David Befort Show

A-10 squadron commander Derek "Woody" Oaks on the three things almost every leader gets wrong.

Retired A-10 fighter squadron commander Derek "Woody" Oaks joins host David Befort to break down the leadership system he used to lead combat pilots in the 75th Fighter Squadron — and why it works just as well in a boardroom as it does at 20,000 feet.

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What separates an average leader from a great one? After 36 years in the Navy, Mike Manazir says it comes down to two things — and both are simpler than most people expect.

Retired Rear Admiral Mike "Nasty" Manazir is a TOPGUN graduate and F-14 Tomcat pilot who commanded the USS Nimitz, served as executive officer of the USS Carl Vinson, and spent years as a Landing Signal Officer recovering aircraft onto carrier decks at night. He went on to eight years at Boeing and now works at Hadrian Automation, building AI-powered factories for aerospace and defense.

David also got a leadership lesson he didn't see coming, and says it changed how he thinks about being someone worth following.

The two rules Mike has carried from a fighter squadron to a 5,000-person warship to a startup floor: value people as individuals, and make them part of something bigger than themselves. That's it. Everything else is execution.

WHAT YOU'LL TAKE AWAY

• Why leading people is identical whether the team is 12 or 5,000 ... and the two things that never change
• The mental exercise Mike ran in 1997 that made him learn all 350 names in his squadron, and why he's done it in every command since
• How to actually memorize names, from someone who is honest that he isn't naturally good at it
• The debrief method he learned as a Landing Signal Officer: lead with what you saw, praise the correction, and watch people work harder for the higher grade
• Why he believes human-machine teams beat either one alone, and the AI hallucination that nearly made it into his own book
• What to model in front of your kids, because they are watching how you take bad news

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Mike's military background

02:00 Flying the F-14 Tomcat and aircraft preferences

03:59 Realistic portrayals of fighter jets in movies like Top Gun

06:08 Carrier operations and the precision of landing aircraft

08:50 The responsibility and trust of the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) 12:54 Handling emergencies on aircraft carriers

16:00 Leadership and debriefing in high-stakes environments

20:01 Building relationships and valuing team members

25:08 The importance of knowing people's names and personal connection

29:58 Leading large organizations and the power of empathy

35:57 The influence of leadership on retention and morale

40:05 Building systems for advanced military technology and AI

50:00 The future of AI and human-AI collaboration

01:00:01 The risks and hallucinations of AI systems

01:10:03 Leadership in the age of AI and maintaining human oversight 01:15:09 Advice for teaching leadership to kids and developing future leaders

ABOUT MIKE MANAZIR

https://mikemanazir.com/book/ "Learn How to Lead to Win"

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What happens when an entrepreneur finally makes the money he always dreamed of, and still feels like something is missing? Paul Hutchinson sold his first company at 29 for $20 million.

He went on to co-found a fund that grew into a multibillion-dollar firm, then walked away from it to run the Child Liberation Foundation and Liberating Humanity. He is also the executive producer and primary investor behind the film Sound of Freedom.

In this conversation David Befort digs into the part of Paul's story that doesn't usually get told: the entrepreneurial one. How a kid who couldn't stand being told what to do turned a problem with authority into a career. What compassionate accountability actually looks like when you have to remove someone from your team. And what it took for a man with two helicopters and a second marriage falling apart to admit that none of it was working.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode includes frank discussion of child trafficking, child sexual abuse, and online exploitation of minors. Listener discretion advised.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Compassionate accountability: why tolerating underperformance is a disservice to the person and to everyone else carrying the load
• Win-win-win, and why any deal where someone has to lose means you're out of integrity somewhere
• Making money in a downturn without making it from the people getting hurt, build the first aid kits, not the blood

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Paul's background

01:52 Early entrepreneurial spirit and childhood ambitions

03:51 Discipline, authority, and the entrepreneurial mindset

06:48 Evolving leadership and compassionate accountability

09:11 Child trafficking, trauma, and the foundation of liberating humanity

12:00 The transformative empathy experience

16:10 Impact of trauma healing on business growth

20:14 Balancing strength, empathy, and integrity in leadership

23:52 Creating value and expanding during economic crises

27:51 Building a team with integrity and trust

31:48 The importance of intuition, meditation, and subconscious awareness

35:55 Protecting children and addressing online dangers

40:11 Leadership in high-stakes and dangerous environments

43:59 Faith, fear, and unwavering conviction

46:51 Upcoming book 'Infinite Wealth' and ways to connect

49:55 Closing remarks and future endeavors

FIND PAUL HUTCHINSON

Website → https://www.paulhutchinsonofficial.com/

CONNECT WITH DAVID

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DISCLAIMER https://www.davidbefort.com/financial-disclaimer

What if everything you were taught about money isn't the whole story? Retired A-10 pilot David Befort launches a show on finance, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

David spent 26 years in uniform, five at the Air Force Academy, the rest as a commissioned officer and A-10C "Warthog" attack pilot, flying combat missions and leading Airmen from Korea to Germany to Afghanistan. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, walked into corporate America, lasted almost exactly one year, and then quit a six-figure job with a wife and three kids at home to build something of his own.

Today he runs three companies and hosts this show to work through the three things he keeps colliding with: how money actually works, what real leadership looks like when nobody's saluting, and what it costs to build a business from scratch.

No conventional financial advice. No highlight reel. Every episode leaves you with one thing you can act on today.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The "good grades → good college → good job → retire at 65" plan is advice David followed to the letter and, why he stopped believing it
• Somebody is always benefiting from your money. The question is whether it's you
• What military leadership actually looks like, versus the movie version where rank does the work
• "Arrival syndrome": the moment you believe you've learned enough is the moment you stop growing
• Nobody is an overnight success. Plenty of people become overnight successes after ten years
• How to find the business you're supposed to build when you only know you want to build something

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

00:29 My background and values

01:27 Chasing potential

02:55 Military service and leadership

05:24 Podcast focus: finance, leadership, entrepreneurship

06:46 Questioning conventional financial advice

10:45 Learning to control your own capital

12:12 Leadership insights from military experience

17:26 Entrepreneurship journey and challenges

23:11 Real talk on success and failures

25:05 Subscribe for more insights!

FULL SHOW NOTES + EPISODE ARCHIVE https://www.davidbefort.com/show

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Website → https://www.davidbefort.com/

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MORE FROM DAVID

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