One of the most memorable was early in primary flight training for the Navy. It was my last flight before the Christmas Holidays and it went poorly, not F but

One of the most memorable was early in primary flight training for the Navy. It was my last flight before the Christmas Holidays and it went poorly, not F but C- quality. I really liked the instructor, a cool guy helicopter pilot. Walking back from the plane, he said it didn’t go well. I agreed and said my mind just wasn’t in it, thinking about the holidays. He stopped, turned to me and said, “I don’t want to hear that f#%ing s%$t. Don’t make f#%ing excuses.” He said a few more mean things that I can’t recall. I didn’t like the instructor after that, but the lesson stuck. I never made excuses again. Over the years I noticed that a lot of the people I respected the most would do the opposite, take responsibility for everything, even if it wasn’t really their fault. It was a recurring theme in Naval Aviation. I saw a similar ethos when I worked with Special Forces. At my current job, a late stage startup, I see directors blame other teams, blame subordinates, blame everyone but themselves. In Naval Aviation it’s called the ‘excuse matrix’. I’m sure that early in a startups life this behavior must be minimal since too much would doom the business, however, there’s nothing like life or death to truly hone the principle of not making excuses.