What a privilege it is to have the top graduate of the Air Force Top Gun School and retired U.S. Air Force F-22 and F-15 fighter pilot and squadron commander, Rob “Cujo” Teschner in the studio with Marcus for this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast. Listen in for an inspiring conversation with Cujo, whose life is an amazing success story, and whose life mission is to teach and inspire others, bridging the gap between the principles of high performance combat veterans and high performance business.

His fight with Colorectal Cancer is what prompted Cujo to retire from the Air Force early. Yet his ambition led to his path of entrepreneurship, leadership and team development. Cujo is the founder and CEO of VMax Group, an international leadership training company and he has authored several books, two of which went to #1 on the Amazon bestseller list.

• I loved being part of the Air Force family. We lived all over the place. (7:57)

• 1977 when Luke Skywalker wants to join some academy and then join the rebellion. That resonated with me. (9:49)

• As a kid, I felt like the military was my family. It’s what I knew. (10:50)

• I thought it was always cool to hop on an airplane to go someplace new. To meet new people along the way. (13:00)

• My letter – the one that says “thanks for applying” never said “try again”. (18:26)

• The more people told me it wasn’t gonna happen the more committed I was to proving them wrong. (20:47)

• I had never flown an airplane before I went to the Air Force Academy. (23:32)

• Isn’t that stunning how fast we accelerate leadership – how fast we accelerate somebody to realize their potential?  (27:07)

• If there was a time period I could freeze it would be First Lieutenant to Captain, because that’s when I was out there doing the mission. (28:28)

• What we need is a constant stream of warriors who are ready to go forth and do. (35:18)

• The biggest honor of my military career was being called to be an instructor at our Fighter Weapons School, basically it’s the Air Force Top Gun Program. (36:49)

• You can beat people up and tell them how much they suck and they can learn from that, but another alternative might be Hey Cujo, we were 2 decisions from victory today. (43:55)

• I try to apply that to my kids. (44:46)

• One of the huge blessings of my life was being a part of teams that mattered. (48:09)

• Our family team got a whole heck of a lot better as a result of my failure with cancer. That caused us to focus where we needed to. I’m eternally grateful for it. (52:32)

• One of the best 4-star bosses I ever worked for would come in every month and ask us “Hey what are you doing for the home team?” (55:33)