Kelly Harrison | Leading with Courage: Lessons from a Navy Pilot in High-Stakes Missions
In this episode of 'Last 10%,' host Dallas Burnett interviews Kelly Harrison, a retired Navy commanding officer, decorated helicopter pilot, and founder of Mindfully Crafted Solutions. The discussion centers on her incredible career, including a harrowing helicopter crash and the leadership lessons she learned from her experiences. Kelly shares insights on the importance of technical expertise, the value of relationships, and the transition from military to civilian life. The episode also explores how businesses can better support veterans and the role of executive coaching in professional development.
Connect with Kelly - LinkedIn
Learn more about: Mindfully Crafted Solutions
Charities for Veterans: Beneath the Service and The COMMIT Foundation
Transcript
dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Hey, everybody.
Speaker:We're talking to Kelly Harrison today.
Speaker:What an amazing woman she is, a retired navy commanding officer, decorated
Speaker:helicopter pilot, and the founder of mindfully crafted Solutions empowering
Speaker:leaders in the defense tech world.
Speaker:She has some incredible stories of surviving a helicopter crash,
Speaker:leading high stakes missions, and transforming organizational cultures.
Speaker:She's a great new friend of mine.
Speaker:You don't want to miss this incredible conversation.
Speaker:Welcome last 10%.
Speaker:Your host, Dallas Burnett, dives into incredible conversations
Speaker:that will inspire you to finish well and finish strong, strong.
Speaker:Listen as guests share their journeys and valuable advice on living in the last 10%.
Speaker:If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to
Speaker:level up, you are in the right place.
Speaker:Remember, you can give 90% effort and make it a long way, but it's finding
Speaker:out how to unlock the last 10%.
Speaker:That makes all the difference in your life, your relationships, and your work.
Speaker:Now, here's Dallas.
Speaker:Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker:I am Dallas Burnett, sitting in my 1905 Koch Brothers
Speaker:barber chair in Thrive Studios.
Speaker:But more importantly, today we have a great guest.
Speaker:Kelly Harrison is a true trailblazer.
Speaker:She is a retired navy commanding officer with 21 years of service and a decorated
Speaker:helicopter pilot known as Grandma Spoons, which we will get into, and founder
Speaker:of Mindfully Crafted Solutions where she coaches, executives, and transform
Speaker:teams in the defense tech space.
Speaker:She's been recognized as one of NBC Washington's Powerhouse Women in
Speaker:Leadership, was a finalist in the 2024 US Forces in Business Awards.
Speaker:So welcome to the show, Kelly.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Thank you so much for having me, Dallas.
Speaker:I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: first of all, thank you for your service
Speaker:and uh, we just appreciate you for that.
Speaker:, I feel like I just have to start by saying you've gotta tell us a
Speaker:little bit about Grandma spoons.
Speaker:what's behind the grandma spoons?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Absolutely.
Speaker:Let's kick it off with the fun stuff, right?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: so obviously in naval aviation we
Speaker:have a tradition of giving each other call signs, and early on in my
Speaker:career, I earned the call sign spoons.
Speaker:I don't wanna tell the whole story in mixed company, but suffice to say,
Speaker:it involved a bar, a pair of spoons being played by an Irish singer,
Speaker:accompaniment, and my entire squadron getting kicked out later on in my career.
Speaker:The grandma part got added, and that occurred.
Speaker:I joined my new squadron while they were on deployment.
Speaker:They're actually, supporting efforts to help Japan following
Speaker:the Fukushima disaster.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Wow.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: pulled into Thailand and while I
Speaker:was pulling, while we were pulling into Thailand, I got the illustrious
Speaker:responsibility of the 3:00 AM flight brief to, fly anti-terrorism force protection
Speaker:as the ship pulled into the port.
Speaker:and so, as you can imagine, my first night in port, I was pretty tired.
Speaker:And so while everyone else decided to go out into town and enjoy, the town
Speaker:that we were in, I decided to go to bed around 10 o'clock and I woke up.
Speaker:when everybody came home to a jo standing over me and saying, is she really asleep?
Speaker:What a grandma And another Jo yelling, grandma, that's such a great call
Speaker:sign, and the rest is history.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh, wow.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:I love that story, man.
Speaker:so you've been all over the world, with your service and, when did
Speaker:you, eventually you guys get to help in Japan, Fukushima and all that?
Speaker:I mean, , what was that like?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: I actually joined the squadron right
Speaker:at the tail end of all of that effort.
Speaker:I met them in Sasabo, Japan.
Speaker:I flew through Narita, airport on the way down there.
Speaker:And so I heard a lot of the stories.
Speaker:I, myself did not actually participate in those relief efforts, but, I know
Speaker:that the squadron made a huge impact.
Speaker:we had one Jo that actually could speak Japanese and so
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: he supported with translation efforts,
Speaker:and basically the helicopters would go in and deliver supplies, and do another
Speaker:number of other missions, try to, figure out where people needed help to support
Speaker:the Japanese government that way.
Speaker:and did a lot of really rewarding, things in during that time.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: It's amazing because you heard a lot on
Speaker:the news about that disaster, but I had no idea that we had,, Navy officers on
Speaker:the ground, helping, delivering and I mean, you just didn't hear about that.
Speaker:You didn't hear about that part of it, or at least I didn't, it wasn't
Speaker:as prevalent and you heard about the all the bad stuff, but you
Speaker:don't hear about all the good stuff.
Speaker:So, Were you always inspired to be in aviation or you always wanted
Speaker:to kinda be in the military?
Speaker:How did you get into that?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: funny story.
Speaker:I really wanted to go to Notre Dame, and as you can imagine, the price tag on an
Speaker:education at Notre Dame was pretty hefty.
Speaker:and so I looked at a lot of different opportunities that were out there.
Speaker:My dad was actually active duty still.
Speaker:And I started college and when I was applying to colleges, so I looked at, the
Speaker:service academies and I looked at ROTC.
Speaker:And for me, ROTC really seemed like the best fit.
Speaker:And so that's how I ended up, getting a spot at Notre Dame
Speaker:with an ROTC scholarship.
Speaker:and the Navy paid for my education.
Speaker:And so I consider myself extremely fortunate to have such a great education.
Speaker:The opportunity to go into the Navy.
Speaker:I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do.
Speaker:I was very concerned about the commitment because I really was
Speaker:fascinated by Google and, I was a math and computer science major.
Speaker:Really wanted to go into the tech sector, which comes into play later on in my life.
Speaker:But, I ended up going aviation.
Speaker:And despite the longer commitment, it turned out to be a really great
Speaker:move and I just loved almost every minute of in helicopter aviation.
Speaker:So it was a really, really fantastic opportunity that came my way.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker:And for those of you that are listening, can't see, she's got
Speaker:play like a champion on a sign on her wall right behind her shoulder.
Speaker:So she is definitely Notre Dame.
Speaker:It just reminds me of Rudy, when we talk about Notre Dame.
Speaker:I can't, I just, I was able to share Rudy, the movie with my daughters
Speaker:for the first time this past year.
Speaker:They're like, ah, this is pretty cool.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:And they will bear through football games with me.
Speaker:they like certain teams because I like 'em, but, they like the movie Rudy.
Speaker:And that was cool.
Speaker:So, yeah, , I can't say Notre Dame without thinking about Rudy.
Speaker:So, let's talk a little bit about this because I want to get kind of dive
Speaker:into your incredible story, because that, is really what, how we connected.
Speaker:people are invited onto the last 10% through a lot of different ways,
Speaker:but you story actually, you made a post about it and one of our former
Speaker:guests actually Mace, liked your post and it popped up in my feed and I
Speaker:saw this little short post and I was like, the most incredible thing ever.
Speaker:I have got to, we have got to get Kelly on the show to talk about this.
Speaker:So tell us about, what it's like to be, pilot a helicopter and be a Navy
Speaker:commander, but then I wanna pivot into really setting up the story, of what you
Speaker:actually went through, as a part of that.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes, absolutely, and I'm
Speaker:excited to dive into that.
Speaker:I think one of the things that's really important to share about.
Speaker:Being a helicopter pilot in general is this concept of developing
Speaker:technical expertise, right?
Speaker:So the first, gosh, five to six years of your career is really focused on learning
Speaker:and pretty much almost the entirety of your first tour in an operational
Speaker:squadron is all about learning how to fly the helicopter and how to employ the
Speaker:helicopter in different tactical missions.
Speaker:So you have to learn all of the equipment on the helicopter, all of the
Speaker:systems, how they all work together.
Speaker:I'll never forget, we have, different milestones that we have to reach and
Speaker:one of them is to become a certified co-pilot for different missions.
Speaker:And in my board for that, one of the, department heads, the middle
Speaker:managers who was a test pilot, so very technically oriented, the question that
Speaker:he asked me was, I am a fuel particle.
Speaker:How do I turn into nr?
Speaker:So I had to like.
Speaker:Talk about all and NR is the speed of the rotors spinning around.
Speaker:So how do you take a fuel particle, go through like the fuel system to get to
Speaker:the engines, run through combustion, then go out the transmission and go up
Speaker:into spinning the transmission around.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: my
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: technical expertise is heavily valued, but
Speaker:one of the biggest lessons that I learned throughout my career as a helicopter
Speaker:pilot, which is actually something that I really struggled with because I
Speaker:am, I do have such an analytical mind,
Speaker:concept of relationships and how relationships are so instrumental
Speaker:to getting anything done.
Speaker:and so there's this continuum of learning, right?
Speaker:That occurs in most organizations as you move up the leadership ladder.
Speaker:To where technical expertise is where you really have to thrive.
Speaker:And then as you start getting more and more senior, you really need to
Speaker:thrive in the organizational expertise realm that I feel like in the Navy is
Speaker:accelerated because the organizational expertise and the leadership starts
Speaker:really from day one, potentially
Speaker:as you join your first, squadron or your ship, in the operational Navy.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I think that's a great point that you start
Speaker:with because I think that is so relevant, not only in the military, but also
Speaker:outside of the military because you've got a lot of people that have extremely
Speaker:technically oriented backgrounds.
Speaker:Just like what you were talking about at Notre Dame, you were interested in,
Speaker:you know, the coding and the tech, the Google, and all these things coming along.
Speaker:And so you have computer programmers or coders or developers.
Speaker:you've got engineers, you've got architects and designers.
Speaker:All these are, they're very, whether it's medicine or engineering or
Speaker:software engineering, whatever, you've got so many technical people
Speaker:and we've seen and experienced that.
Speaker:I know you have two that thrive in the technical environment,
Speaker:that struggle in the leadership environment, and they're so good at
Speaker:the technical aspects of their role.
Speaker:And you can be even a business owner, at this point.
Speaker:You can be a technical person that's ultimately owns your own business.
Speaker:That you struggle with relationships and then I think it really hampers
Speaker:your ability to either build something, great, bigger than yourself or grow
Speaker:into something where you're leading something bigger than yourself.
Speaker:that's fascinating that you start with that in terms of having a
Speaker:technical mind, but balancing that with the need for relationships
Speaker:and that component and leadership.
Speaker:So I'm excited to see.
Speaker:So as you develop in your technical expertise and you move through this kind
Speaker:of, the system, the military system, and you become a helicopter pilot after you've
Speaker:gone through these years of learning, tell us about your career in that and then,
Speaker:we will move into your story in that.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Sure.
Speaker:, so after your first tour.
Speaker:One of the highly valued roles that you can move into is, we call it production.
Speaker:Production, like producing new pilots basically.
Speaker:And so it's really going to be a flight instructor.
Speaker:and so for me personally, everything that I loved about my
Speaker:community was the graduate level mission types that we were doing.
Speaker:And so where I wanted to instruct was at that, schoolhouse that really
Speaker:helped operational squadrons develop their pilots in those skills.
Speaker:So we had school houses that would fly, both instructional flights
Speaker:as well as we call them, check flights, so milestone flights to
Speaker:certify someone for the next level.
Speaker:and so that was where I elected to go.
Speaker:And then beyond that, I went through a period where I
Speaker:actually resigned from the Navy.
Speaker:it was actually right after the accident that we're gonna talk about
Speaker:the big story, later in the show.
Speaker:And part of that was a fear that at that point in my career, the
Speaker:jobs I was being offered would've taken me out of the cockpit.
Speaker:And I was concerned that it would be really hard for me
Speaker:to get back into the cockpit.
Speaker:And thankfully, due to a really engaged leader that I had, I was actually able
Speaker:to take a set of orders to keep flying.
Speaker:And then I went into my department head tour.
Speaker:I went to Memphis, Tennessee to learn about, career development and
Speaker:how to make sure that we develop our officers in different ways, moving
Speaker:for the, through their careers so that they can take on, more leadership
Speaker:challenges later on in their career.
Speaker:And then was lucky enough to get selected for a command.
Speaker:I took a turn at Eisenhower school, which is where I ended up finally getting
Speaker:pregnant, which was a really great.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Wow.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: for our family.
Speaker:And then, with a young baby went into command of a helicopter
Speaker:squadron in Norfolk, Virginia.
Speaker:and then as I was moving into, what I believed was going to be my final
Speaker:tour, I really prioritized doing something a little bit more technical.
Speaker:And so I went into, an acquisition role and was able to, work a little bit in
Speaker:the technical side, which was really fun.
Speaker:And that set me up really well to move into, a defense tech startup
Speaker:after I retired from the Navy as a technical program manager.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: goodness.
Speaker:So I love how you balanced it because your career was such a mix of this technical
Speaker:expertise, like what you just talk, you,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: translating that technical expertise into
Speaker:other individuals when you talk about producing pilots, the production side of
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yep.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: And also in being able to create pilots
Speaker:that could take on leadership roles.
Speaker:So as you kind of, it almost sounded like as you go up, as you rose in the
Speaker:production side, it wasn't just about this tat transfer of this knowledge of how
Speaker:to fly a helicopter, but more about I am gonna transfer these, skills of leadership
Speaker:to you so that you can lead, in the Navy.
Speaker:And I think that's a really cool transition.
Speaker:Because then when you come out, you move into the private sector and we can
Speaker:definitely talk about that transition in a bit, but we've gotta jump back
Speaker:because you hit on something that we gotta go back to and cover now.
Speaker:And that is
Speaker:your story about, this accident.
Speaker:And I will say that I have flown in helicopters a few times and I, I have
Speaker:to say that flying in a plane, which I do often and have done often, always
Speaker:feel, I think everybody, unless you fly every week, you definitely get
Speaker:the jitters, a little bit and some more than others, but you've taken
Speaker:off and you're like, okay, here we go.
Speaker:We're going up.
Speaker:And you go up.
Speaker:Now I love flying, so I'm cool with it, but I always feel like a
Speaker:plane I feel very comfortable in.
Speaker:But the first time I went up in a helicopter, I was
Speaker:like, wow, if this thing.
Speaker:This is just a different experience.
Speaker:it's a, it just feels a little more edgy.
Speaker:I just felt very aware that if those blades over my head stop turning that,
Speaker:that it was not, this was not good.
Speaker:And so I wanna start that by saying, that is a reality that I experienced on my
Speaker:first flight, in a helicopter, but it's something that you actually navigated.
Speaker:So tell us a little bit about your story, as it relates to this, event.
Speaker:, that you had to navigate.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: So, while I was actually a production
Speaker:instructor, an instructor in the weapons school in San Diego, one of
Speaker:the squadrons reached out and asked for support while they were underway.
Speaker:So they were embarked on a carrier out offshore from San Diego doing, a combined
Speaker:exercise and they wanted to get one of their pilots, a check ride, so to
Speaker:promote him to the next milestone and, level of instructing inside the aircraft.
Speaker:and so I. I went out and met the squadron on the ship and we launched on
Speaker:this mission called a Long Range Csar.
Speaker:And as you can imagine with long range, at the point where the
Speaker:story begins, we had been flying for about six and a half hours.
Speaker:We had refueled out in El Centro, and we actually went
Speaker:to a place where we got pizza.
Speaker:So we had just, we had full bellies, we'd eaten dinner.
Speaker:it was pitch black, overcast layer, so full of clouds, and
Speaker:it was a low illumination.
Speaker:even if the moon had been visible, there wasn't a whole lot
Speaker:of light coming from the moon.
Speaker:So it was really dark and we were over water.
Speaker:So not a whole lot of horizon, not a lot to look at.
Speaker:And all of a sudden there's the shutter through the aircraft and the
Speaker:nose starts to kick out to the left.
Speaker:So we're moving through the air like a windmill.
Speaker:The nose is stuck out to the left.
Speaker:and my co-pilot was actually flying at the time.
Speaker:I actually teased him a little bit and I said, Hey Scott, the ball is
Speaker:knocking on the side of the aircraft.
Speaker:What are you gonna do about it?
Speaker:And he was like, I know I'm trying to fix it and I can't.
Speaker:And so at that point, I took the controls and I ran my feet through
Speaker:the full left and right limits of the pedals to try to get the nose to move.
Speaker:And, nothing happened.
Speaker:And so one thing led to another.
Speaker:this really strong grinding noise started like a broomstick
Speaker:going through a garbage disposal.
Speaker:We had two people on board the aircraft who were actually not helicopter aviators.
Speaker:They were Jet a Jet Pilot, and a Jet NFO, who had been
Speaker:our survivors for the mission.
Speaker:So we had seven total souls on board.
Speaker:and one thing led to another.
Speaker:The grinding stopped.
Speaker:It got really quiet, and the nose went from stuck left to
Speaker:swinging out to the right.
Speaker:and so.
Speaker:We had a couple of in other indications that led me to believe
Speaker:that our tail rotor had come off.
Speaker:there's an emergency procedure for that.
Speaker:Most of it is from memory.
Speaker:I called out the words that begin that emergency procedure and
Speaker:every single person inside the aircraft who had a responsibility
Speaker:at that point executed flawlessly.
Speaker:so you know, Scott, my co-pilot got the engines off right when he was supposed to.
Speaker:And interestingly enough, this is the importance of the brief or
Speaker:setting your team up for success through preparation and making
Speaker:sure everyone is on the same page.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I had briefed that we should pull the PCLs off.
Speaker:let's see, in the flare.
Speaker:I think it was in the flare.
Speaker:Let me make sure I get this story right and I. Scott was used to briefing that he
Speaker:would pull the PCLs off before the flare.
Speaker:So once we're in the descent, we've confirmed that it is a
Speaker:loss of tail road or drive.
Speaker:Then you would pull the engines off at that point.
Speaker:And so he waited to pull the engines off and when he said he was pulling
Speaker:the engines off, it prompted me that we needed to flare, if that makes sense.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Hold on.
Speaker:let me catch up on this.
Speaker:'cause there's just a lot going on right here.
Speaker:I gotta pause you for a second.
Speaker:first of all, feel the helicopter turns, like when you say the nose to the
Speaker:left, I mean you're like flying like.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: you're flying straight,
Speaker:but you're pointed to the
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: and you're actually, teasing to the pilot.
Speaker:At this time, I'm impressed because I think I would not,
Speaker:that would not be my response.
Speaker:I would probably have to check what I said because it would be
Speaker:like, turn this thing around.
Speaker:What the heck are you doing?
Speaker:and I, so I think you're poise in that situation is incredible.
Speaker:the second thing is,, when did you realize, like you said, you kind of
Speaker:pushed your feet into the pedals to see what, I guess the feel of what was going
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Is that the point that you realized,
Speaker:like, uhoh, this is really bad.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: I would say actually the moment when
Speaker:that happened, so we did the pedals through the full range and so then
Speaker:I knew we had a controllability issue and I thought that's just what it was,
Speaker:that there was something going on.
Speaker:And so we elected to turn the aircraft around and head back
Speaker:towards Coronado at that point,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: we were in dash two, so we had a
Speaker:wingman, and when we turned around, they turned around and joined behind us.
Speaker:So we switched places.
Speaker:We took the lead, which is pretty typical in aviation.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: So
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: And
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: radioed them and said,
Speaker:there's an issue here.
Speaker:We're just gonna take it back.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: yeah, so I said, we're turning around,
Speaker:we're experiencing some controllability issues, were the words I actually used.
Speaker:And,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I'll say.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: they came back and they were
Speaker:like, what sort of controllability issues are you having?
Speaker:And I said, I think we have a loss of tail rotor control.
Speaker:and then as soon as I said that, I.
Speaker:This, grinding noise that I mentioned started,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: and then a chip light came on.
Speaker:there's a bunch of gear boxes up the tail and one of the gear boxes said
Speaker:was telling us that it had metal particles kind of running around
Speaker:inside the gearbox, which is obviously in the inside of a transmission.
Speaker:You don't want a bunch of medical metal particles in there.
Speaker:and so that's what that light was telling us, and I think that's, that was the
Speaker:point at which I was like, oh, correct,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: oh, yeah.
Speaker:Oh
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh my gosh.
Speaker:all right, so things get really serious, but you mentioned that's
Speaker:why briefings are so important.
Speaker:when you were saying briefings, and you were saying there, there was a timing
Speaker:issue of when normally one person was used to doing this procedure with, that
Speaker:has to do with flaring, or something.
Speaker:I'm not sure if I say that right.
Speaker:then you were saying it was a different way and you had briefed on that.
Speaker:Were you, when you say briefing, were you briefing that before
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: you, so you guys had this conversation
Speaker:about what you would do in this scenario, even before you got in the plane?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: We did.
Speaker:It is, that's right.
Speaker:So this particular emergency, is often, many helicopter pilots believe that
Speaker:it's like the worst case scenario, particularly if it happens at night.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Hmm.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: and so we often, will brief this
Speaker:emergency in our flight brief before we walk to the aircraft, just in case
Speaker:something like it happens because there is no time to talk about it.
Speaker:It's one of those that you really have to react immediately or,
Speaker:things will go south quickly.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: That's incredible.
Speaker:So you literally talked through this thing before you got on the chopper
Speaker:and that is exactly what happened.
Speaker:right.
Speaker:So now let's go back into the cockpit.
Speaker:This has just happened.
Speaker:you've realized that this is the, we had the oh crap
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: and now everybody's moving in the action.
Speaker:And you said that this procedure happened and because of the
Speaker:briefing, did he respond in the manner that you had briefed?
Speaker:Is that what,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: he did respond in that manner.
Speaker:So because of the briefing, he responded the way and did
Speaker:that end up being significant?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: it did.
Speaker:Because if he had pulled.
Speaker:The engine's off sooner than that, I would have in my head wondered
Speaker:if I was doing something wrong.
Speaker:That would've just been my reaction.
Speaker:and that maybe it would've been time to flare.
Speaker:And this particular flight maneuver, you need to be pretty precise on
Speaker:when you, transition into the flare, which is where we're pulling the nose
Speaker:back and lifting the collective up.
Speaker:I don't wanna get too far into the aerodynamics, but basically you're
Speaker:slowing your forward momentum and slowing your rate of descent simultaneously.
Speaker:So if you start that too soon, as you can imagine, that can be catastrophic.
Speaker:'cause you'll build that descent rate again later and you won't
Speaker:have that, ability to cushion yourself on the way down.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Are you saying that you're trying to time this so that you Softly hit the water.
Speaker:ultimately,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: you, because you're saying you're
Speaker:slowing the forward motion.
Speaker:and I understand what you're saying.
Speaker:I think 'cause when you're lifting up that it's almost like a slow,
Speaker:slow down both things at once, right?
Speaker:When you hit so that, or right before you hit so that you don't,
Speaker:have a long descent where you just go straight down a long way.
Speaker:kind of the idea of it?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: That's, yep.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: but that timing Yeah, that
Speaker:would be in, that's insane.
Speaker:And oh, by the way, you're doing this with all the lights, flashing no tail,
Speaker:and it's the, it's pitch black outside and you gotta have all these people on
Speaker:the on board do that at the same time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's intense.
Speaker:That's ridiculous.
Speaker:so he does what he's supposed to do and then what happens?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: So let's see.
Speaker:the other thing that you do in the flare, the copilot who's not on the
Speaker:controls, doesn't have their hands on the controls, they will release their.
Speaker:Emergency jettison their window right to make egress, so to
Speaker:escaping the helicopter easier.
Speaker:And so when Scott did that with his window, you know, when you're driving
Speaker:down the road in one of those old minivans that had the like manual, open
Speaker:the window, pop it out, and you would do that and the per, and there would
Speaker:be the sound like popping in the car.
Speaker:So it was like that times like 50, that was the sound that happened.
Speaker:And so at that moment, I knew that he had his window out and
Speaker:I got a little bit jealous.
Speaker:And so I actually, did something that I, that you're not supposed to.
Speaker:And I took one of my hands off the controls and popped my window out, to
Speaker:try and help myself on the way down.
Speaker:and then put my hands back on the controls.
Speaker:Kept going.
Speaker:We ended up, impacting the water with the tail wheel first.
Speaker:And, we talked a little bit about the goal.
Speaker:The goal and the kind of knowledge within the community at that time
Speaker:was that you really were trying to go for 0, 0, 0 forward motion and
Speaker:zero descent when you hit the water.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: it was nighttime and, I had a
Speaker:lot more forward motion on the aircraft, which later we found
Speaker:out, turned out to be a good thing.
Speaker:but it was 100% accidental that it happened this way.
Speaker:So
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Good
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: we still have some forward motion on
Speaker:the tail wheel hits the water, and because the tail wheel hits, and then
Speaker:the main mounts come down, the whole aircraft flipped tail over nose.
Speaker:So we're going through, we hit the water and then the tail pops up
Speaker:and we cartwheel into the water and are immediately like submerged.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: oh
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Um,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: It's like a tuck and roll procedure here,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: yes.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: with a whole helicopter.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: my
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: luckily though the aircraft floated for
Speaker:a good, I don't know exactly how long, but long enough for folks to get out.
Speaker:and I remember when I first popped up, I like pushed my feet down a little bit
Speaker:and it hit something and I kid you not, my first thought was like, oh, hell no.
Speaker:That better not be a shark.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh my goodness.
Speaker:When you got out of the helicopter, you put your foot
Speaker:down and it touched something.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: it turned out it was the main mount.
Speaker:so the wheel of the helicopter, like one of the forward two wheels.
Speaker:so I actually stood up on it, which turned out to be great, because I was
Speaker:wearing a loner vest and so I'd had a co a little bit of trouble with a
Speaker:couple of things, so I was able to like, stand up on the wheel and inflate
Speaker:my vest and get myself situated.
Speaker:our wingman that I mentioned that was right behind us immediately
Speaker:was overhead and started.
Speaker:Rescuing everybody, that had been on the aircraft.
Speaker:And so we were really lucky we all got rescued really quickly.
Speaker:and so really quickly for this means, I think it took about 45 minutes total.
Speaker:but if you think about it, you've got one swimmer from the other aircraft that's in
Speaker:the water as the rescue swimmer, you've gotta take each of us, all of us, all
Speaker:seven of us, one at a time, up a hoist, and he is gotta swim back and forth
Speaker:to the hoist to, help us get rescued.
Speaker:So it does take a while.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: so the other helicopter that's
Speaker:following you at this point
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yep.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: obviously sees this all go
Speaker:and is oh gosh.
Speaker:And so then they go into their, procedure, which
Speaker:search and rescue, they're sending one person down on a line
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yep.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: is supposed to go and swim out
Speaker:to you while they hover above
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yep.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: transport everybody back
Speaker:up on their helicopter.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: he was amazing.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: gosh.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: He was amazing.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: gosh.
Speaker:And so then he, and then, and there was enough room on the other
Speaker:helicopter for everybody to load up
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yep.
Speaker:We huddled up, we wrapped up in wool blankets and we went back to the ship
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Oh
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: because it was closest.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: no.
Speaker:Everybody survived the crash
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: the helicopter is upside down and
Speaker:it stayed up long enough for you to be able to stand up on it and.
Speaker:and that's incredible.
Speaker:what an amazing story.
Speaker:What, was there any communication while all this was going on
Speaker:with the other helicopter while you're going through all this?
Speaker:Or was it like, oh, nope, we see him and everybody just moves?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:we, it's interesting the things that you do in a situation like
Speaker:this and what makes you do them.
Speaker:We had lost a pilot, this was November that this happened.
Speaker:We had lost a pilot in January.
Speaker:And a whole crew lost everybody on the crew.
Speaker:And to this day, we still don't know exactly what
Speaker:happened and why we lost them.
Speaker:And when I called, to start the emergency procedure, you just
Speaker:say auto, those three words.
Speaker:And so when I did that, I actually did it over the radio because in my
Speaker:head I was like, I want everybody to know what happens, just in case.
Speaker:and so they knew what we were doing.
Speaker:and they knew at that point that they needed to get themselves into, a rescue
Speaker:position, which takes a minute to, go through the checklist and do that.
Speaker:And they actually knew that was likely, shortly before that, because
Speaker:they called us up, they had seen sparks coming off the tail rotor.
Speaker:and so they knew something was up, with mechanically with the aircraft.
Speaker:So
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: my goodness.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: we were really lucky to have them.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: yeah, that was, wow.
Speaker:That's definitely Wingman award territory right there for
Speaker:being a solid wingman on that.
Speaker:that's such an amazing story.
Speaker:I'm so thankful that you made it through that and that everyone survived.
Speaker:Did you ever have a sense where it just set in on you, after that,
Speaker:where it was like, what I've just gone through, but made it out?
Speaker:Or when did that kind of set in?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah, I actually am not sure when it, I
Speaker:think it probably set in after I retired.
Speaker:and really telling the story with people like you and other people
Speaker:who aren't in the community.
Speaker:and for me personally, you have to understand, like my whole career up to
Speaker:this point, I was still a lieutenant.
Speaker:I was still young , in my community and I was one of very few women in my community.
Speaker:And so I was really trying to stay, to fit in.
Speaker:That was really what I was trying to do.
Speaker:I wanted to be known as a pilot who was good, as good at being a pilot.
Speaker:And that was it.
Speaker:And then this all happened and immediately I was thrown into this, notoriety is
Speaker:kind of the wrong word, but like people wanted to hear this story as you can
Speaker:imagine, inside of our community.
Speaker:and I started telling that story, but there was a lot of discomfort
Speaker:with it because ultimately we were all just doing our job and it wasn't
Speaker:something that I did on my own.
Speaker:All of us had to do everything right in order for this to be a
Speaker:successful event that occurred.
Speaker:and so I think there was a lot of wrestling with all of those emotions
Speaker:that I was going through at the time that, didn't really allow me to just
Speaker:enjoy, that I was happy to be alive.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: There's just a lot of things coming at
Speaker:you very fast after that, because of
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: all the debriefs
Speaker:then all the notoriety.
Speaker:and you were saying, you were, uh, one of a, of just a handful of,
Speaker:or a few females in, especially in your position, in your role.
Speaker:And, I could totally see how that there would be like, Hey, I just want to be
Speaker:like one of the crew and fit in, and then all of a sudden, and then this happens,
Speaker:and now I've got a spotlight on me.
Speaker:And I don't necessarily know that, how to, this is gonna play out,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I want it to play out.
Speaker:So yeah, I could totally see that would be a, that's a challenging situation
Speaker:to navigate, with, for anybody, but much more than that, just with where
Speaker:you are and what you were doing.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:And your perspective on it.
Speaker:So I could totally see how that would be hard to, to wrestle with.
Speaker:When you look at that now with, I would say more, even more perspective.
Speaker:I think there's so many things and you're very humble, but you
Speaker:are, you're leading the charge.
Speaker:' you were the one that was there to train and everybody's looking at you.
Speaker:you did the debrief on that and changed the kind of the mindset
Speaker:of the person that you're going through on the procedure beforehand.
Speaker:And so I definitely think you had a extremely large part in it going right.
Speaker:but I appreciate the fact that you're.
Speaker:acknowledging your team.
Speaker:'cause everybody had to perform.
Speaker:But I think leadership is all about that.
Speaker:you're influencing the performance and you're building this trust.
Speaker:And obviously the military has this kind of built in trust that we're going
Speaker:to trust the process, we're gonna do the system, and we've gotta execute
Speaker:flawlessly for these successful results.
Speaker:So when you came out of that experience, did it change what you wanted or your
Speaker:desires in terms of career, in terms of training, in terms of flying?
Speaker:how did that affect you in terms of your
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: So another funny part of the
Speaker:story is, I remember vividly I was attached to the hoist.
Speaker:You know, the helicopter's in a 70 foot hover, you're attached to a hoist.
Speaker:You get run up underneath the helicopter on this cable, and as I'm there with
Speaker:the rotor wash beating down on me, I had one thought and that thought was,
Speaker:I want a house, a dog, and a man.
Speaker:It had absolutely nothing to do with anything professionally like I wanted.
Speaker:I knew there was more to life and I wanted all of the things that are about life.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Wow.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: and I loved flying, loved flying,
Speaker:especially, on a bluebird day, it springtime right now, when you look
Speaker:up, there's like maybe one or two white puffy clouds in the sky and
Speaker:the sun is shining on your face.
Speaker:Like going, flying on a day like that is, there's nothing better, right?
Speaker:so I went out and I got those three things in that order.
Speaker:and so I think the thing that changed for me was just like,
Speaker:you know, I am, I'm ready.
Speaker:I'm ready for more, the more the rest of it.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I think your clarity in
Speaker:that is so interesting.
Speaker:It was like this experience I. Definitely shaped your perspective.
Speaker:And it kind of brought up what was very important to you I can
Speaker:totally see your vivid picture.
Speaker:You're underneath this helicopters getting blown to death, 70 foot
Speaker:off of complete black abyss in the middle of the ocean at night.
Speaker:I can't even, it's just ridiculous.
Speaker:And you're just sitting there and I want a house, a dog and a man.
Speaker:and that's what's going through your head.
Speaker:That's just awesome because it, I could totally see that there's just
Speaker:this clarity and, and I think that's just really cool because that really
Speaker:shaped your perspective on, what you want and helps you create, kind of
Speaker:craft your direction, and obviously, transitioning and seeing what's meaningful
Speaker:to you and getting those things.
Speaker:So I would love to thank you for sharing that, by the way.
Speaker:So you've made it through this and you've transitioned, at some
Speaker:point though, you talked about transitioning out of the military.
Speaker:I'd love to talk a little bit about a couple things as we get into this
Speaker:more, and that is some of the things that you learned in the military and
Speaker:whether they were specific to this, very horrific crash, or if they are just in
Speaker:general that you're bringing out that you were able to bring out and apply
Speaker:into this new role in tech and in your current, as you're advising people now in
Speaker:executive coaching in the defense space.
Speaker:Let's talk about transitioning from the military, and that includes
Speaker:military to private life, but also, leadership styles as well.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:thanks, I, this is so much fun.
Speaker:Just I have to say, I'm enjoying talking to you so much and thanks so much for the
Speaker:opportunity to bring this out as well.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: so me personally, transitioning
Speaker:from the military into civilian life was pretty bumpy.
Speaker:and I think that is a theme that kind of runs.
Speaker:through a lot of my friends, especially those who have spent
Speaker:a long time in the military.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yes.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: so I think one thing that I try to
Speaker:tell everyone is to really take some time and give yourself the grace and
Speaker:the space to figure out who you are as a person without the military.
Speaker:so many of us really wrap our identities up in the military, but also anyone
Speaker:who's been in any sort of industry for a long time, or even a short time,
Speaker:often people will tie their identity to the role that they are fulfilling.
Speaker:And the reason that's a little bit tough is because it's hard to take feedback,
Speaker:particularly constructive feedback because you feel like you are, it's, about you
Speaker:as a person rather than about what you are doing performance wise in a role.
Speaker:I think when, particularly with coming out of the military, knowing
Speaker:who you are without the military is important because when you take on
Speaker:that role, that may not be where your purpose is going to come from anymore.
Speaker:That might just be a job that you really enjoyed doing, but it may not give
Speaker:you that like purposeful feeling that you had when you were in the military.
Speaker:And so there are a couple of organizations that I think really
Speaker:help out in this space, especially.
Speaker:one of them is the Commit Foundation, and so they are really focused on supporting
Speaker:veterans in designing a purposeful life.
Speaker:In their next steps after they come out of the military.
Speaker:and then there's also a relatively new organization called Beneath the Service.
Speaker:they have taken over what's called the Women's Veteran Leadership Program,
Speaker:and they're really focused on helping veterans integrate back into society.
Speaker:And right now, that women's program, since they took it over from another nonprofit
Speaker:organization, is built and a little bit further along, but their intention is to
Speaker:build that out for, really any veteran.
Speaker:having that community of women veterans just brings a little different
Speaker:space to have those conversations.
Speaker:as I mentioned, the only woman in the room, occasionally those
Speaker:experiences are a little bit different.
Speaker:but one thing, one thing that I, another mistake that I made that I think is
Speaker:really important to bring out to folks.
Speaker:When I went into my first role, I started that role without the grace and space.
Speaker:I started it while I was still technically on active duty
Speaker:in my terminal leave period.
Speaker:and I tried to, I. Minimize my service.
Speaker:I didn't recognize just how much, not only my technical expertise from
Speaker:like flying, which was pertinent to what I was doing, but also just
Speaker:everything that I had learned around.
Speaker:Building trust, like you mentioned, how important strong relationships
Speaker:are to being able to build that trust.
Speaker:having transparency within an organization, giving feedback.
Speaker:I'll never forget showing up to command.
Speaker:certain levels of the organization hadn't received a lot of feedback and
Speaker:they were really asking for feedback.
Speaker:And it was not that they needed a pat on the back or a confidence boost, they
Speaker:wanted to know what they could do better, to be the best version of themselves.
Speaker:And so feedback really is a gift, right?
Speaker:and often we're so uncomfortable giving feedback to folks.
Speaker:but that was a lesson that I brought that eventually I was able to bring
Speaker:into, that software startup that I think was helpful for a lot of the
Speaker:other folks in the organization.
Speaker:but that grace and space is important to really understand who you are.
Speaker:What you want to bring to the world.
Speaker:And then taking, uh, you know, it may be multiple steps.
Speaker:So finding the best next step to start moving you towards, delivering
Speaker:that impact that the, to the world that you want to deliver.
Speaker:and so for me personally, the Commit Foundation provided a coach, an
Speaker:executive coach that I could work with.
Speaker:I know a lot of your listeners are coaches.
Speaker:, I had never had a coach before.
Speaker:I didn't know what executive coaching was.
Speaker:and the impact that she had on me was just incredible.
Speaker:and it was so helpful.
Speaker:And I've actually, gone back to her a number of times and worked with her to
Speaker:continue to work through different things.
Speaker:The second time I went to her, I had, on a delayed timeline, finally
Speaker:given myself that grace and space.
Speaker:and I left the tech startup.
Speaker:And so while we were working together, I had started teaching Pilates part-time.
Speaker:becoming a comprehensive Pilates instructor was my
Speaker:covid pressure relief valve.
Speaker:And that grace and space I needed to do something.
Speaker:And so I started teaching Pilates every time.
Speaker:And an opportunity came my way.
Speaker:I was really focused on keeping the Pilates instruction.
Speaker:And so I worked with her to pull the thread on that and realized that I loved
Speaker:giving people those light bulb moments.
Speaker:It was something that I missed from teaching flying, and was able to
Speaker:do that through the Pilates and that led me to executive coaching.
Speaker:and so yeah, so that's how I ended up where I am now.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: military to Pilates,
Speaker:to executive coaching.
Speaker:That's the path.
Speaker:That's the No, I love that.
Speaker:And I think that's such good advice.
Speaker:I would love to ask you this question because I think this is a valid
Speaker:question for business leaders.
Speaker:What advice would you give to businesses that are hiring vets that
Speaker:are coming into their organization?
Speaker:Because you've given some great advice to veterans.
Speaker:Do you have any advice that you would give to businesses to make that
Speaker:transition more successful on their side?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: So that's a such a great question.
Speaker:And I think there are a number of organizations that are starting to target
Speaker:that specifically with coaching services.
Speaker:I think beneath the service nonprofit, I think that's what
Speaker:the reintegration is, right?
Speaker:because it's, you land the job
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Right,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: it's figuring out how you
Speaker:fit into that organization.
Speaker:And that can be tough.
Speaker:And so I think.
Speaker:Providing the support after the connection begins with that
Speaker:company, through coaching services.
Speaker:That's a great way to do it.
Speaker:I think, can be really super impactful to help veterans figure out how they can
Speaker:bring the best part of themselves to work.
Speaker:And then also balance doing that work with still doing other things like
Speaker:volunteering in order to drive that purposeful feeling, as they really
Speaker:reintegrate into the workforce.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I think that's great.
Speaker:I think that's great advice.
Speaker:So what I would say is the advice there is if you're a business owner or a
Speaker:business leader and you're working with services that are providing jobs for
Speaker:vets that are coming out of the service.
Speaker:Don't just look at the initial connection as okay, we found this
Speaker:person and they're, we feel like this is a great fit for our company.
Speaker:Take the next step and say, Hey, as you're coming on board, we're gonna provide
Speaker:coaching by pairing you up with, like the beneath the service, organizations.
Speaker:And allow them to have a transition period where you're not only
Speaker:giving them this new transition into this new role, but actually
Speaker:partnering with them to transition into the private sector as a whole.
Speaker:I think that's really great advice.
Speaker:In fact, I'm gonna share that with our clients to make
Speaker:sure that they're doing that.
Speaker:'cause that's, at the end of the day, we want everybody to be successful.
Speaker:So if I was to say, Kelly, I appreciate your time, but I mean, we've just
Speaker:got a lot going on right now, and I think we're doing pretty good and
Speaker:we've been successful to this point.
Speaker:how would you speak to them as it relates to performance and building trust and high
Speaker:performing teams in their organization?
Speaker:Maybe why they may be missing something if they're not engaging at that level.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes.
Speaker:and so one piece of my story that I left out is, I love executive coaching
Speaker:and I felt like there was a big part of myself that I wasn't able to bring
Speaker:to that leader to help them understand the dynamics of the organization.
Speaker:So organization development or HR strategy consulting, can be really
Speaker:helpful in these situations because if a leader were to tell me that,
Speaker:I would ask them, how do you know?
Speaker:How do you know what you're doing is working?
Speaker:and I. We approach that with data collection and it's data collection
Speaker:from a qualitative perspective as well as a quantitative perspective.
Speaker:There's conversations around what metrics make the most sense to,
Speaker:see if we've been successful.
Speaker:If we measure six months after this engagement together, things
Speaker:like, employee turnover or employee engagement or employee absenteeism,
Speaker:survey data can help to collect that.
Speaker:But I have a few things that are like foundational to how I like
Speaker:to do business in this space.
Speaker:And one of them is no survey should take more than seven to 10 minutes to fill out.
Speaker:It's gonna get you way too much data if it's any longer than that.
Speaker:And you wanna stay really focused on what question you're trying to answer, right?
Speaker:the other thing is.
Speaker:Is each organization is unique and wonderful, and getting to know that
Speaker:specific organization and their goals is really important at the start of
Speaker:the engagement because maybe employee turnover is actually desired at that
Speaker:point in the organization's journey.
Speaker:They wanna get some new folks in.
Speaker:maybe the organization is at such an inflection point that the people
Speaker:that have brought it to that point are actually not aligned with
Speaker:where the organization needs to go.
Speaker:A great example is a startup that's been throwing things at the wall and
Speaker:innovating, and now has decided on the one direction that it wants to take.
Speaker:Those people who are really good at innovating and being creative and
Speaker:coming up with new ideas might not real be super happy about, focusing
Speaker:on the direction of one idea that's gained traction and going that way.
Speaker:and so I think.
Speaker:How do you know is my big question for them.
Speaker:and I think it's important to invite the employee base into the
Speaker:conversation so that you can get a really solid answer to that.
Speaker:and then also get a lot of buy-in around what direction
Speaker:the company is going to go in.
Speaker:particularly if you're embarking on any sort of change effort.
Speaker:And let's be honest, if you're a business, you're embarking on a change effort.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Very true.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: true.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: true.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:No, I think that is, very true and it's so true, especially
Speaker:just getting the feedback.
Speaker:I think that sometimes as leaders, one of the things that we lack in
Speaker:organizations is honest feedback.
Speaker:And I loved how you said, that feedback is a gift.
Speaker:And I think that.
Speaker:it also ties into accountability because when we get feedback, we are sometimes
Speaker:getting it in the form of accountability.
Speaker:And I think we, we've talked about on the show before, how accountability
Speaker:sometimes takes a, sometimes has a black eye associated with it because it seems
Speaker:like this big brother that somebody is, going to, catch me doing something
Speaker:wrong and then I'm getting this feedback on how I'm supposed to do better and
Speaker:it's it feels like a negative, thing.
Speaker:And what we like to do is say that usually.
Speaker:it feels negative or there's negative connotation to that,
Speaker:it's because something is off.
Speaker:we've got to fix the system and show that we care a little bit more.
Speaker:Because if accountability is done correctly, it actually should
Speaker:be something that is seen as I'm giving you feedback and holding
Speaker:you accountable because I care.
Speaker:If I didn't care, you wouldn't hear from me.
Speaker:And so if we can flip the script a little bit, I think that to
Speaker:your point, feedback is a gift.
Speaker:So as executives, leaders as coaches and organizations, if we're
Speaker:not getting honest feedback on a consistent basis, in meaningful
Speaker:ways, then we've got a real problem.
Speaker:'cause we're flying blind.
Speaker:And, I think that's really dangerous.
Speaker:So I love your point to that.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: If I actually, can I
Speaker:just jump in real quick?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah, a
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: to add one thing you mentioned, the
Speaker:aspect of giving feedback because we care.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Mm-hmm.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: I think there's also an element
Speaker:of not only do we care, we believe that you can do better.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Ooh, I
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: And, and that, I think that is one of
Speaker:the things that really can shift the conversation if you're starting from
Speaker:this place of I am taking the time to have this conversation with you because
Speaker:I know that you can contribute in the way that we need you to contribute.
Speaker:And then the other flip side of accountability is the reason why
Speaker:accountability is so important is because if you have expectations
Speaker:in your organization and someone is not living up to those expectations,
Speaker:everyone else that is living up to those expectations is having a hard
Speaker:time coming to work every day and continuing to do the work to allow them
Speaker:to live up to the expectations, right?
Speaker:and so yes, accountability is so important and I could not agree with you more.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I think that it just, to
Speaker:your point, and that is so fascinating 'cause it's so true.
Speaker:That is essentially what coaching is.
Speaker:A lot of it's just pointing out things and it's really battling for belief.
Speaker:Like, I see you, . And I see the potential that you have.
Speaker:I believe that you have it.
Speaker:I want you to believe that you have it.
Speaker:And then I'm gonna, we're gonna talk about how you can achieve
Speaker:it and pull that into reality.
Speaker:And I think that so much of that is, is related to coaching, whether that's
Speaker:internal or external, and, internal, the company or external of the company,
Speaker:coach, outside, coach coming in.
Speaker:It's just sharing that, belief, but it's also sharing the need.
Speaker:and I think from an individual standpoint, the reason that's
Speaker:so powerful to the individual is that we all want to be developed.
Speaker:we want to feel, I believe there's an innate desire for us to feel like
Speaker:we're meeting that potential, that we're rising, that we're growing.
Speaker:Usually when people stop, they feel like they're in a rut.
Speaker:They'll say, , I just feel stagnant.
Speaker:I'm stuck.
Speaker:I'm in a rut.
Speaker:And as a leader, coming and engaging your team members or as a coach,
Speaker:engaging your team members, I. giving them feedback and calling them to
Speaker:this higher standard of excellence, this potential that you see in them.
Speaker:you're saying that you care and you're showing it because you're saying, this is
Speaker:what I see that I believe that you can do.
Speaker:And I think that just, it just, it lifts everyone.
Speaker:It has the ability to lift everyone.
Speaker:'cause now they have something to charge after and they know that you're
Speaker:for them enough to help, point that out to 'em and help them get there.
Speaker:And I think that really does a lot for the culture of the team.
Speaker:And it really goes back to when you were talking about going, in that helicopter,
Speaker:in that moment where you realize this is not going the way we had hoped.
Speaker:And this is a much serious, more serious problem than what
Speaker:we originally anticipated.
Speaker:You just made a comment that everybody, there's no time to talk about it.
Speaker:Is that success in that moment when it really counted success in
Speaker:that moment had to, had a lot to do with everything that was understood
Speaker:and known by all parties involved.
Speaker:And that they executed flawlessly in that moment.
Speaker:And I think there's so many times in business where we make assumptions,
Speaker:on certain things, and we just assume things are happening or should be
Speaker:happening, or somebody will step up.
Speaker:and we haven't been clear and given the feedback and accountability
Speaker:necessary on the front side.
Speaker:And so then we don't get the results that we want on the backside.
Speaker:And we go, I,
Speaker:that's surprising.
Speaker:there's so many lessons in that addressing these common issues, giving feedback,
Speaker:getting feedback on common things that we can, we can engage in to make sure that
Speaker:everybody's performing with excellence.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yeah.
Speaker:I think primarily back to that relationships piece, right?
Speaker:Never underestimate the value of 20 minutes and a cup of coffee,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: I,
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: right?
Speaker:to talk about anything besides work.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: mm
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: because I think that, that creates
Speaker:this deeper understanding of the people that you're working
Speaker:with, and builds connection.
Speaker:And I think connection for a team to have a really strong, high level
Speaker:of trust, there needs to be this.
Speaker:Connective tissue among the members.
Speaker:so that never underestimate that cup of coffee and 20 minutes.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: so deepen the understanding.
Speaker:You said deepen the understanding.
Speaker:So if you want to have a higher level of trust, Never underestimate,
Speaker:the power of connection.
Speaker:That's really great.
Speaker:and we're so much in line with that.
Speaker:and we agree with that.
Speaker:I'm so thankful that is your perspective just to sit down with your people
Speaker:once a month or whenever you can for 20 minutes and a cup of coffee
Speaker:and go over some things that may or may not be related to work so that
Speaker:you can deepen that connection and that, trust so you can build trust.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:Kelly, it's just been the best conversation.
Speaker:Thank you for being on the show.
Speaker:how can people connect with you if they want to engage with you, especially if
Speaker:they're in the de defense tech space, but even if they're just in as an executive
Speaker:and they want to hear more about what you're doing in your organization,
Speaker:how can they connect with you?
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: thanks Dallas for having me on
Speaker:the show and for your expert podcast hosting and able to like.
Speaker:Pull out the answer to the question even if I don't always end with an exact point.
Speaker:So I really appreciate having the opportunity to come on and talk to
Speaker:you as far as reaching out to me.
Speaker:I would love to connect with, any of your listeners.
Speaker:And I would say the easiest way, if they're on LinkedIn, LinkedIn is a
Speaker:really easy way to connect with me.
Speaker:my handle, like after the, in the linkedin.com/in/is Kelly Natter Harrison.
Speaker:the other thing is my website, so mindfully crafted solutions.com,
Speaker:there's a contact page and you can reach out to me through that as well.
Speaker:and so I think those are probably the two easiest ways to get in touch.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: That's fantastic.
Speaker:If you're driving, no worries.
Speaker:We'll put this in the show notes.
Speaker:so we'll put both of those links in the show notes as well as some links
Speaker:to the, nonprofits that you mentioned earlier, which would be, let's see the
Speaker:Commit and also Beneath the Service.
Speaker:So Commit Foundation beneath the service.
Speaker:We'll try to get those links as well if you want to check
Speaker:them out and have more details.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:We always end the show by asking our guest who they would
Speaker:like to hear on the last 10%.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Yes, I would love to
Speaker:hear Jill Hinton Wolf.
Speaker:she recently published a book called Mission, tribe and Grace, focused
Speaker:on the veterans, journey basically in finding those things, both in
Speaker:service and then again afterwards.
Speaker:and she is just an incredible human being and I'd love to see her here.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_33_04-16-2025_125134: Okay.
Speaker:All right, we'll have to reach out to Jill and we will see if
Speaker:we can get her on the last 10%.
Speaker:That sounds like I love the title, mission, tribe, and Grace.
Speaker:That's really great title.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:We'll reach out and see if we can have her on the last 10%.
Speaker:But Kelly, thank you again for being on the show, and we wish you
Speaker:the best and look forward to maybe having you on again in the future.
Speaker:kelly-harrison---mindfully-crafted-solutions_1_04-16-2025_125134: Thank you, Dallas.
Speaker:Happy to be here.
