The Leadership Dance – Ep. 34: Performing Like a Fighter Pilot, with Christian "Boo" Boucousis

Host: Alissa Hsu Lynch
Guest: Christian “Boo” Boucousis, former fighter pilot, CEO of Afterburner
Date: February 2, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Alissa Hsu Lynch sits down with Christian “Boo” Boucousis, a former Royal Australian Air Force fighter pilot turned entrepreneur and global leadership expert. Together, they explore how the disciplined, high-stakes mindset of a fighter pilot can transform leadership in business, focusing on decision-making, team alignment, dealing with friction, and the value of continuous improvement. Boo shares his unconventional journey—from a five-year-old spellbound by an air show, to high-impact humanitarian work, to executive coaching—offering memorable stories and actionable insights for leaders aiming to achieve “flawless execution.”

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Transition from Fighter Pilot to Business Leader

• Early Inspiration and Purpose
  • Boo recalls being inspired to become a fighter pilot at age five after an air show experience.
    • “As much as I’m all about intention today, I wish the start of my career was intention, but it wasn’t. It was belief fueled because I first connected with this whole idea of being a fighter pilot when I was five years of age...” (03:00)
  • Achieving his solo jet flight 17 years later gave him a deep appreciation for purpose and long-term goals.
• Military Training vs. Business
  • Military training is intense, focused on reprogramming the individual for results through leadership—officer first, pilot second—which stands in contrast to business, where skill often precedes official leadership.
    • “The hardest part...was the three months of officer training. Everything in the leadership model for the Air Force is about achieving results.” (04:40)
  • Military emphasizes objective-driven teamwork over people leadership or sensitivity.

2. Fighter Pilot Mindset Applied to Leadership

• Growth, Time, and Humility
  • Growth mindset: Constant incremental improvement, adaptability, and rejecting the status quo.
  • Time perspective: Evaluating outcomes in terms of seconds and minutes, not months or quarters—maximizing opportunity for small, frequent wins.
  • Team dependency:
    • “Zero probability of success without a high performing team around you and a very purpose driven team.” (07:05)
• Transferable Lessons
  • You can’t be reactive and succeed. Preparation, anticipation, and clarity are critical.
  • Granularity of success: Define and measure what “good” looks like in specific terms and timeframes.

3. Overcoming Challenges & The Power of Persistence

• Boo shares struggles: repeating 12th grade, extra training, feeling out of place, but never doubting the dream.
  • “Success is being really good at the things you actually don’t want to do, not being good at the things you’re good at.” (09:05)
• relentless drive (“don’t let the jet fly you”) required to stay relevant and in control—applies equally in fast-paced business environments.

4. Entrepreneurship & Humanitarian Ventures

• The transition to business post-military was challenging, especially letting go of his dream role.
• Launched CTG Global with the aim to be a “moral and uncorrupt service provider” in Afghanistan and Iraq, delivering humanitarian aid and infrastructure.
  • “We decided we wanted to be the most moral and uncorrupt service provider in those parts of the world.” (11:09)
• The contrast between environments where people have nothing but are happy versus Western societies struggling with abundance and lack of gratitude.

5. The Science of Decisive Leadership

• Boo’s Decision-Making Loop (15:15)
  1. Perception (rooted in bias)
  2. Processing
  3. Projection
  4. Commitment/Deferral
  5. Action
  6. Result
  7. Impact (emotional byproduct for self/others)
• Debriefing ("Step Eight") is uniquely critical:
  • “If you tried something and it didn’t work, statistically you’re less likely to try it again. ... What fighter pilots do… is intentionally reflect on the impact... is what I set out to achieve what happened?” (16:35)
  • Debriefing unlocks growth—doing something differently tomorrow is progress in itself.
• Missionization: In business, define the mission and use the “plan–brief–execute–debrief” framework for focus and improvement.

6. Removing Friction in Teams

• Sources of Friction:
  • Misalignment (“what good looks like”), artificial harmony (over-compromising), lack of clear process, task saturation (“doing too much, saying yes to everything”), digital overwhelm, and under-developed critical conversations.
    • “Biggest cause of friction is the people. Just complete misalignment around where we’re going, what we’re doing, the conversations that we have...” (21:00)
  • Strategic alignment: “Build your achieve list, not your to-do list.”
  • Radical truth over artificial harmony helps identify and solve issues before or after performance, not in the heat of the moment.
  • “It’s much easier to solve a problem at 1g on the ground than at 7g in the air.” (23:30)

7. Culture, Digital Burnout, and Mindset Shifts

• Many organizations favor being nice and keeping peace, but this can erode performance and lead to misalignment (24:45–25:15).
• The digital world causes low-level, chronic fight-flight-freeze reactions:
  • “We’re basically living fight flight or freeze all the time. Email message, Everything is a surprise.” (25:20)
• To regain agency, leaders should shift from a fixed (doer) to a growth (achiever) mindset.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On purpose and growth:
  • “Who I am today is not the fighter pilot I need to be tomorrow.” (16:05)
• On business culture:
  • “If someone says they’re going to do something, it gets done. There’s no variable. ... Then you come into business and everyone’s like, ‘We’re going to do this contract ...’ A year later you’re like, damn, does anyone actually say anything and make it come real?” (12:08)
• On not getting stuck in the weeds:
  • “Leaders that aren’t calm are always in the weeds looking at the work.” (32:45)
• On small wins over big moments:
  • “I don’t have big moments, I don’t believe in them. Every moment is just a moment and if it’s a big moment, you’re underprepared. A big moment is the sum total of many small moments.” (28:58)
• On achievement mindset:
  • “Shift from a person that does a lot of things into a person that’s achievement focused.” (26:17)
• On self-awareness & coaching:
  • “Get someone that is open to your blind spots and then thirdly, let your team coach you.” (33:15)

Rapid Fire Round Highlights ([27:30]–[32:36])

• What do you miss most from fighter pilot days?
  • “The people. Just being around a culture of people that do what they say and say what they do.”
• Ritual you can’t live without?
  • “Morning coffee—don’t be busy, just sit and drink the coffee. ... It’s game on time.” (27:48)
• Word people use to describe you:
  • “Busy and generous.”
• Preparing for big moments:
  • “I don’t have big moments, I don’t believe in them. ... Use small moments to engage people and give them ownership.”
• Music to dance to:
  • Working on line dancing with his partner in Park City.

Staying Calm as a Leader ([30:41]–[34:26])

• Why the calmest person in the room matters:
  • Combats instability. “If a leader is calm and curious and can keep everyone navigating the same way... it allows you to see and coach and mentor and grow, rather than get involved.”
• Habits for staying calm:
  • Ask, “What are we trying to achieve here?”
  • Engage in human connection—call or text a team member to shift mindset.
  • Get a coach and empower the team to give feedback and keep you accountable for blind spots.

Advice to His Younger Self ([34:47]–[35:07])

• “Everything that went wrong, every disaster was just such great learning and perspective. I’m a lucky human. I have a wonderful life, a wonderful family, a wonderful job. It’s been a good run.”

Learn More / Connect

• Books:
  • The Afterburner Advantage (2025)
  • Flawless Leadership (forthcoming)
• Workshops/Coaching:
  • Afterburner team consults globally: strategy, rapid team coaching, leadership development (afterburner.com, callmeboo.com)
• Find out if this approach resonates with you:
  • “If you go there, you’ll figure out whether it’s something that strikes a chord with you.” (20:23)

Key Timestamps

• [02:59] Boo’s early inspiration and journey to becoming a fighter pilot
• [05:45] Fighter pilot mindset and business application
• [10:30] Entrepreneurial transition and lessons learned
• [15:11] The decision-making loop
• [19:52] Flawless execution framework and debriefing
• [20:59] Addressing friction in organizations
• [25:18] Digital burnout, culture shifts, and mindset
• [27:27] Rapid fire round: rituals, habits, music
• [30:41] The importance of remaining calm as a leader
• [34:47] Advice to his younger self

Tone:
Boo combines a high-performance, mission-driven rigor with grounded self-awareness and humility. His delivery is energetic, reflective, and at times irreverent—but always practical, vivid, and motivational.

Summary prepared for those wanting actionable insights to choreograph their own leadership dance—and perform at high altitude.