Afterburner Inc

I am going to turn you into a modern business warrior ... equipped in every way to fight and win I am going to turn you into a modern business warrior...equipped in every way to fight and win the vital battles that are a daily part of your business life. Your transformation from sheep to lion will require a change in your attitude, and that change involves your understanding that business really is combat, in the most visceral and urgent sense. To win, you must be absolutely prepared.

-- James D. Murphy

Your pulse quickens. Your mind focuses. The mission is clear, the maneuvers rehearsed, and there are no second chances. You are about to engage in supersonic jet combat at 45,000 feet ...

. . or maybe you're about to enter a fierce sales battle with your toughest corporate competitor.

These two scenarios are more closely related than they might appear. Business today moves faster than ever. The competition is ruthless, the pressure intense, the stakes dizzyingly high. Companies that lag behind or lose sight of their goals can self-destruct almost overnight.

What can you do to survive? James Murphy, one of America's top fighter pilots, has the answers. In Business Is Combat he shares the wisdom of his Afterburner Seminars, training you in the military techniques that have made the United States Air Force one of the most formidable organizations in the world. His key concepts, applied to both businesses and the individuals who make them work, include:

The Fighter Pilot Way

Learn that confidence inspires confidence, that discipline keeps it from going to your head, and that camaraderie will keep your company sharp.

Leaning Forward

To win, you'll have to fight the next war--not the last one. Accept and prosper from the conviction that change is good.

The Value of Intelligence

Know both yourself and your enemy before planning any attack. A little research saves lives on the battlefield and dollars on the bottom line.

Six Steps to Mission Planning

Includes a preflight checklist, from identifying the threat to setting your timing to planning for contingencies.

The Art of Execution

How to make the kill without losing your cool.

Task Saturation

A primary obstacle to flawless execution. Learn to channel and compartmentalize pressures and stress.

By combining the cool calculation of a four-star general and the hot-blooded nerve of a combat pilot, Murphy's "modern business warrior" is uniquely qualified to prioritize, maintain focus, assess risk, and develop the kind of teamwork necessary for long-term success. Whatever your mission, whatever your battle, Business Is Combat provides a blueprint for the kind of success every warrior seeks--absolute victory.

Your business can take a lesson from the American military's fighter pilots. At Mach 2, the instrument panel of an F-15 is screaming out information, the horizon is a blur, the wingman is occupied, the jet is hanging on the edge -- and yet fighter pilots routinely handle the stress. It's not much different in today's unforgiving business world. One slipup and your company is bankrupt before your employees know what hit them.

What works on the squadron level for F-15 pilots will also work for your marketing team, sales force, or research and development group. By analyzing the work environment and attacking its centers of gravity in parallel, you'll begin to utilize the Plan-Brief-Execute-Debrief-Win cycle that will rapidly impact your business's future success. U.S. fighter squadrons have been using this program for nearly fifty years to reduce their mistake rate, cut casualties and equipment losses, and rack up an envious victory record. Now, with Flawless Execution, your business can too.

For the last 50 years, elite U.S. Fighter Pilots and Special Operations teams have discovered and used a secret to continuous improvement - a tool every enterprise can benefit from. This is the disciplined and effective debrief... something most companies talk about but don't know how to do. Whether it's called reflection, feedback, or postmortem - debriefing after every project or event is not an option - it's an imperative!

Authors Murphy and Duke succinctly provide not only why to debrief, but how to conduct an effective debrief. They call it the Stealth Debrief process... providing a simple means of analyzing root causes while also yielding actionable lessons and addressing organizational weakness while empowering and reinforcing strengths.

The Debrief Imperative is a culmination of over a decade of teaching and practice in Global 1000 organizations. Keep your company fighter-pilot agile in any turbulent or changing market. Accelerate performance... learn and leverage this secret tool to organizational success.

The U.S. military in general, and its many elite organizations in particular, possesses a culture of high performance. Courage to Execute outlines the six basic principles that operate at the foundation of high performance, which include leadership, organization, communication, knowledge, experience, and discipline, known together as LOCKED. When all are practiced effectively, teamwork emerges. But the most elusive quality that exists at the heart of all elite military teams, the element that organizations and businesses deeply desire to perform more efficiently and effectively, is trust. Trust is easily spent, but hard won. Author James Murphy, an employer of approximately fifty senior military officers that have served in elite units such as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, U.S. Navy SEALS, and U.S. Army Rangers, shares a multitude of personal leadership stories that illustrates the principles of LOCKED.

• Shares compelling anecdotes from leaders in elite units of the U.S. Military
• Written by James D. Murphy, founder and CEO of Afterburner, Inc., which has trained over 1.5 million executives, sales professionals, and business people from every industry in Afterburner's Flawless Execution Model, and its unique, high-energy programs

Courage to Execute will help you develop effective leadership skills and build high-performance teams that out-compete your rivals every time.

Military veterans prepare for the next mission in their careers

Written by veterans who have successfully made the transition, Down Range offers career planning guidance to U.S. military veterans coming off active duty. This is NOT simply a guide to transitioning from the military to the civilian world. This is NOT a guide to getting a job. This book IS a guide to developing a post-military career, not just for the first few days, weeks, or months after active duty, but for the rest of your employed life.

This simple and effective planning process has been taught to more than 1 million business executives in companies all over the world.

• Explains how to build an adaptable long-range career plan called a Career High Definition Destination (HDD), across a spectrum of seven key areas
• Shows how business differs from military service, how to identify the resources needed to achieve the Career HDD, and how to develop strategic and tactical courses of action that drive you to executing towards your Career HDD on a consistent basis
• Author James Murphy is founder of Afterburner Inc. and is currently working with the U.S. Army at the highest levels to develop a transition program for the estimated 1.5 million veterans who will transition from active duty service to civilian careers by the year 2020

This book challenges veterans to change their mind-set and understand just how different the "wilderness" of civilian employment is from military experience. Down Range provides an appreciation for what's important to a business, helping you to become a valuable asset throughout your career.

At Mach 1.5, encased in 20 tons of metal, fighter pilots don't have much time to think. They prepare on the ground to take on anything in the air, then get their job done. This book's authors, former fighter pilots, have built on the techniques the air force has honed for 60 years to create a disciplined process called Flex. With their Flex program, you'll make clearer decisions, and act with more speed, more precision, more safety, and more success. Flex's proven plan-brief-execute-debrief cycle cuts through noise and complexity, engages people, and helps build an honest and open working culture. The New York Giants used Flex to finally crack the Super Bowl. PepsiCo used Flex to take on Coke. You'll see how some remarkable businesses have relied on Flex, and some remarkable pilots have taken Flex to their businesses.