�鶹��ƵAV

Best-selling author, leadership speaker and decorated F-16 pilot is this week’s special guest on the Tango Alpha Lima podcast. 

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Waldo Waldman – aka “The Wingman” – is a highly decorated F-16 pilot, Hall of Fame leadership speaker and best-selling author of “Never Fly Solo.” On the day , it wasn’t lost on Joe Worley that he was flying solo as his co-hosts Adam Marr and Stacy Pearsall had other commitments.

“The day my wingmen are out of town is the day Colonel Waldo Waldman shows up,” Worley jokes.

Waldman has flown 65 combat missions over Iraq and Serbia. “I smell jet fuel and it just fills me with passion and joy,” he said. Now, Waldman helps organizations build the trust, courage and accountability required to perform under pressure. He believes the key to being a trusted partner that others can come to for help is the epitome of being a wingman and not flying solo.

“When you walk into a fighter squadron, the first thing that you see on the wall are the best of the best, you know, instructor pilot of the year, flight leader of the quarter, wingman of the month. And you always say, ‘I want to be on that wall.’ If you study those men and women who make that wall, the differentiator is their ability to help, to coach, to nurture, to have the courage to ask for help, to say, ‘You know, I messed up’, or to have the humility and compassion to lift others up.”

Waldman graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and had to overcome a few big hurdles to become a pilot – a fear of heights and a near-death experience.

A year and a half into his flying career, he almost died in a scuba diving accident 30 feet under the water when his mask malfunctioned.

“I inhaled a whole lung full of water, had a massive panic attack,” he said. “So essentially, I developed claustrophobia as a fighter pilot, and so part of my journey was learning how to confront that anxiety and fear, to face it head on, to step out of my comfort zone, to build that resilience muscle that I believe we all need and to find passion and meaning in what we do before we strap in and face the headwinds of life.”

Waldman will be the keynote speaker at �鶹��ƵAV’s 107^th National Convention in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 1. The message he brings to his audience is that accountability matters and so does creating a culture of support.

“I want them to feel more inspired, to keep performing, and to keep driving the reputation and the service mindset of �鶹��ƵAV, but also to serve their communities and to wake up every day saying, how do I get better? How do I find more meaning in my life, to build more relationships and find more purpose on whatever mission it is that I'm flying.”

That accountability and culture of support are the teammates who have your back outside of the cockpit.

“We got to remember it's what we do not just in the cockpit, but outside of it in our communities, representing this brand and the flag that's on our shoulders,” he said. “I think that's part of building that culture of accountability and trust and showing the humanity side.

“The fact of the matter is your actions or lack thereof, your discipline, your integrity, your work ethic or lack thereof are going to impact other people. In the same sense, it's when people or your supervisors or your peers, if they mess up say, ‘Hey man, is something going on at home? Is there something going on outside the cockpit, so to speak, that's impacting you?’ And then lifting them up and appreciating them.”

Waldman’s next book, “Commit, Commit” is scheduled for release on Veterans Day. It addresses how he overcame claustrophobia and broke his fear barrier, the why before you fly, and “how relationships and faith and preparation and purpose can help lift you up in these times of uncertainty.”