No Way Out Leadership Action: How to Turn Your Ship Around and Achieve Oscar-Level Success with CAPT J. J. “Yank” Cummings, USN, Retired | Ep 11
Retired U.S. Navy Captain J.J. "Yank" Cummings is a decorated naval aviator, fighter pilot and former captain of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier. With a M.S. in Education from Old Dominion University, a M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and a Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program and TOPGUN graduate, J.J. has extensive experience in leading and managing thousands of men and women. He was a key influencer on Paramount Pictures' recent blockbuster and six-time Oscar-nominated movie, Top Gun: Maverick.
Selected chapters found in this episode:
- Leading in Conditions of Uncertainty
- Principles: Setting the Tone
- Building Exceptional Teams
- Actions, Not Words: Show Them You Care
- Nuclear Navy. Regular Navy. Fighter Aviation.
- Value (Kill) Chain Thinking: The Why Behind the What
- 1MC Thinking: Communicating the Mission, Reducing Uncertainty
- You Are Never Mission-less
- Go to the Gemba…Unannounced
- Building Credibility is Hard
- LBWA Over LBBOO
- Plan-Brief-Execute-Debrief (PBED): Focus on the “D”
- The Recall Matters (What Happened)
- At a Profit, If We Can; At a Loss, If We Must…
- Systems Drive Behaviors
- Top Gun: Maverick Started on “Yank’s” Couch
- Leadership Lessons from the Making of Top Gun: Maverick
- Team Building Outside of Work
- Blue Water Advisors
- How to Connect with “Yank”
Be sure to use the Chapters Feature on Apple and Spotify to quickly browse and navigate to segments of this episode.
J.J. "Yank" Cummings on LinkedIn
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March 25, 2025
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