One meeting in my life has had a profound effect on my life.
After I was commissioned but before flight school started, they gathered a hundred or so of us in the base theater. Everyone who went through flight school since the beginning of Naval Aviation has been in this theater. They likely had some version of the same talk. We were all newly commissioned Ensigns but from many sources. Some were ROTC, others were from the Naval Academy, the rest of us from AOCS. They filled us with standard tidbits like these:
"Look to your left. Look to your right. Only one of you will make it through."
"If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying."
"If you are caught cheating. You are out."
"Everyone is trying to kill you."
"Aviate, Navigate, Communicate."
"Altitude is life."
There were many others. All of them turned out to be true.
At a cursory level, they seem pretty self explanatory. If you go a little deeper, however, each can help you through life and business.
[Find the ways to keep things to your success]
[Explore better ways of doing things. Don’t always stick to the orthidoxy]
[Know the limits of the system]
[Don’t take everything at face value. Question]
[This one is good for projects and IT support. Keep the plane (system) airborne. Pointed in the right direction (not causing more damage) and THEN inform leadership]
[Build your own buffer in what you are doing]