Right rudder!(learning to fly and management) (Brief Article)

• Author: WIESNER, PAT

A long time ago I decided that I wanted to learn how to fly. What really happened was my wife gave me one of those $15 trial flights for my birthday, and I've been at it ever since. But a couple of times, early instructors almost made me quit. I particularly remember one guy who seemed to try very hard to make something that I enjoyed into something that I dreaded.

When first learning to do a takeoff in a single-engine aircraft, the fledging pilot must learn to apply right rudder to compensate for the left turning tendency due to engine torque. In the beginning it's not the most instinctive thing to do, so beginners need to be reminded from time to time. What my nemesis would do is remind me by shouting louder each time, "Right rudder! RIGHT RUDDER, RIGHT RUDDER!" He would then add remarks about how even the dumbest recruit could tell his right foot from the left and how one has to have an IQ higher than 50 to be a pilot. It got so that I couldn't have found my right foot with both hands.

Session after session, all I tried to do was please the man rather than to understand or learn what it was I needed to learn. I don't remember how I outlasted that guy, but the time it took me to learn to fly was longer because of him. I almost decided not to learn at all (because I thought it was too tough for me).

What we say to people and how we say it can have a big effect on what they learn and, more importantly, how they feel about themselves and you. Avoid at all costs working for or being any of the following:

EGO DRACULA. There are some people who seem to feel better about themselves only if they can diminish someone else. A couple of years ago I went to a business meeting where the boss thought he was entertaining us and proving to us just how smart he was by constantly belittling his second in command. He would say something about how nearly incompetent his lieutenant was and then look at us out of the corner of his eye...