The Aerospace Executive Podcast

Business Aircraft Sales in 2020 – 30 Minutes with Don Dwyer

The business aviation space saw a slight decrease in transactions in the past year, but there are still ample opportunities in the market. Don Dwyer, Managing Partner at Guardian Jet, shares why he’s bullish on business aircraft sales. 

 

Don’t panic about major changes in the industry just yet. Carbon footprint-related changes in the industry won’t be our reality for some time. -Don Dwyer

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Don’t panic over slight market drops - although there was a small decrease in the number of transactions in 2019, there has been a general trend of stabilization over the past 3 years. 
  
• There is a lot of competition. Be smart and respond to exactly what the customer wants. 
  
• Aircraft buyers and sellers must be willing to negotiate. With ample competition, sophisticated buyers are able to take their business elsewhere.

Serving the New Generation of FBO Clients w/Anthony Banome

The new challenge in Business Aviation is catering to a new generation of aircraft owners and flyers. On this episode, FBO Director of Sales for Fontainebleau Aviation, Anthony Banome shares his thoughts on keeping the FBO flourishing in the future.

Focus on speeding up your responsiveness- younger owners are typically pretty savvy with communication and response time. -Anthony Banome

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Be more communication savvy and offer quicker response times. The younger generation of aircraft owners tend to expect faster results.
  
• Mimic the format of larger FBO chains but take advantage of their weaknesses. Clients are accustomed to bigger FBO chains, but there’s always room for improvement. 
   
• Work with the client’s preferred mode of communication in mind. There are so many ways to communicate today, that it only makes sense to tailor our interactions to the clients’ needs and desires.
  
  

On this episode, we spoke about the importance of building and maintaining relationships in an FBO business. After discussing how to interact with new clients, we also discussed how business aviation can impact our clients’ lives- both in terms of their businesses and with regard to family life. 

We also discussed:

• Why word-of-mouth advertising will always have tremendous value
• That we need to stop comparing ourselves to competitors and strive to be the best
• The key changes in the business aviation and FBO space
  

Guest Bio

Anthony Banome is the FBO Director of Sales for Fontainebleau Aviation. Banome joined the company in 2017 to help manage, grow, and overlap all aspects of Fontainebleau’s brand new facility and services. Building a strong network and providing first-class hangar, office, and fuel services are the primary focus.

Anthony received his education from Saint John’s University Tobin College of Business in New York City. Before breaking into the corporate world, he taught Mathematics for the New York City Department of Education. After teaching, he honed his FBO management and aviation skills during his ten years as Director of Sales at Meridian – located at Teterboro Airport. Anthony was presented the “40 under Forty” award by Airport Business in 2013 for being one of “the best and brightest” in the industry. He looks to bring the same passion and analytical approach to Fontainebleau Aviation.

 

Banome is also a volunteer and active member in Humble Heroes; a group of committed volunteers joining forces with members of the FDNY to achieve one common goal-  to lift the spirits of ill and grieving children. Disguised as the most infamous superheroes of our time, they visit local hospitals and grief centers to bring joy and inspire kids to keep fighting life’s injustices.

 

To find out more about Anthony, visit:

https://fontainebleauaviation.com/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-banome-39036341/ 

You can also call him on O.(305) 685-4646 or C.(718) 344-3638

 

Learn More About Your Host:

 

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.

Resolutions: What Happens When You Stick to Them?

It’s the end of New Year Resolution Season. How are yours coming along?  On this episode, we talk about eliminating resolutions and substituting them with small, actionable habits and routines that get results.  

Tie your goals to a metric- it gives you something more concrete to work on. -Matt Johnson

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Resolutions are thoughts and wishes, while habits are action. Create simple habits. 
  
• Results require commitments. Commitments require conscious decisions. Be intentional!
  
• Tie your goals to easy actions in order to achieve metrics which give you something concrete to work towards. Everyone can walk 100 more yards or make 3 more phone calls a day.
  

 

Learn More About Your Host:

 

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.

Everything Has a Shelf Life - Make Yours Unlimited

The abrupt dismissal of Boeing CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, proves that all jobs have a shelf life. How can we extend ours and is there any risk in having conversations with other industry players? On this episode, we share the power of networking and how to make our career opportunities unlimited.

Go to conferences, and pay your way if need be. See what’s out there and learn something. -Craig Picken

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Don’t get complacent. No matter how comfortable you are there is always a chance that could change. Every company is for sale!
  
  
• Conversations, Networking and Industry Conferences are essential to build relationships and learn about career opportunities.
   
• Read, Read and Read some more. Knowledge about your industry is power!

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves. 

Call-to-Action - For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://goo.gl/3piJkw. To learn more about Craig Picken and the NorthStar Group, visit http://northstaresg.com/.

How to Treat Your Business Like a Bicycle w/Rich Allen

Creating a better team, with a clear vision, is like riding a bike. It’s a simple matter of ensuring everyone gets a smooth and comfortable ride. Rich Allen, author, speaker and business advisor at Tour de Profit, Rich Allen, shares why building a business is like riding a bike.

If any function of a bike goes down, it becomes unrideable. No part is more important than another - whether on a bicycle or in a business. -Rich Allen

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Business is like a bike. If one component of a bike stops working, it’s trouble ahead. For a smooth ride, every team member has to be the right fit.
  
  
• Set the vision and steer the business. It’s impossible to arrive at the right destination if we don’t know where we’re going.
   
• Think of hiring processes and onboarding programs to the business like a bicycle seat. Make it as comfortable as possible for new talent to join our ranks.

We also discussed:

• How to motivate team members
• Why we need stricter hiring processes in place
• When culture is more important than skill

 

Guest Bio

Rich Allen is a business advisor at Tour de Profit with a mission to put an end to small business failure. As an engaging speaker focused on inspiring businesses and helping them strategize new ideas, Rich is passionate about helping small business owners tackle the challenges they face in a competitive marketplace. In his sessions, he teaches business owners how to create profitable, sustainable businesses driven by precision-selected, high performance teams.

To find out more about Rich and Tour de Profit, head to 

tourdeprofit.com/aerospace

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.

Effective Negotiation: Remaining Calm and Nimble During Difficult Conversations - Derek Gaunt

Negotiations can be uncomfortable, difficult and even contentious. Former Hostage Negotiator Derek Gaunt, author of “Ego, Authority, Failure”, teaches business leaders to gain trust and negotiate evenly when emotions are running high. 

Every difficult conversation is a guided discovery process. -Derek Gaunt  

Takeaways + Tactics 

• A negotiation is nothing more than a difficult conversation. Discomfort and negative emotions impede our ability to cognitively process that which is in front of us.
  
• Awkwardness promotes accelerated learning because it forces the brain to focus more. When feeling awkward, our brain is telling us there’s no synaptic connection developed for the skill. 
   
• Most of us are intermittent or rebuttal listeners. We get so focused on the threat, demand or request, that we don’t try to find out which is driving it. 
  
• It is impossible to be angry and afraid if you’re genuinely curious about what the other side has to say.
  

Guest Bio 

Derek is a lecturer, expert negotiation trainer, coach at Black Swan Group and author of Ego, Authority, Failure: Using Emotional Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed as a Leader. 

He has 29 years of law enforcement experience - 20 of which as a team member, leader, and then commander of hostage negotiations teams in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. He is a hostage negotiation and incident command subject matter expert who frequently speaks at hostage negotiations and SWAT conferences across the country. As a member of the Black Swan Group, he is a negotiation trainer and personal coach. Derek has trained throughout the US and around the world, instructing business organizations on how to apply hostage negotiations practices and principles to their world. Derek presents seminars and in-house training programs in a variety of environments. His presentations are engaging and filled with useful techniques for understanding human behavior and navigating difficult conversations. His training has helped leaders and their organizations increase their performance by changing the way they think about communicating one person to another. 

For more information visit https://www.blackswanltd.com/ and buy his book Ego, Authority, Failure: Using Emotional Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed as a Leader here.

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.

Peak Performance & Resilience, Getting to the Top - David Butler

Peak performance is what gets us to the next level, but it doesn’t come easy. What do peak performers have in common? David Butler, Performance Coach, World-Class Athlete and experienced business leader, discusses what it takes for us to reach our goals. 

Part of mental toughness is understanding that there’s a long-term benefit and a short-term pain in getting what you want to achieve. -David Butler  

Takeaways + Tactics 

• True resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and re-engage life with enthusiasm   
   
• The reason people quit is because the cost of what they want to achieve isn’t worth the end result 
  
• Mindfulness is the ability to look at the present and let go of the past
   
• In most organizations, trust is only surface deep. The distrust underneath is what makes it hard for people to form cohesive teams

 

Guest Bio

David is the Senior VP of Leadership and Organizational Development. He is a recognized thought leader in peak performance strategies with over 30 years of executive leadership in human capital performance. He develops solutions for addressing leadership and organizational challenges and is an elite performance consultant for Olympic athletes and military special forces operators.

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves. 

Effectively Transitioning to a Leadership Role - Jason Roncoroni

Transitioning to a leadership role can be overwhelming. Are you mentally prepared for the task?

President of Ordinary Hero Coaching Jason Roncoroni shares best practices to transition into bigger roles.

People who adapt will thrive, and those who don’t will be left behind. -Craig Picken

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Stop attaching identity (title) to positions. To thrive, we have to become our most authentic selves. 
   
• Effective leaders are those who emulate the type of leadership they have thrived under.
   
• Stop playing it safe. People often avoid leadership positions because they fear change.

 

Guest Bio

Jason Roncoroni is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and former battalion commander from the United States Army. He served 33 months in combat over 3 deployments and has the unique distinction of having transitioned from the military twice. He left the army as a junior captain only to return to the military after 9/11, and he most recently retired after 21 years of active duty service. Since leaving the military, Jason has become a nationally recognized thought leader who has advised senior military leaders, policy makers, and government officials on military transition and reintegration. 

Jason has also authored white papers and won several awards for innovations related to veteran health and military transition. He has been invited to be a core member of international collaborative efforts created to address issues related to military transition and civilian reintegration, and recently co-authored the book Beyond the Military: A Leader's Handbook for Warrior Reintegration. As the founder of Ordinary Hero Coaching, Inc., he is a nationally recognized executive coach and leadership consultant. He is Commandant's List graduate from the United States Military Academy, the recipient of a Master of Science in I/O Psychology from Capella, and graduated valedictorian from his MBA class at the University of North Carolina's Keenan-Flagler Business School.  His notable military awards include the Legion of Merit, 3 Bronze Stars, 2 Meritorious Service Medals, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Combat Action Badge. Jason lives in North Carolina with his wife - Jill, his two sons - Aidan and Everett, and his dog - Marley.  

 

To find out more about Jason, head to:

https://www.OrdinaryHeroCoaching.com/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonroncoroni/

You can also email him on jason.roncoroni@ordinaryherocoaching.com

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.

How Business can Benefit from Military Aviation Training – Kevin Sweeney

Military tactics can easily transition to business and help build strong teams. Accomplished author, businessman and USAF pilot talks about the importance of teamwork and how, as leaders, we should be interacting with those around us.

When it comes to surviving a disaster, it’s not what you do at the time of crisis, it’s what you’ve done prior to that. -Lt Colonel Kevin Sweeney

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• As individuals, it is easy to focus on climbing the corporate ladder. But success comes when we work in teams.  
• Empower every team member to say something if they see a problem because, when disaster strikes, everyone is at risk. 
• Train teams to anticipate problems to ensure they can handle pressure before they find themselves in a difficult position.

 

Guest Bio

Kevin Sweeney, 'The Colonel,' has been a leader of men and women for over 30 years. He is a leadership expert who speaks to corporations and associations on performance under pressure, decisive leadership, and how to become the teammate your customers covet. He is the author of two books, Conversations with the Colonel: Lessons in Life, Leadership, and Wisdom & Pressure Cooker Confidence, How to Lead When the Heat is On.

'The Colonel' is the only person to have ever landed a KC-135, the military version of the Boeing 707, after the two engines on his left wing came totally off the airplane — and he did it at night, at maximum gross weight on a Desert Storm Combat mission.

He has also been an Executive at a Fortune 50 company, a major software company, and an all conference athlete in college.

 

To find out more about Kevin, visit 

https://sweeneyspeaks.com/about/ 

You can also email him on kevin@sweeneyspeaks.com

Or call him directly on 8172518767

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.

Have the Conversation

The end of the 20th century brought the end of job security. It’s now evident… Your job or your best employee can quickly disappear in the keystrokes of a simple email. It’s for that reason why we should NEVER STOP HAVING CONVERSATIONS!

Companies should always be recruiting, because you never know when your talent will leave. The last thing you need is to say ‘what now?’ -Craig Picken

 

Takeaways + Tactics 

• Never have a mindset that all the seats are full. No matter how good your current team, keep recruiting. You never know when someone might leave.
  
  
• Always be having conversations. They’re the best way to network and gain an understanding of the world around you. 
   
  
• Continual conversations show that we’re open to change and show other industry players we are adaptable.
  
  

Learn More About Your Host: 

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.