Christian ‘Boo’ Boucousis was once a Royal Australian Air Force pilot, now he’s CEO of Afterburner in the US, an organisation which teaches corporates the skills of elite military aviators.
He isn’t teaching them to use these skills in war however, but for their businesses.
The firm has worked with big clients such as Nike, Pepsi and Bank of America to help battle their own fights in market competitions, shareholders and employee turnover.
According to the company’s website, Boo’s firm employs a team of former pilots, Navy SEALs and military commandos to train corporate executives to “execute with the same precision and accuracy as elite military aviators and special operations teams”.
It is a Top Gun like experience, having clients feel like their Tom Cruise, with training starting at $15,000 and going up to over $150,000.
Boucousis, who is also a published author, described the experience in a story appearing in the New York Times.
“Your company is about to go on a rescue. One of your company members went out to do reconnaissance and was shot down. Now you’re going to rescue your teammate and bring them home,” he said.
“If you lose sight of the airplane you’re fighting against, you lose the fight.
“We use that as a metaphor — if you lose sight of your business objectives, you’re not going to achieve them.”
Other metaphors used include the office as a battlefield, landing the plane as a tough quarter and rallying the troops for a product launch.
Many other companies provide this style of training too.
Another US company, Over the Wall, founded by former NASCAR pit crew coach Andy Papathanassiou, simulates a NASCAR pit stop for corporate workers.
This sees employees gather around a race car, take off lug nuts with an air wrench, hoist off the car’s 23kg tyre, swap in a new tyre and put the lug nuts back on.
Constellation Digital Partners, a financial technology company, set up a session with Over the Wall and CEO Kris Kovacs told New York Times that it saw his staff become more communicative. They understood how to share their weak points with one another.