directly affects your business execution and success: contact us to learn more.

Mission Plan: The dos and don’ts of a first-time actor in a major movie

Motivation

To have success as a first-time actor, plan first. Know your mission plan, identify resources & threats, plan your course of action & have a contingency plan.

Two people in hard hats working in a factory

Team Communication Beats Individual Accountability

Team Building

What leads to better, more actionable results? One person taking responsibility? Or the team taking the time to improve team communication with a debrief?

Four employees watching their manager draw a graph

Why I Love Our Stand-Ups: How They Improve Our X-Gaps & Team Accountability

Business Culture

How you can add a Daily Stand-Up to your X-Gap cadence to increase team accountability and improve your execution velocity rate: why we love our stand-ups.

Do You Want Elite Team Performance?

Team Building

How can leaders sustain elite team performance throughout long and difficult missions? Thor shares a few "tips and tricks" to assuring mission success.

Group of employees enjoying working together

Diverse Teams: “Who” Matters

Team Building

Building diverse teams can have a critical impact on your organization's long-term success. This checklist can help you build a diverse team.

Leading Perpetual Change with Flawless Execution

Leadership Development

Check out our latest article about creating perpetual change using flawless execution.

How Organizational Change Management Will Improve Your Business

Business Culture

Simple Lessons Learned on the global business battlefield that will improve your Organizational Change Management and Organizational Change Leadership.

The Overlooked Art of Holding a Brief Meeting

Leadership Development

Have you ever wondered why you can have a good plan but it doesn't execute on time and on target? Make sure you have the skills to hold a brief meeting!

How FLEX Accelerates Organizational Alignment and DevOps Transformation

Leadership Development

In business and technology, organizational alignment is the foundation of DevOps success by providing clarity and purpose.

High-Performing Teams – Lessons Learned from the Field

Keynote

Learn all about new approaches to building high-performance teams. Ignite collaboration and accountability to drive lasting success.

Leadership Skills Training: the Importance of Communicating Leaders’ Intent

Leadership Development

Describes to the reader the importance of communicating leaders intent and empowering decision makers as the most effective leadership skills training.

The Process of Developing Leadership Made Simple

Leadership Development

The Flawless Execution model promotes developing leadership by teaching a results orientation culture that's supportive and seeks different perspectives.

Man in suit giving presentation to his team

Closing the Gap with an Execution Strategy

Goal Execution, Leadership

Afterburner delivers execution strategy by focusing on reducing the gaps in execution or what our Flawless Execution methodology calls X-Gaps.

Checklists Build Teamwork and Improve Execution

Goal Execution

Every leader should be concerned about how well his or her organization executes and how well it adapts strategic alignment to change

How to Create a High-Performing Sales Team

Team Building

Strategic alignment to a common goal is the key to a high-performing sales team.

Improve Your Strategy Execution Process: Start with Why but End with How

Leadership Development

Blaming undermines the trust and candidness that is a requirement in the strategy execution process of any high-performing team.

Four employees working together around a desk

Leading Perpetual Change: Flawless Execution and Change Management

Leadership Development

How the simplicity of Flawless Execution allows organizations to reduce the complexity of change management in an ever-changing world.

The Key to Long-Term Success: Continuous Process Improvement

Business Culture

Explains what causes so many businesses to only succeed short term. Long term success is only achieved through continuous process improvement.

Afterburner clients happy during a group activity

How Afterburner’s Team Building Seminar Can Help Your Organization

Team Building

A relevant team building seminar is part of the solution adapting our ancient instincts for working together as a team to the modern business environment.

Top Team Building Strategies: Disciplined Collaboration

Team Building

Focuses on the importance of team building strategies in order to produce a work environment that is based on communication and collaboration.

Man standing in front of room giving instructions to staff

Boost Team Performance: Medical Errors, Checklists, and Mutual Support

Team Building

How applying core aviation operations concepts, like mutual support, drastically improves team performance. "Not who's right, but what's right."

Force Multipliers for Building High-Performance Teams

Team Building

Flawless Execution teaches the 4-step process to building high-performance teams that will accelerate teamwork, efficiency, and organization.

Successful Teams Use “Mindfulness”

Team Building

Few leaders have even a simple understanding of what mindfulness can mean to them and their team when building successful teams.

How to Avoid Complacency [Part 3]: Establish a Strategy Execution Process

Business Culture

How do we keep complacency from sneaking into a project that runs 6 weeks or 6 months? Develop a strategy execution process, or execution rhythm.

The Thunderbird Way: 5 Principles for Successful Teams

Team Building

Across the years one profession has remained at the top of every prestige or respect poll: military officer. Translate that knowledge into successful teams.

Putting Theory to Work: Finding a Framework for Building High Performance Teams!

Team Building

Here are three simple tips from my military world that will help you in building high performance teams for your organization.

Professional Team Building: Working Best Coming From A Core of Collaboration

Team Building

Have you ever been invited to a collaboration or professional team building training and felt like you weren’t contributing your best ideas?

Afterburner helping client during seminar

Crush Complexity and Stop Group Failures With Effective Leadership Strategies

Leadership Development

To survive and thrive in the next ten years organizations must take a disciplined approach to collaboration, and develop effective leadership strategies.

Improve Team Communication with Military Discipline

Business Culture

When teams and organizations fall short of expectations, team communication is often cited as a root cause. Learn to improve team communication with us.

How a Corporate Leadership Program Can Help You Create a Mission-Oriented Corporate Culture

Business Culture

It is critical to have a corporate leadership program in place to foster a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and trust within the workplace.

Three employees working together on a project

Innovation and “Value Creation” in Scrum is Born out of Failure and Neuroscience

Leadership Development

Creativity and innovation in application development are, in many respects, a conditioned response to a problem or challenge.

Afterburner helping client with their tasks

How Agile Team Culture Mimics the Historical Patterns of the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Business Culture

When the lessons of the past are forgotten, history tends to repeat itself, with predictable results. An agile team culture helps prevent misfortune.

Team wearing green jackets making decisions

Decision Making Under Fire: How’s Your Situational Awareness?

Goal Execution

Have you ever noticed how some people handle stressful decision making with remarkable composure? It's usually effective situational awareness that lets them.

Paperwork falling on top of overworked employee

Why Your Corporate Team Can’t Afford to Skip Debriefs

Business Culture, Debrief, Inspiration

Boost team effectiveness by 38% with structured debriefs. Learn the impact that debriefing can have on your team.

Overcoming Innovation Risk Through Strategic Business Planning

Business Culture, Leadership

Managing and overcoming innovation risk is one of the most overlooked risks in today’s business landscape: good strategic business planning ensures success.

Failure IS an Option: Building High-Performance Teams

Team Building

The secret to building high-performance teams is in empowering your team to fail in small ways so they can learn and succeed in the long run.

Four Steps to Effective Leadership With Our Corporate Leadership Programs

Leadership Development

It takes a lot of training to develop an effective leader. That's why Afterburner offers corporate leadership programs to teach the necessary skills.

Employees huddling around a restaurant table

Flawless Execution: Developing A Culture Around Millennials

Business Culture

The reason the military is so successful when it comes to adapting to the needs of millennials is the same reason we operate so effectively: flawless execution.

Experience Is a Commodity: Getting the Most Out of Organizational Learning

Leadership Development

Your organization is full of experience, but is it full of organizational learning? Find out how to get the most of your team.

Two people jumping out of airplane with parachutes

Having an Agile Team Matters: How Solid Is YOUR Training Platform?

Team Building

Having an agile team matters, and having a solid training platform is the only way to get there. Contact us to learn more about our training program.

From Ideation to Innovation: An Iterative Approach to Evolutionary Innovation for Agile Teams

Goal Execution

Innovation rarely emerges quickly or without concentrated effort. Learn the keys to innovation, and lead your agile team to something great.

Afterburner helping clients during a group activity

Organizational Change Leadership Solved: It’s Just Leadership

Leadership Development

Businesses around the world try to master change management and change leadership—while simultaneously trying to figure out the differences between the two.

Corporate Leadership Development Tips: Abraham Lincoln Says “Get Out of Your Email”

Leadership Development

Abraham Lincoln led by walking around. That seems like a basic corporate leadership development concept easily understood, but much harder to practice.

Man giving presentation in front of room

Why Afterburner is one of Forbes Best Small Companies in America

Business Culture

This month, Forbes Magazine named Afterburner one of the top twenty-five Best Small Companies in America!

Four Ways to Create a Successful Team and Improve Your Training ROI

Team Building

For the past twenty years, our team has delivered experiential learning programs to every kind of organization. We specialize in creating successful teams.

Run for Remembrance

Motivation

Executive Consultant Joe "Gusto" Connolly leads a team in a month-long mission to draw support for transitioning veterans.

The Most Difficult Decision of My Life: Returning to Civilian Life & Flawless Execution

Motivation

Returning to civilian life was a very difficult decision to make, but on the other side of it I found Afterburner, and the Flawless Execution model.

Developing a Strategic Plan: Play Chess, Not Checkers

Business Culture, Leadership

Developing a Strategic Plan is much more critical than the ‘big’ move, which many believe is the key to long-term success, but this is most often not true.

Star Wars Scrum: Rebel Agility vs. Empire Command and Control

Business Culture

In the Star Wars saga, the Empire is clearly a traditional waterfall, top-down, command-and-control based organization.

Desert Storm and Flawless Execution

Goal Execution

Experience our knowledge of Flawless Execution.

Afterburner Turns 20

Business Culture

Jim "Murph" Murphy here, proud founder & CEO of a twenty-year-old company.

Let’s Go Flying!

Motivation

Today, I’m going to illustrate the power of the Afterburner Flawless Execution® model.

Flawless Execution: FLEXible Meetings

Goal Execution

Meetings matter because they are the heartbeat of an organization's culture. Use our Flawless Execution model to get the most out of your meetings.

Four employees working on a graph together

Flawless Execution (FLEX), Your Agile Surfboard for the 3rd Wave of the Internet

Team Building

We are on the cusp of the third wave of the internet. A vast ocean of opportunity lies before us: our flawless execution model will help you take advantage of it.

Why Military Veterans Make Great Scrummasters and Team Building Consultants

Leadership Development

Military Veterans bring sound technical skills from the service, and life skills that make a great ScrumMaster, and make great team building consultants.

Collaborative Leadership: A Process for Success in a Turbulent World

Leadership Development

How to provide collaborative leadership in a disciplined fashion as part of developing leadership within your team.

Water rescue from vantage point of helicopter

Courage to Execute

Business Culture

You can't avoid inaction. When you do act, it's best to go in with a clear, well-defined mission plan to help you achieve success. Contact us to learn more.

Corporate Leadership Development Programs: Coaching v. Debriefing

Leadership Development

The most effective ways to utilize executive coaching and debriefing for your organization is corporate leadership development programs.

Afterburner presentation deck with clients watching

Going The Distance – Interview with Patrick “Lips” Houlahan

Leadership Development

Afterburner Executive Consultant, Patrick "Lips" Houlahan is a U.S. Marine Corps aviator and Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC).|

The Red Team: How to Avoid Complacency and Have a Contingency Strategy

Business Culture

Many organizations fail to plan for Contingencies and never develop a contingency strategy to fall back on when things don't according to the plan.

Corporate Leadership Development Challenges: Shaping Culture the Military Way

Leadership Development

Building beneficial habits and culture are a big corporate leadership development challenge, but yield great rewards once picked up by your team.

Continuous Process Improvement: Understanding LEAN and the FLEX Model

Business Culture

Understanding continuous process improvement and the Flawless Execution model can help your teams reach success and reduce waste in your organization.

Mission Command – A Military Idea Wins Big in Corporate America

Business Culture

With a Mission Command approach demonstrate the importance of giving your front line people the power to act with a bias to action.

Reaching Your Full Potential Through Corporate Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Educating the reader on the importance of holding a debrief meeting to boost corporate leadership development and team performance.

Accelerate Success in Twenty Minutes: The Debriefing Solution

Debrief, Goal Execution, Leadership

The Debriefing Solution is for any team in any environment! It's a powerful tool used to enhance performance in just 20 minutes!

Where Continuous Improvement Ends and Flawless Execution Begins

Business Culture, Leadership

Continuous improvement has brought success to many organizations, but still others have experienced failed roll-outs and lack of ROI.

Employees working together on a strategy session

Agile Marketing: Your 8-Step Super Bowl Game Plan

Business Culture

Check out our tips to creating your company's game plan.

Mission Analysis and ORCA Debrief: The Ultimate Performance Review

Debrief, Goal Execution, Leadership

By following the seven-step STEALTH Debrief, you can positively affect your team's operational environment and mission analysis.

Team engaging in a collaborative meeting

The Pros of Debriefing

Business Culture

A project comes to an end, and the team...does what? Smart teams always take time to do some Debriefing and gain Lessons Learned before they move on.

Corporate Team Building Fundamentals: the Wingman Concept

Team Building

Mutual support is less about an action item on a checklist as it is a shared “mindfulness” present in the corporate team building of each member.

Six Ways to Fight Task Saturation

Goal Execution

Task Saturation is nothing new. Overflowing inboxes and full schedules have become a way of life for many professionals today–and there lies the problem.|

The Elements of Strategic Business Planning

Leadership, Leadership Development

The 13 key elements of strategic business planning in the Flawless Execution methodology will help your business develop an aligned corporate strategic plan.