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Bosses looking for an edge in the post-COVID remote work era have turned to a militaristic approach to team building — with some paying upwards of $100,000 for “Top Gun”-style simulations to rally their troops, according to a report.

The C-suite executives — from companies as varied as Nike, Pepsi and Bank of America — who “feel the need for speed” can adopt their own Maverick or Ice Man call sign and engage in missions “to rescue your teammate and bring them home, The New York Times reported.

If you lose sight of the airplane youre fighting against, you lose the fight, said Christian Boucousis, the CEO of Atlanta-based Afterburner. We use that as a metaphor if you lose sight of your business objectives, youre not going to achieve them.

Boucousis’ firm employs a team of former pilots, Navy SEALs and military commandos to train corporate executives to “execute with the same precision and accuracy as elite military aviators and special operations teams,” according to the company website.

Its Top Gun Experience training starts at $10,000 for a small team and can climb to $100,000 for a larger one, according to The Times.

“Bring out your team’s inner jet fighter pilot,” one of the company’s promotional videos states.

Afterburner offers companies “experiential team building” exercises that include “fighter pilot simulation” designed to “help your team strengthen relationships, build trust, and improve communication.”

Team members “adopt a real-life, fighter pilot call sign” while taking on roles such as “squadron commander” who are thrust into challenging scenarios that sharpen their decision-making acumen.

Afterburner is part of a trend of experiential trainings that lean on military precision as companies adapt to the work-from-home phenomenon sparked by the pandemic, experts say.

Another management training company based in the Financial District, The Squadron, uses advanced F-35 flight simulators — usually reserved for to train Israeli air force pilots — to teach corporate executives about business and life lessons.

The trainees have come from companies that include Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Google, as The Post previously reported.

Leaders are trying to regain a sense of control they feel theyve lost over the last few years, Cali Williams Yost, a workplace strategist, told The Times. Theyre searching to reassert control and power in a way that feels familiar.

The lessons aren’t limited to metaphors dealing with flying at Mach-1 speed.

Over the Wall, a company founded by former NASCAR pit crew coach Andy Papathanassiou, charges at least $10,000 to train corporate teams to replace tires on a race car as if they were manning an actual pit stop at a NASCAR event.

Papathanassiou said the aim is to inculcate an “over the wall mentality” that aims to develop “the cognitive building blocks of what athletes are.”

Testimonials posted on the company website by CEOs who have had their teams participate in the drills report that it helped improve “communication, collaboration, teamwork, and strategic thinking.”

Kris Kovacs, the CEO of fintech firm Constellation Digital Partners, told the Times that his 30 employees were made to simulate a NASCAR pit stop in the company parking lot.

It sounds silly for me to say, but the hardest part is actually getting the tire on, Kovacs told the Times.

What that teaches you is youve got to preplan. Hard things, if you practice at them and preplan, become easier and easier.

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Business

Billions for ‘unproven’ carbon capture technology will have ‘very significant’ impact on energy bills, MPs warn

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Billions for 'unproven' carbon capture technology will have 'very significant' impact on energy bills, MPs warn

The government is spending £22bn on “unproven” technologies which will have a “very significant effect” on energy bills, according to an influential committee of MPs.

There has been no assessment of whether the programme to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere is affordable for billpayers, said a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of MPs.

The financial impact on households of funding the project has not been examined by government at all, the PAC said.

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Even if the state’s investment pays off, the technology is successful and makes money, there is no way for profits to be shared to bring down bills, it added.

Private sector investors, however, would recoup investment, according to committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

“All early progress will be underwritten by taxpayers, who currently do not stand to benefit if these projects are successful,” he said. “Any private sector funding for such a project would expect to see significant returns when it becomes a success.”

That’s despite the vast majority (two-thirds) of the £21.7bn investment coming from levies on consumers “who are already facing some of the highest energy bills in the world”, it said.

But there is no evidence to say the programme will be successful despite the government “gambling” its legally mandated net zero targets on the tech, committee chair Sir Geoffrey added.

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PM to invest £22bn in carbon capture

There are no examples of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) operating at scale in the UK, according to the PAC report.

As part of its work, the PAC heard the technology may not capture as much carbon as expected.

International examples show the government’s expectations for its performance are “far from guaranteed”, it heard as part of its inquiry.

Read more:
UK’s first air capture plant to turn CO2 into jet fuel
Trump faces stick or twist China space race choice

A threat to net zero

This lack of proof of the technology working is a threat to the UK reaching its net zero 2050 emissions targets.

Last year the government downgraded the amount of carbon it expects to store each year as the goals were seen as “no longer achievable”, but no new targets have been announced, creating a shortfall in the path to net zero.

It is now “unclear” how the government will reach its goal, the PAC report said.

“Our committee was left unconvinced that CCUS is the silver bullet government is apparently betting on”, Sir Geoffrey said.

The £22bn investment was due to be made over 25 years and into five CCUS projects.

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World

Two dead after plane crashes into vehicles on busy road in Sao Paulo

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Two dead after plane crashes into vehicles on busy road in Sao Paulo

Two people have died after a plane crashed into vehicles on a busy road in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

A fire department spokesperson confirmed the deaths to local media.

The plane crashed on Marques de Sao Vicente Avenue in Barra Funda at around 7.20am local time.

Images and video footage showing a bus on fire in the aftermath.

Two people – a motorcyclist and a woman who was on the bus – were injured after they were struck by debris from the explosion, CNN Brasil reported.

The aircraft – a small twin-engine King Air – had left Campo de Marte Airport, the Brazilian television news channel reported. The control tower lost contact with the plane minutes later.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Politics

Kentucky joins growing list of US states to introduce Bitcoin reserve bill

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Kentucky joins growing list of US states to introduce Bitcoin reserve bill

Kentucky’s bill is a “massive vote of confidence in Bitcoin” that brings the US closer to a federal Bitcoin reserve.

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