In the latest episode of The Last 10%, host Dallas Burnett speaks with decorated Air Force pilot and leadership expert, Jason Harris. Jason shares his remarkable journey from childhood challenges to becoming a highly successful Air Force officer, flying over 430 combat missions and creating the innovative 'No Fail Trust' methodology. He delves into the pivotal role of a mentor and the therapeutic power of horses, which helped him turn his life around and aim for the Air Force Academy. Jason discusses the crucial lessons he learned from his military and combat experiences, the value of psychological safety, and the importance of trusted training and processes in building high-performing teams. Tune in to discover impactful insights on leadership, trust, and achieving excellence.

Listener's free download: www.nofailtrust.com/7skillsets

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Hey everybody.

We're talking to Jason Harris today.

What an amazing guy.

He's a decorated combat proven pilot, air force officer, and the creator of no fail

trust methodology has some incredible stories from flying over 430 combat

missions and hundreds of other flights.

He's a great new friend of mine.

You don't want to miss this incredible conversation.

Welcome to The Last 10%.

Your host, Dallas Burnett, into incredible conversations that will

inspire you to finish well finish strong.

Listen as guests share their journeys and valuable advice on living in The Last 10%.

If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to

level up, you are in the right place.

you can give now.

90 percent effort and make it a long way, but it's finding out how to

unlock the last 10 percent that makes all the difference in your life,

your relationships, and your work.

here's Dallas.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Welcome.

I am Dallas Burnett sitting in my 1905 Coke Brothers barber chair.

In Thrive Studios, but more importantly today, we have a great guest, fourth

generation military member, bestselling author, expert thought leader, who's

flown multiple missions and aircraft over the course of his career, including.

11 deployments with more than 2000 combat hours.

Wow.

Welcome to the show, Jason.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Thank you so much, Dallas.

It's an absolute pleasure to be here, brother.

I appreciate you having me.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Absolutely, man.

You have a great story and you've had an amazing career.

And so I think our listeners are in for a treat today.

Now we're going to get into talking a little bit about the Air Force Academy

because you went there and I'm a total Air Force Academy fan boy for sure.

But before, before we get into that, you have an interesting stories

that relates to how you got there.

And it relates to horses.

How did horses help you make it to the Air Force Academy?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Well, you know, when I throw that out

there, it always grabs people's attention.

And so that's like that unique thing about me.

That, by looking at me, I know we always say never judge a book by

its cover, but the reality is that we all judge a book by its cover.

That's just part of our human nature.

And so for me, I got kicked out of school, not once, but

twice, once in the sixth grade.

And I got kicked out again in the seventh grade.

And then I was on my way to getting kicked out when I was in the eighth grade.

And I met this gentleman, Mr.

Ron Foster and he had horses and he had access to professional athletes

and all this other stuff and you know I grew up in Oakland, California and

I had this dream when I moved to Texas which was To ride a horse, it was

just something that was in my mind.

And so he gave this offer to, to come out there and check out the horses.

And I decided, you know what, I'm going to go and see what this is all about.

But he says, here's the deal, young man.

He says, you got to make me a deal.

He goes, you can come out here and hang around the horses, right?

And take care of them, be around them, meet all these amazing people,

but you got to make me a deal.

You got to stay out of trouble.

And so that was the start to me getting things in order, getting my life

together, getting my mind right and being.

being prepared for the next level of success.

And it was the horses that kept me out of the streets.

It was the horses that kept me from getting kicked out of school

a second time or a third time.

It was the horses that kept me from selling drugs.

Those horses were, they were my refuge man and they made a

significant difference in my life.

So I've trained horses.

I've trained people on ride horses.

I've missed a day of school from helping a horse to deliver a young Philly.

I've shoveled, a major share of horse manure.

I've literally shoveled it.

So I'm intimately familiar with horse manure, the smell and all That stuff.

and horses to this day, man, they hold a very, very special

place in my life, Dallas.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: That is awesome.

We actually drive studios is actually in the upstate of South

Carolina, which is in horse country.

There's an international equestrian center not far from here.

So maybe if you want to come out sometime, we'll go and check out the

international, equestrian center and we can go catch some horse riding and stuff.

They have some cool stuff up there, so that's awesome.

So what is it, do you feel like, about horses that originally drew

you to them, and this, was it, this guy essentially, was he, did you

see him and kinda look up to him?

or was it all about the horses?

how did that play out when you first met this guy?

Mm

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: It was a little bit of both,

to be honest with you, Dallas.

this gentleman, he, I call him my godfather.

He was a very special man and he offered something that I didn't have.

And that was access.

That was.

This different world that I had never experienced before

this world called success.

And so he offered that.

And then horses happened to be a by product of that.

And what I realized was that I was not only getting access to this thing

called success, I was getting access to these horses and the horses, as they

have a very calming effect on people.

I didn't know that at the time, I'm a kid, but what I began to learn was

that the horses, They did something for me as they do for many people.

Those horses were therapeutic.

And then also realizing that was a privilege to be able to be around horses.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Mm

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: so you put those two things

together, Man, And that was for me, that was life changing.

And so I just, I latched onto that and I held onto it as best I could,

and I held onto it for the wild ride.

And it made a significant difference in my life at a time where I

needed something to hold on to.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: good.

I love the statement you made about how this mentor, this Godfather

gave you access to success.

I've never heard anyone put it like that before, but man, what a great thought.

And I love it.

And I think that leaders, cause that's what leaders do.

And so many times I think leaders miss that and that we think we've

got to give them, our team members, some type of raise or make this cool

thing, that they can be a part of or be exciting and all that's great.

But at the end of the day, whether you're a leading a team or whether

you're mentoring a young person.

I love it because you're saying you're giving them access to the principles, to

the mindsets, to the beliefs of success.

And that's so much more valuable than, than anything else.

So thank you.

Thank you for sharing that.

So you're in the early stage, you're in your teens, you're in junior

high, you've turned the corner.

You're not getting kicked out of school anymore.

You're working with this mentor, you're in, getting involved with these horses.

How does that translate into you then becoming interested in

the air force and the academy?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: so again, it's really interesting.

Like you're asking the questions in a way that other people haven't asked.

And so I really appreciate the way you're asking the questions Dallas.

And so really it goes back to actually getting kicked out of school.

Funny enough.

And so I had this principle, And let me just pause here for a second Dallas,

because when we start talking to access to success, I think this is probably the

first time that I've said it that way.

One, Right.

So I, as I said, I was like, man, That's,

really what he did.

he provided me access to success.

And a lot of us, we don't realize that when we're We provide that for other

people as leaders, not because of our titles, not because of necessarily what

we have in terms of the material things, but there's something about each of us

that we provide access to someone else that doesn't have that thing that we have.

And so for me, this whole idea of where I've journeyed through, from

the Air Force Academy and beyond, it goes all the way back to that time

period where I was getting in trouble.

And so when I was in sixth and seventh grade, the principal that

kicked me out of school, I'll never forget her name to the day I die.

Her name was Mrs.

Minerva Trujillo.

Now.

At one point, I think it was documented in nine weeks.

I think I went to Mrs.

Trujillo's office, probably about 18 documented times.

So she became probably more like an aunt, right?

and so she saw something in me.

And I remember this one time, back in the day, man, I think

we're probably similar in age.

And, now you look at college curriculums or, College, you view them all online

back in our day, man, we had these books.

They were, a couple of inches thick.

So it was like the Sears and Roebuck, catalog, but for college, man.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Yeah.

That's,

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: and so I was around the military

my entire life, fourth generation military, my mom was in military and

I thought about, military service academies, but not seriously.

It was like, eh, like it was something that was in passing.

I just remember seeing the books when I would go to the principal's office

and I'd see him sitting there and I look at him like, eh, whatever.

And one day, Mrs.

Trujillo, she pulls out a picture and she says, Hey, Jason, let me

show you a picture of my son, Paul.

and, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but for me, it was worth

a lifetime because I will never forget this picture of Paul that she showed me.

Paul was in his service dress uniform, which is our formal dress uniform.

And he was sitting in front of his.

Desk and bed.

We had the desk and the beds were connected to each other, right?

Get the bunk bed on top.

You got a desk underneath and Paul sitting in front of that bed desk unit.

And he looked like the picture of success.

And she says, Oh, Paul's a junior at the air force Academy.

And I, again, I can remember exactly what the rank was on a shirt.

I can remember exactly what he looked like.

And she says, Paul's at the air force Academy.

He's going to go off to fly airplanes and so on and so forth.

And Jason, you know what?

You ought to consider that.

And I thought, eh, whatever.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Wow.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: the seed that she planted.

Again, this picture was emblazoned in my mind, I'm in the sixth and seventh

grade and you go, whatever, right?

Get kicked out of school again.

And I go on and I don't forget the picture.

I don't forget Mr.

Trujillo, but I put those to the back of my mind.

Now, fast forward and I apply, I get accepted to the Air Force Academy.

There's a whole nother couple of stories inside of that.

But the piece of the story that I want to tell you that, the impact

that she had on me was one, I went to the Air Force Academy two, I ended

up getting a pilot training slot.

So now 2000 and December, 2001, I go to pilot training.

I finished December of 2002 and.

And then I go off in 2003, I get qualified as a co pilot.

I go do four deployments and C 130s as a co pilot.

I come back in 2005, and now I go to upgrade to become an aircraft commander.

So now I'm going to move from the right seat to the left seat.

and I'm a young captain.

I'm at Little Rock where all C 130 pilots have to get their training.

And I'm walking down the street.

And as I'm walking down the street, I look over and I go to salute this guy.

And as I go to salute this guy, I look at his name tag.

Back of my eyes were good.

And literally I see the name tag and it says Trujillo and I'm like,

there's no way I immediately I stopped

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: goodness.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: as I'm saluting again, I stopped and I go,

Hey, sir, I go, are you Paul Trujillo?

And he goes, yeah, I go, sir, is your mom like, and I'm, of

course my heartbeats going up.

I'm speaking rapidly.

I'm like, is your mom, Mrs.

Minerva Trujillo?

She a principal.

Are you from Texas?

And he's yeah, why do you look why?

And I go, dude, your picture.

You're the reason why I'm

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: oh my

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: And so literally I'm looking the

picture in the eye and the coolest, craziest thing Dallas is that

I'm standing in front of Paul.

We're both in flight suits.

We're both going to, we're both C one 30 pilots.

We're both air force Academy graduates.

And so literally man, this picture changed my life.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: amazing.

That is incredible.

Oh, what a cool moment too.

And I love the, just the serendipity of it all.

where you're walking and there's no plan.

It's not like you sought him out.

You're just walking across the tarmac and it's like, bam, there he is.

And it just shows you how, what an impact the picture made, because not only Did

it change the trajectory of your life?

But you actually, it, it associated when you saw me like, wait a

minute, I know who that is, that's the guy, that's the picture.

What a cool story, man.

That is so cool.

I think too, it speaks to Ms.

Trahealy.

I think it goes back to that access again, like you were talking

about before access to success.

I think that we give that when we believe in others and we see things in other

people, and then we are able to speak into those things and call them out.

And maybe we see something that they don't even see.

And I think that

really, It's so fascinating because you think if you think that way,

you think everyone else does too.

But I can assure you that I was literally having lunch.

And this is, I'm going to, this is a story.

This is fascinating.

I was having lunch with a leadership consultant company.

They were doing some work in Texas and they had multiple

companies all over the Southeast.

I was meeting with the two owners of the, Company and , they were

looking at our system, our coaching system that so they could roll it

out to some of their customers.

One of the owners goes to the bathroom.

The other owner looked at me after I talked about coaching and development

and why it's so important and why our system works and all the positive

things that we've seen out of it and life change that people's experienced.

And this guy,

he looks directly at me.

He's the owner of a leadership development company.

And he looks at me and says, do you really think that this is going to

make a difference in anybody's life?

Because that people don't change.

And I just, he was dead serious.

He wasn't even joking.

And I look, I almost, I was so taken back.

Cause I was like, what are you doing then?

Like, how are you running this company?

That's supposed to be developing leaders.

He was dead serious.

And so I just had to buckle down and be like, I just don't accept that.

I think people change all the time, and I think that we should be a part of that.

And we'd like to be a part of that.

And that's not the normal MO for most people.

And a lot of people just, they don't see that and they don't believe in others.

They believe others may let them down.

Maybe

they've experienced that in the past, or they just see what's on the surface.

They're not willing to take a step and just lean in and look a little deeper.

So I love that story about the impact that, that.

Small insight in that calling that they put on.

You had, that's really cool story.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Yeah, man.

It was, you, know, it totally changed my life, man.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: So now you're, you're graduating, you

go into the air force academy and now we got to pause a little bit on the

air force academy, because I'm a total, like when I was in junior high, this is

this, When I was in junior high, I was such a fan boy of the Air Force Academy.

I called them.

Cause like you said, it was in these books.

Like you had, you can't find it online.

I got the Air Force Academy, like little booklet called the recruiter.

Talk to the guy.

I didn't tell him how old I was.

I go through the whole thing.

I'm like, yeah, man.

He's like, how's your grades?

Oh, they're great.

how are you doing the sport?

I'm doing all this.

I'm I checked all these, but he's getting excited.

It's wow, you know what, we're going to get you up.

Well, maybe we can meet you at the school.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then I said something.

He's like, how old are you?

I was like, I'm in eighth grade.

He's like, man, , come on man.

He's like, man, you need to call me in about two or three years . So tell the

listeners about what it's like to go to the Air Force Academy, if you have

any cool stories while you were there.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: going to the Air Force Academy, man,

it's Oh man, it's like a crucible.

It's the, it's like, a premier leadership laboratory for four years.

And you can do your best to be prepared for before you get there,

but there's some parts of it that you just can't prepare for mentally.

And for me, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that.

It's a, it's, it was different for me because of my background.

It was different for me as a person of color, right?

Coming from a marginalized group.

And you know that you're a small percentage of the population there.

And so they're like, and I say that because there's likely somebody who's

listening right now, Dallas, who might identify with, the demographic

groups that I identify with.

Right,

And it's everybody that goes through this thing because we're

all trying to graduate, right.

Like I, as I pause on that, I also on the other side, I always make sure

I tell people this is what you got.

You can't ever forget that everyone who enters the Air Force Academy, ideally,

presumably are trying to graduate.

Everyone ideally and presumably that goes to pilot training.

They're trying to graduate and get their pilot wings and become an air force pilot.

Right.

I'm not trying to say I'm a, I'm an air force Academy graduate.

I'm a pilot with this limiting factor.

No, no, no.

We're all trying to do that.

Right.

So let me be really clear on that.

However, there are people that you, we have a different experience, right?

If you grew up in South Carolina, your experience is going to be different

from the guy who grew up in long Island, which is going to be different

than the guy who grew up in Minnesota.

and so we all enter this place with a different mindset.

And so I want to just set that stage.

But for me, I remember the academy as this place where it

taught you about who you were.

It taught you about how do you get along with people?

how do you figure out how to push through the most challenging

experiences of your lifetime?

And it forged, there's so many things that happened there that forge.

Who I am to this day, from, dealing with fear and courage, dealing with integrity,

dealing with honor, dealing with, having to lead, dealing with your best friend,

telling you, Hey man, your grades suck.

And I'm not going to give you a leadership position.

Literally that happened to me.

Right.

And So like my best friend had to tell me that and I respect him to this day

for that, And so there's, there was all of these lessons that I learned there.

And again, there are a lot of people that when they leave that place, it's

because it can be so traumatic that they put it in the rear view mirror

and they never want to come back.

You know, if you ask them, Hey, would you repeat it?

They'd say not only no, but H no.

Well, for me,

Dallas, if you said, Hey man, you got to go back and do it all over again.

I do it all over again.

um,

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Wow.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: I almost got kicked out of there.

I almost didn't make it through there.

So many different things that happened that were fairly traumatic, but they

shaped me into the person that I am.

And each of those lessons along the way, helped me to become

a better person, helped me to become the leader that I am today.

And I even still lean on some of those lessons as I mentor coach and lead

other people to this present day.

So for me, man, that four years, and I actually was on a five year program.

I went to our prep school.

they were some very critical, Years of my life that helped to establish

what I've been able to do to this day, man.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: that's awesome.

I have, I've definitely, everyone that I've talked to that's gone through it

has, it's like you say, they can't.

They all have their own approach.

It is definitely I love the word crucible that you use,

because that is a common theme.

It's like this is brutal, but it's very formational.

And I think that is, that's cool.

that's such a great place, to go through all those things you're, cause at least

you can go through it with, other.

Other people that's going through the same things, experiencing the

same things that you can at least lean on others and see others and

experience that and help you grow too.

So that's so cool.

And such a beautiful place.

Gosh, it's so beautiful.

I've been out there and seeing it.

It's just amazing.

Beautiful.

so you get out and you get out in 2000, you said you got your pallets

license, do that 2002 or your, you started pilot school in 2002,

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: yeah, no.

So I graduated the Academy in 2001, May of 2001.

And then during that time period, post graduation, I ended up getting

my private pilot license and the week that I was supposed to actually

get my private pilot license.

A pivotal event in the world happened, which was 9 11.

So then shortly after that, I ended up getting my pipe, my pirate pilot license.

And then in october, I went down to mississippi where I ended up starting

pilot training in december of 2001 And the air force the way we design our

pilot training is pretty much you start On a day and a year later, you got to

be done, and there's very minimal leeway

To modify that program.

And so you've got to keep up, man.

And so December of 2002, I graduated with my pilot wings.

And from there, they sent me off to go fly C 130s and go

figure out the world from there.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: it, man.

And so you immediately go into, into the combat arena because, post 9 11, they saw

it's going, it's on at that point in time.

So

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Yeah, it was,

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: yeah, go ahead.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: yeah, man, it was really interesting Dallas,

you talk about that jumping in, right?

9 11 happens, I remember being at my then girlfriend, now wife's apartment, and my

mom calls me and wakes me up and I see The second airplane hit the second tower.

I remember vividly driving down the highway on my motorcycle.

We had to check in and skies on the highway, I 25 in Colorado,

Denver, Colorado Springs.

He's waving this big American flag, man.

I just remember that feeling.

And then.

Fast, fast forward and graduate pilot training.

we have things we're thinking about, but nothing has really happened.

And then I believe it was in March of 2003, we're all in training

at little rock, Arkansas to learn how to fly the C one 30 and the

instructors, they stopped class and they said, Hey, everybody come outside.

Look at the TV.

And we saw, the start of Iraq and they looked at us, the instructors

looked at us and they says, your lives will never be the same.

You guys are going to have a career that is unlike any other

career has happened in a long time.

So strap up and get ready for what's about to happen.

and so I literally.

Get done with training.

I get to my base July 7th of 2003, August 5th of 2003.

Not even 30 days later, I was off on an airplane off to go fly in combat.

So it was pretty crazy and it came quick, Man,

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Man, now, were you, did you meet

in, you said you were at, when 9 11 happens, you're at your girlfriend, now

wife, were y'all dating at that time?

Were you married?

What, where did that fall into all this?

Cause

that's that's the second side story going on, right?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: yeah, man.

so we met, during my junior year at the academy and at the academy, we

have this thing called ring dance.

And so we get these really cool rings and it's like prom for college kids.

And so she was getting her, she was an undergrad working

on going to pharmacy school.

And I meet her at a stereo shop, funny enough on a Friday.

And I said, Hey, yeah, I'd love to take you to this ring dance thing.

But by the way, we have this tradition.

Yeah.

And the tradition is you get with all your friends and you go and

rent a cabin or a place and you go and hang out for the weekend.

And she goes, Ooh, she goes, my dad, I got a curfew and my, she still lives at home.

She's I got a curfew.

My dad doesn't let me stay out, but I'll ask.

And that was the first time her dad ever let her stay out overnight.

And, and so yeah, man, so we've been married 19 years, got a nine

year old daughter and man, we've known each other 24 years and

life's been really awesome, man.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: That's awesome.

It's cool that you had the ring dance, the ring dance was, was

the catalyst to the relationship.

, so tell us about, I want to talk a little bit about combat now

and flying these combat missions.

How do you feel like that impacted your perspective on, life,

work teams, that kind of stuff.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: flying in combat when you're doing it

as a young person, you Don't necessarily think about the lessons like, Oh, these

are the lessons I'm going to take away.

You're just in the mix.

You're just in the heart of it.

And you're just anxious to go and get it in, and everybody we

deal with anxiety differently.

And so you're just in the mix and you're in the thick of it

and you're doing whatever it is, whatever it takes to do the mission.

And you're also making sure that you understand what it means to

take care of your crew, flying C one thirties were crew airplane.

And but as it's happening, these different things begin to pop up and you begin

to see a different side of people, when bullets start flying, literally, when

rockets start flying, literally, and you get that pucker factor and that, that

sphincter tightens up a bit, you hear somebody's voice a little bit differently

and you begin to see the world a little bit differently, but you're still young.

And as you're young, you just have this thing like, Oh man, they missed that time.

No big deal.

But then when I go back and I look at it retrospectively, man, there were so

many amazing lessons that I learned.

Some of them I'm able to articulate and some of them I'm still processing.

because there was just so much happening at any one given time that it's hard and

I didn't journal during that time period.

So I didn't necessarily capture them in writing in the moment.

I think now I wish that I had have done that because imagine the amount

of stories and the details and the clarity I would be able to get now, had

I put that on paper back then, right?

but there's, you learn about.

You learn about people's fears.

You learn about how people deal with anxiety.

You learn about courage, and you got to remember, man, and in the C one 30, we're

out there flying for hours at a time.

So you're learning about people and at the core of who they are.

you're the barriers of where we're from, the barriers of demographics, the

barriers of male, female, like all of these different barriers that come down.

Cause look, man, If something goes wrong, we're going to die

a split second apart, if that,

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Yeah.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: so we're in this together, the one cliche

term that you've likely heard many times and maybe seen in the movies, they say

there's no atheists in a foxhole, right?

on the flight deck of an airplane in the midst of combat sorties, when

you're flying for hours at a time and you're dealing with different

things, it's, you're not worried about what somebody's religious belief is.

You're not worried about where they're from.

You're worried about, are we in this together?

You're worried about.

When the fit has to Shan, are you going to come through for me?

And so those there's a ton of lessons out of that I learned.

for me, it was more about how do we take care of each other and how do we coexist

and how do we make sure that no matter what I'm there for you and

you can trust and depend that I'm going to be there for you regardless.

That was powerful.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: I love that.

I think that definitely informs you, your new system.

You've created this system that you call no fail trust.

Can you explain what no fail trust, the no fail trust methodology and how you,

how you speak on that or, or consult with organizations around that idea?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Yeah.

no fail.

Trust the framework, the methodology.

It came as a result of course, my, my military experience.

and really, it actually goes back to my mom.

my mom was enlisting the army and my mom is another part

of why I joined the military.

My mom said, son, if you can go to military going as an officer, son, if you

can go to military, go in the air force.

I was, Pretty, challenging kid.

And it was two times I listened to her.

It was those few times, but I remember Dallas that my mom would come home

and she would tell me stories about people that were just donkeys,

people whose names should have been Richard instead of, whatever it was.

And, And she would tell me, she would say, son, when you get to be in a position

of authority and power and leadership, take care of people, she says, son, and

it doesn't matter what your rank is.

It does treat people with respect.

And I thought, man, I was.

And so that was very impactful for me to this day.

And so when I started looking at these lessons that I had learned,

I started looking at how do I.

Translate what I did in the military, what I did flying airplanes, what I did in the

crew environment, air crew environment.

How can I translate that to a corporate entity?

How can I translate that to leaders?

And so the framework is built on three pillars, trusted training,

trusted processes, and then empowering and trusting people.

And here's the thing about it, Dallas, a lot of times, and you've likely seen

this with some of your coaching clients and people that you've worked with, they

just give you the book of information.

They go here, man, you're empowered.

Good luck.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Yeah, exactly.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: the person is sitting in the

corner and they're like, man, I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm afraid, but I don't want to raise my hand and say, I don't know what I'm doing.

Cause then they're going to think I'm an idiot.

And I don't want to get, I don't want to get attacked verbally or whatever,

or disrespected and belittled.

And so they sit there and they're stumbled through it.

so then I started looking at how do we do that with these young

people in the back of airplanes?

they're young, they're 17, 18, 19 years old, fresh out of high school.

And we trust them with our lives because they're responsible

for loading the airplanes.

They're responsible for seeing things that we're unable to see.

They're responsible for all of these elements of that airplane.

They control more than 80 percent of the airplane.

And so I realized that The only way and the only reason we could do that Dallas

is because we gave them trusted training, but that training has been validated.

We validated number one that the training works and then we validated

that they understand the training.

We validated that they actually can implement the training.

then we level that up with processes, trusted processes.

We validate the processes, our checklists, our standard operating procedures.

Hey, this is how everybody is supposed to do it.

This is what the book says.

Let me make sure you understand how the book says to do it.

Yeah.

Okay.

Do you get it?

We test you on it.

So we validate that the process is actually work.

We validate that they understand the processes.

And it's only then that once we validate the training, validate the process

and validated that the individual gets it, then I could trust you and

say, Hey, Dallas, you've got it.

I trust you to go into combat.

I trust you to take care of everybody.

And I trust you to bring everybody back alive.

You're the lowest ranking person, the least experienced, the youngest person.

And I still put their lives in your hands, but we can't do that if we don't have

the training in the process in place.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Oh, that's really cool.

I love that because And I think in the training too, it gives you the

ability to help them connect the dots.

this is where you fit into this.

Cause you're saying that was an amazing statement.

I've never thought about that.

80 percent of this plane is controlled by 17, 18 year old kids.

This rascal, that's actually terrifying, but it's not because you're taking them

through exactly what you're talking about.

you're taking them through trusted training where they can

see where they're, we're there.

Whatever they're over, whatever system or process they're over, how it affects the

big picture, and then how to do that well.

and you're being very clear with that.

So I think that's really a good methodology.

I think I love that methodology.

When you talk about, sometimes the organizations, I think we struggle because

organizations will want to trust people.

And maybe they trust them too much.

They don't develop the, maybe the processes as clearly as they should.

And then when someone fails, they're like, Oh, you just, you can't, this, we

shouldn't have trusted you with that.

I think on the other side, I think there's some organizations that

they want to put in the systems and processes, and they do that so much

that it feels like big brother.

Like we're literally micromanaging everything.

Everything.

how do you feel about the balance between, how do you balance that trust where I'm

giving you trust with the accountability so it doesn't feel like big brother, but

it definitely feels yeah, you got my back.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: No, I start with this famous quote,

trust, but verify, so while I'm going to trust you, I do have to verify

that you're doing the job the right.

way.

And so sometimes people, they misinterpret or they misuse.

and, or they're misguided with this idea of trust.

And so they do it blindly and they give it to people and they go, Oh, I trust you.

you really didn't trust me because you didn't have a foundation

and a basis for the trust at the level that I need to have it at.

so then you basically set me up for failure.

Okay.

So now the next piece is if I come in there and I go, Hey

Dallas, why are you doing this?

And you're like, you're screwing this up and I'm gonna,

I'm gonna punish you Dallas.

I.

Immediately I go timeout.

I go for that leader in that situation.

Before you punish Dallas, let me ask you a couple of questions.

Can you emphatically say that you gave Dallas the training that he needed,

that you validated that he understood it and can actually implement it?

can you emphatically tell me, That you've given him the process and support

that validated that he understands it validated that they actually work Because

if you can't do that then instead of punishing Dallas I think perhaps I need

to punish you because you didn't do your job and you set him up for failure,

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: That's right?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: And so there's this balance of accountability.

Who's accountable?

Now, me as the person who's learning it, I have to be accountable, right?

That's that self accountability.

But then when I'm put in that position of leadership to train people, to get

people ready to go into combat, the combat of life, the combat of work

and everything else that we're doing, I, as that leader, I have to accept

accountability on what I'm capable of and what I'm expected to do.

and sometimes that accountability means I do need to go and trust, but

verify that you're doing it correctly.

You know, at the airlines every year, people don't realize this.

We come back every year and we do annual training to make sure that we utilize

the training and the processes correctly.

Right?

We

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: It's not one and done.

It's not okay, you've got your, you've learned how to fly.

See ya.

not that it's over and over reinforcement.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: we do quarterly trainings on our iPads

and then we annually come in and we do simulators and we do face to face

training and we validate that people understand this stuff because there

are things that We, hope never happens.

I hope that I never have to, have an engine fire in an airplane.

I hope that I never have an engine failure in an airplane.

I hope that the engine never fails when I'm close to the runway.

All of these really challenging things.

But annually, I have to come in and practice that to make sure

that I remember how to do it.

You see what I'm saying?

And not just go, I trained you 10 years ago.

You've been here for 10 years, man.

You should know how to do that now.

I hope that the engine doesn't fail and I hope that you

remember how to do it if it does.

But most people they're operating like that, they expect us to just do it.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: We talk about that and we have a book

we came out with last fall called Lift.

, it's a business fable.

And so one of the things that we talk about is principles related

to, high performing cultures.

And one of the things we have.

In it is we talk about routines and the, we have acronyms that

go along with each of these.

And the first thing on routines is having planning routines and it's

routinely going through planning.

And it just reminds me totally, I mean, exactly down the middle of

what you just said, you're coming in.

Every single year, quarterly, and then yearly, and you're going through

these routines that are planning.

You're literally planning.

What am I going to do if this happens?

If this catastrophe happens, I don't want it to happen.

that's not necessarily that I expect it to happen.

I hope that it doesn't happen, but if it does happen, I'm playing, I'm very planned

on how I'm going to deal with that.

and I do that routinely.

And I think that's just, I think that's so cool.

I think it's important for teams.

Sometimes we get into, we think about planning as it relates to,

And what am I going to do on my calendar over the next 30 days?

Or when are we going to launch this new product or service, or

how am I going to do this or that?

And it's definitely planning, but I think that it's planning for what we know

and not necessarily planning for what could happen, the contingencies on that.

And I think that what you're going into saying, look, I know that over

the next 30 days, I'm going to be making these flights, but what I

don't know is how smooth or how, consistent that's going to be.

And so I'm planning for these contingencies as well.

And I think as teams, as team leaders, as business owners, have you taken a minute?

Like a simple thing for business leaders could be a continuity plan

for their business or their team.

Have you, what happens if there's a tornado or there's a hurricane or an

earthquake, or there's a fire, just have you even had a conversation about that?

Have you have a conversation with your team about who's

working from where and all that?

Have you written it down?

Have you got in a plan?

So I think that's really good advice for people.

Oh

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: powerful, man.

there are a lot of people that were operating from the information inside of

our heads and we never put it on paper.

And so the beauty is what I do is I try to show people what we do in the military

aviation community, what we do in the airline aviation community, and why

we're able to operate in a smooth manner.

And it's because majority, if not all of the things that we need are on paper.

did you know Dallas that there are times where I show up to fly an

airplane at the airlines and I've never met any of the other pilots.

I've never met any of the cabin crew and I've never flown to the destination.

And I've even had it to where none of the pilots have flown

to that destination before.

And there are 300 paying passengers in the back of the 700, 7, 000 pound airplane

ready to fly across the Atlantic ocean.

They have no idea.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Oh wow.

That's incredible.

That's awesome.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: But we can do that because we have

standard operating procedures.

We have checklist and we also when we look to our left and we look

to our right, we know the kind of training that we've each gone through.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: So there's an even more trust

that you have in them because you know what they've been through.

They've been verified.

So

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: there's this, we're in this place where

there's a transition of knowledge and you've got the older generation that

are starting to phase out and they haven't put their knowledge on paper to

pass it on to those younger generations so that they can carry the torch.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: I love this conversation, especially as it

relates to you being on and leading teams.

We've talked about trust and your system, the no fail trust

methodology, which is fantastic.

What would you say to leaders that are wanting to create a high performing team?

We've talked about trust.

Is there any other things that you experienced in your time in the military

or in aviation that you would say goes into the, Goes into the soup of making

a high performance team, that recipe.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: a high performance team.

It's all about the people.

a team is just a collection of people.

And so in the nucleus of that team is the leader, whether it's the leader by

title or is the leader by influence.

And so they are the nucleus, that person who's leading that team again, by whether

title or influence or combination thereof.

And when you have that, they understand the right people,

they understand the right.

mix of people.

and then within that, the other piece that I really harp on

is the psychological safety.

leaders, they create a commitment culture, that commitment to

the team, to the mission, the vision, the values to each other.

And then that leader in doing that and creating that commitment culture,

that leader, they create that psychologically safe space where we can

go, Hey man, I got some I want to add.

Oh, what do you got Dallas?

Hey, I got.

I think this might not be a good idea.

I think we should do it differently.

And you're not worried about, am I going to be ridiculed?

Am I going to be put down?

Am I going to be disrespected because I'm the new guy or I'm the young guy?

those simple things alone are huge for creating a high performance team.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: I love that.

I love that.

I love that.

That's, the commitment, commitment culture.

Oh, that's such a, that's an awesome way to put that.

and I love that because what you're doing is saying that as a leader, you're

driving these commitments and you're committing to specific, very specific

ideas and behaviors that are very, you're trying to drive consistency on that.

And alignment around that.

And so if you have an idea that's within that wheelhouse, you have that safety

cause you're like, no, this is who we are.

This is our identity.

This is what we do.

So I can absolutely speak freely about this because I know the guardrails.

I know where we play.

And

I think that's so true.

I think having alignment around that culture and the commitment,

whatever the values are.

It is a fundamental responsibility of the leader.

And I think a lot of times we overlook the importance of that and we think,

okay, we've put our values on the wall and, they've been there for 15 years

and 80 percent of the employees couldn't even tell you, three of them, much less

all five, but whatever you check the box of values and think that's good.

But, What you're saying is completely different than that.

What you're saying is that the leader's responsibility is not to

put those values on the wall, create them and put them on the wall.

The leader's responsibilities is to drive that into the team's

behavior, the thoughts, the, really the identity of who they are.

And that is, it's just fundamental.

And I think that the leaders who do that well are the ones that can

create those high performance teams.

That's really good advice.

Good insights.

What do you think that are some action steps that leaders can take immediately

if they're leading a team and they want to create this high performing team?

What are some action steps related to either trust or creating that culture

that you talked about that they can take, that you would advise them to do

to increase the level of their engagement

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: You know, the first thing, of course,

as I mentioned a moment ago, is that psychological safety, what are

you doing to create psychological safety in your organization?

and I do this exercise on stage in front of audiences.

And I says, I want you to think about when you first came to the workplace, the

person that you work with or work for, were they a leader, a manager or a boss?

the boss, that boss, we all know the type there.

They're all about compliance.

Shut up in color.

Do as I say, not as I do.

It's an open door policy, not for you to come in, but for me to come out and make

sure that I'm micromanaging you to death.

The manager, they're trying to manage people like they manage a spreadsheet.

The leader, we know the type, they care, they're compassionate, they're,

they have empathy, they have emotional intelligence, all these things, and

they have that commitment to the team?

and they create that commitment culture.

when you first came to the workplace, was that person that you worked for work with?

Were they a leader, a manager or boss and why?

And people that get this very visceral response, either in

a good way or in a bad way.

The bad ones, they remember that person who is a total donkey.

The good ones, they remember that person.

They smile and they go, man, that's the reason I'm here today.

Because that person believed in me, right, they gave me access to success.

They told me what I was capable of.

They told me what was possible.

And then I said, now come to present day.

And if I went into your workplace, what would the people that work with you

and work for you, what would they say?

Would they call you a leader, a manager or a boss?

And why?

And then I encourage people

to.

Yeah.

like

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: stepping on people's toes man,

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: brother,

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: half the audience has got

bloody toes, oh no, yes,

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: know what I mean?

And you can see in some audiences, man, it gets a little

uncomfortable for some audiences.

And then I says, what I next want you to think about is what can

you do every single day to get 0.

1 percent better?

just point, just 0.

1 percent better.

And in an easy way for you to do that as a leader, eight, The easy actionable

step to create this environment that I'm talking about is to three things.

Hear people, understand them and acknowledge them.

When you hear them, you understand them, acknowledge them.

You let them know that you actually see them and you value them.

And then when they bring you the issues, when they bring you the

challenges, when they tell you that something isn't right, take action.

That's what leaders do.

And if you just start with that, to just say, you know what,

I'm going to be more dialed in.

I'm going to, I'm going to look around and see who's actually on my team.

What are they actually doing?

Who are they?

Where are they from?

How many children do they have?

This is not meant to coddle people.

It's not meant to be a best friend with people, but it's meant to

get to know who your team is.

Because when we go into combat, I want to know who I'm in combat with.

I want to know what you value, right?

if family values is up here and mines are up here, then we've now finds found

something that we can identify on.

And when you just, if you just start with that as a leader, man, you'll

start seeing the dynamic change and how people respond to you as a leader.

You'll start seeing the team coming together and they'll

start doing the same things.

And then you'll start seeing people bring out the best qualities of who they are.

And they're going to be committed.

To making that team in that environment, a better environment.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: Oh, that is so good.

I love that.

You want to hear, you want to understand, acknowledge, and

then you want to take action.

And it definitely is in that order because if you just are a leader, that's moving,

it's moving, then a lot of times your movement can create a wake of destruction.

Because

you may have a good intentions, but if you haven't verified

what you're doing to back it up.

A lot of times you're just wreaking havoc on your team.

And I think for what you're saying is you're going in and saying, let

me listen to my team and we make sure that I understand what they say.

I still got to be a leader.

I've still got to be cast to that vision and leading the team.

But if I just understand and acknowledge what they say, it gives me so much more

confidence that when I'm moving, that I'm

not.

I'm not leaving destruction in my wake, but I'm actually bringing people with me

and we're all charging the hill together.

So I think that is such good advice.

Listening to your team, getting to know them, getting to understand them

is a great way to, to create and begin to create that high performing team.

Jason, this has just been the best conversation.

I really have enjoyed this conversation.

I want to give our listeners, if they want to book you for a speaking

engagement, find out more information.

by book, how can they find out more information and connect with you?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: The easiest place to go is no fail, trust.

com N O F a I L T R U S T.

com.

would love to, to chat with folks.

And if someone wants to reach out directly, again, you can email

me at Jason at no fail, trust.

com.

And, There's the seven skill sets that goes along with

this no fail trust framework.

If they want to get a copy of those seven skill sets, gives

a lot of great information.

Go to no fail, trust.

com slash seven, the number seven and skill sets all together.

No fail, trust.

com slash seven skill sets.

And you'll be able to get a free download.

Again, would love to hear from you?

guys and hear what your thoughts are.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: That's awesome.

All right.

Last 10 percent listeners, you've got a free download of the seven

skill sets, for no fail trust.

Please take advantage of that.

We're going to put all these addresses in the show notes.

So if you're driving down the road right now, don't stop.

Take out a pencil.

Just.

Just click on the show notes and we'll have those links available

for you at the end of the show.

Jason, we always ask our guests who they would like to hear

as a guest on the last 10%.

So who would you like to hear as a future guest on the last 10%?

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Man, I've got a couple I'll

throw out there for you.

maybe more than a couple.

So one is my good friend, John Register.

He's a great person.

John Register overcoming, and hurtling adversity.

You want to talk to somebody about combat stuff?

I've got two amazing women.

One of them is retired Colonel Kim Casey Campbell.

She was an A 10%?

fighter pilot and just has an amazing story of, overcoming adversity in

combat and just a bunch of other amazing stories of leadership.

And then Lisa Jaster.

She is a West Point graduate and Lisa is a army ranger.

She was one of the few women to make it through the army ranger program,

and she is just a total bad bleep and, just amazing leadership lessons.

dallas-burnett_19_07-24-2024_153848: That's awesome.

All three of those sound amazing.

We'll definitely get with you after the show and see if we can connect

with them because that, they all sound like great guests on the last 10%.

Definitely living in the last 10 percent as you are as well.

So thank you.

Thank you again, Jason, for being on the Sharing some incredible wisdom

and insights for our listeners.

I know everybody's just had the best time listening to your story and all

the wisdom that you've given to us.

So thanks again for being on the show.

jason-o--harris_1_07-24-2024_133847: Thank you, my friend.

It's been an absolute pleasure and a privilege.