How Dark Is Your Cockpit?

Best Seller TV, the only show dedicated to covering today’s best-selling business books on C-Suite TV, is announcing a new episode featuring Octavian Pantis and Captain Emil Dobrovolschi, authors of Dark Cockpit: How to Communicate, Lead, and Be in Control at All Times Like an Airline Captain.

What does the airline industry have in common with the business world? Communication. This key element can have disastrous consequences in our everyday lives, but more so when you’re a pilot. Capt. Dobrovolschi and Pantis wrote the book to showcase the parallels of how communication can affect our respective professional industries. Pantis says the book is about leadership and being a better professional, regardless of what we do for a living.

In his capacity as a professional airline pilot, Captain Dobrovolschi is very familiar with the term “dark cockpit.” In layman’s terms, it refers to the concept of the cockpit being dark, with only environmental lights on. Basically, everything is going as it should. Right now, Pantis adds, people are feeling overwhelmed and facing many uncertainties making it “easy to see the ‘lights’ going on in our lives.” He emphasizes the importance of having leaders communicate effectively with their own teams to help alleviate the warning lights going off around them. That sense of constant communication is an important element to run their teams productively without additional distractions.

They equated pilots flying with different crews all the time; therefore, having to navigate different communication styles every single time while managing to perform successfully. It’s the same in business — and even though we don’t change co-workers every day, we still have to engage with everyone around us, including clients and vendors just as effectively.

The book also focuses on fomenting the right attitude, how to make better decisions, and enhance our situational awareness. Captain Dobrovolschi says the most important skill pilots can develop is non-technical skills and strongly believes pilots are expert communicators. In fact, Pantis reiterates that a pilot’s main responsibility is to notice what is going on in the aircraft, to assess everything and take into account all the information from all possible sources. It’s what they call building their decision.

In business, he adds, entrepreneurs tend to rush into things instead of taking their time to assess the situation. Instead, they should be more selective about rushing into a situation and spend more time analyzing it thoroughly because a bad decision can sometimes cost lives.

All episodes of Best Seller TV air on C-Suite TV and are hosted by TV personality, Taryn Winter Brill.

Best-selling author, speaker, and former Fortune 100 CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett created Best Seller TV to give top-tier business authors a forum for sharing thought-provoking insights, in-depth business analysis, and their compelling personal narratives.

“I’ve always preached the “no one will die” mantra and while in most situations this is 100 percent true, there are other situations where bad, or ineffective communication can cost lives.” Hayzlett said. “In my line of work, nothing major will happen when there’s miscommunication, but as leaders, we have to do everything in our power to mitigate those risks and be as effective as possible when communicating with everyone around us. Get the book, watch the episode, and make an effort to become a better communicator.”

For more information on TV episodes, visit www.csuiteold.c-suitenetwork.com/tv and for more information about the authors featured in Best Seller TV episodes, visit www.c-suitebookclub.com.