https://youtu.be/9Oxw0Qr6LXI
Christian Boucousis, CEO of Afterburner, is driven by a mission to bring the fighter pilot mindset into business, helping leaders debrief daily and achieve high-impact performance through structured reflection and action.
We discuss the ORCA Debrief framework, which consists of Objective, Result, Cause, and Action. This framework allows teams to expand their comfort zones and improve performance by focusing on small, actionable steps and learning from each experience. Christian shares how debriefing, a core fighter pilot practice, can accelerate learning, enhance accountability, and drive meaningful progress in any organization. He emphasizes the power of disciplined execution and continuous improvement to thrive in high-speed, complex environments. Learn more about how the fighter pilot mindset can transform your leadership by tuning into the episode.
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Debrief Daily with Christian Boucousis
Good day, dear listeners. This is Steve Preda with the Management Blueprint Podcast, and my guest today is Christian Boucousis, otherwise known as Boo, the CEO of Afterburner, who is helping teams achieve peak performance with elite fighter pilot strategies. Boo, welcome to the show.
Hey, Steve. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited to be on the show and also to meet you again. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Yeah. And you've got a great Aussie accent, but you are in the United States. So, tell me a little bit about what is your personal “Why,” your personal purpose, and how do you manifest it in your business? And then how did you end up in the United States?
Good question. I'm super lucky in that I was kind of gifted with purpose when I was a kid, when I was five. And I think as I get older and I look back, I realized how lucky I was when I went to an air show and saw fighter jets flying for the first time. And I guess for some kids or people that go to those air shows and maybe they're not connected with something they're gonna be, but for me it was, I was always gonna be a fighter pilot. And it only took 16 years, but when I turned 21, I was a fighter pilot. And here I am, only a few weeks away from turning 50, and I'm still donning a flight suit, still talking about fighter pilot stuff.
So my “Why” is to translate a way of thinking and a way of working that I was blessed to learn as a fighter pilot, but more specifically applied to business and life. And that's something I've done at a very personal level, founding my own businesses, four of them. And now as the CEO and owner of Afterburner, having acquired this business, which is the fighter pilot mindset, has been teaching fighter pilot methodologies for nearly 29 years around the world.
Yeah, that's interesting. So is this just why you moved over here because this business was located here?
Absolutely, yeah. If I looked at, I came across a great saying the other day from Gary Brecker and he said, "The pursuit of comfort is what ages us," and if I'm honest, when I was in Australia before I bought Afterburner, I was in a comfort zone, making good money. I'd sold my businesses. COVID was a bit tough, but bounced back. Everything was kind of cool. And this opportunity came up, which was actually at a personal level, a lot more challenging, a lot less comfortable. The company was quite distressed. I kind of made a decision that I'd never want to be a CEO or run a company again. But when I came back to it, I said, I believe in this and I have to spread this as far and as wide as humanly possible. And to acquire this platform was the best way to fulfill that belief.
Wow, that is exciting. I love this comfort zone. I like this quote that really made me think about some of the things I discussed with my sister over our vacation and she gave me this advice that, hey, get out of your comfort zone. And sometimes you're a coach and this is what you tell your clients, but the cobbler’s sons go bare feet kind of thing and you forget it yourself.