Episode 423 - "Standing Where Flight Began: Leadership Lessons from Huffman Prairie"

This episode explores the leadership lessons discovered while visiting Huffman Prairie Flying Field in Dayton, Ohio — the world's first airport and the real training ground of the Wright brothers. Learn how humility, consistency, and silence fuel true leadership growth.

Host: Paul Falavolito
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
performance through strong human relations, team building, and Gola jiving.
This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Paul fella Aledo.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
It's episode four twenty three. Last week I had one
of those moments in life that stops you in your tracks.
I was in Dayton, Ohio for a work training class.
If you know anything about Dayton, you know it's the

(00:43):
birthplace of aviation. As someone with a background and flying
and a deep love for aviation, that alone made the
trip special. But what happened next I'll remember forever. Driving
back after class, I started seeing signs for Huffman Prairie

(01:03):
Flying Field, the first airport in the world. I couldn't resist.
I started following the signs. I drove from miles. Every
sign pulled me in deeper, like a magnet pulling my
soul towards something important. Eventually I arrived. There was a

(01:24):
small parking area surrounded by the most pristine scenery you
could imagine, a crystal clear creek, rolling green farm fields.
It felt like I was in a painting. But that
wasn't the moment I stepped out of the car and
I walked about a mile in sweltering heat, past historic signs,

(01:48):
old black and white photographs of Orville and Wilburt Wright
standing in this very field. And then I saw it,
a small wooden structure in the middle of an open field.
No flashing lights, no gift shop, no airport tower, just simplicity, insignificance.

(02:11):
I stood there in awe. I stood on the first
airport in the world, the very place the Ripe Brothers
came after Kitty Hawk to perfect the art of flying,
not to be remembered, but to get better, to get
it right. And in that moment, I asked myself, what

(02:32):
are the leadership lessons here? And here's what hit me.
Lesson number one, Mastery doesn't begin with applause. Everyone knows
Kitty Hawk, the site of the Ripe brother's first flight,
but very few people know about Huffman Prairie. Kitty Hawk

(02:53):
was the start of flight. Huffman Prairie is where they
mastered it. Leaders often fall in love with big announcements,
the new job title, the project launch, the press release.
But real leadership isn't about one big moment. It's about
the quiet, sweaty, gritty work in the background that no

(03:13):
one sees. That field was empty, no crowds, just heat
and history. Leaders don't chase applause. They chase progress. Lesson
number two, follow the signs. If I hadn't followed the signs,
I would have missed it. And I almost didn't. I

(03:34):
almost said it's probably too far, I'm tired, maybe next time,
but something told me to follow the signs and leadership
were often given subtle signs a team member struggling, a
new opportunity, a moment to grow, But we miss them
because we're distracted, too busy, or unsure. Follow the signs.

(03:57):
Trust your instincts. Sometimes the signs are pointing you to
the next version of yourself. Lesson number three, Leadership happens
in the middle of nowhere. Think about it. The two
most famous inventors in aviation history didn't need a boardroom,

(04:18):
a university, or a high tech lab. They had a
bike shop and a dream in this little field in Ohio.
That's leadership. You don't need permission, funding, or applause to
make history. You need relentless consistency. You need the courage
to try again when the wind knocks you sideways. You

(04:40):
need the humility to be a student, even when you're
the teacher. And sometimes the most important leadership work you'll
ever do happens when no one is watching. Lesson four,
honor the struggle. The Wright brothers failed countless times in
that field, but they kept showing up. They didn't post

(05:02):
about it, they didn't call the media. They just kept flying, crashing, adjusting,
and flying again. Leadership is hard. You will have days
that feel like sweltering miles in the heat. But that
mile walk led me to something unforgettable. Don't resent the struggle.
It's proof that you're moving. And as I stood there,

(05:26):
sweating through my shirt, looking out over the field, I
felt overwhelmed. I felt grateful, and I felt grounded. I
was standing on the very soil where two dreamers taught
the world to fly, and I thought, every leader has
a Huffman Prairie inside them, a quiet place where you

(05:48):
get better, where you try and fail, and where you
become the kind of leader that one day others will
walk miles just to learn from. This has been the
seven Minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
For more. Paul Fell of Aledo Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
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