Flight Path to Greatness: Learning from Jean Paul Paloméros

Prepare to be awestruck as we journey through the inspiring life and career of Jean Paul Paloméros, a retired French Air Force general and former Supreme Allied Commander in Transformation.

“There's no such thing as love; only proof of love'.
Pierre Reverdy et Jean Cocteau

Paloméros' remarkable journey from a childhood dream to leading hundreds in the military and managing a squadron of 15 fighter jets and 200 people at the age of 35 in Chad is nothing short of awe-inspiring. But it's not just about his extraordinary feats. Listen in as he speaks candidly about the invaluable role of people in his career, the techniques he learned as a fighter pilot, his aspiration for leadership, and the courage of British aviars that moved him.

Get set to learn the secrets behind demanding excellence within any organization. It's a delicate balance, and Palameros explains it perfectly!

Discover the critical role of vision, discipline, focus, and hope in achieving success, and how essential training is in this quest.

Our conversation also delves into the intriguing parallels between the military and popular culture, like the movie Top Gun, which, as Paloméros points out, mirrors the values needed for success. It's incredible how much the military and sports have in common, especially when it comes to the importance of trust and teamwork. So, join us for an episode rich in leadership lessons and brimming with inspiration.


WATCH JEAN PAUL'S TED TALK ( FRENCH LANGUAGE)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

In this episode, I'm speaking to an inspiring human being, someone who is humble at their core. I'm speaking to a retired French general of the Air Force, someone who's commanded a senior post at NATO and has flown fighter jets for his entire career. This human being will share with us everything that it takes for you to thrive in your own life. Here on the SuperSoul Model series, I'm always looking to empower you, and this week's guest is Jean Paul Palameros. This week, we are blessed to have our guest, who is Jean Paul Palameros, who is a retired general in the French Air Force. He has served as Supreme Allied Commander in Transformation and he's had a senior military post in NATO, and he has also served as Chief of Staff for the French Air Force from 2009 to 2012 and he's been awarded many military awards. We are blessed this week to have Jean Paul Palameros with us on the SuperSoul Model. Welcome to the show, thank you. Thank you, jams, that's my pleasure, thank you. Thank you for being on the show.

Speaker 1: 1:07

Really inspired to have you here, because I met Jean Paul literally sitting by the pool and I was really inspired by his hat. He wore a beautiful hat and I pay attention to little details and each day that we were out by the pool, which is where I'm living right now, jean Paul had a new hat and I asked him are you a captain or something, or are they? I thought it might be a vessel or something you might be interested in boats and he said no, actually I was a fighter jet pilot. So I want to just lead into this conversation, because we are really blessed to have this wonderful human being with us here today, who I find incredibly inspiring. Tell us a little bit about your background on Jean Paul.

Speaker 2: 1:53

Well, I was raised in Paris in a very simple and bold family and as soon as I get to I was very young five to six I look in the sky and I thought that I would like to become a pilot and I would like to fly. And I developed this motivation and say, as I told my parents, I would like to be a fighter pilot. I was very surprised. Nobody in the family was from a military origin and certainly not any fighter pilot. But I told them this is my motivation. I read a lot of comic cartoons about the battle of Britain and that was very inspiring. Those were black and white cartoons where you see this brave British aviar fighting for the liberty and freedom of his country and saving Britain. By the way, that inspired me so much. And then I followed the track. I did what I could. My health was in good condition so I could apply for that and it happened that I succeeded, to my great pleasure, my great motivation, and I had the opportunity to fly in many operations and on many very exciting aircraft, as you can imagine, from the latest versions to the new generation by Krafal for those who know, it's a new generation aircraft, really outstanding, and I learned so much. One takeaway of that is there was the techniques on the one hand, but there was the people, and people were even more important.

Speaker 2: 3:51

Sometimes, outside of our world, people would say a fighter pilot is a lonely job. This is not true. You build a team, you fly with a teammate, you support yourself and you are integrated in a larger world. So you need to be open. You have the engineers working for you and, very safely, I never trusted my team. I never flew with any hesitation because I knew that I had a team behind me and they have done their best to put together this aircraft and to maintain it. So I learned that and in the process, I learned my aspiration for leadership and leading the people, with the people, for the people, and this is how I developed this sense of command, as we say, in the forces of leadership. That was another part of my career which has been absolutely remarkable in the sense of I met so many talented people, different backgrounds and different countries as well. We can come back on that as well.

Speaker 1: 5:10

So you had the dream at five. Not everybody manages to have a dream at such a young age and follows the route, it makes life easier.

Speaker 1: 5:19

It makes life easier because some people like me. I didn't know what I wanted to do until even my early 20s. I was, like, still unsure. I felt like my career hadn't decided what lighted up my heart and my passion. But from the age of five it's pretty special you were able to look in the sky and go. I want to do that. So may I ask, what age did you actually join? I?

Speaker 2: 5:42

joined Air Force at 20, but before that I got my degrees in the public school and then I joined military sponsored schools because it was easier, because it saved money for my studies etc. So I was engaged as a young military cadet and then afterwards I passed the exams for the Air Force Academy, which is at the level of an engineer in aeronautics, and then at 20 I was in the Air Force and three years later I started to fly.

Speaker 1: 6:30

So how many years have you been flying for?

Speaker 2: 6:34

Well, all in all, I've been flying more than 20, 22, 23 hours. Obviously, the bulk of my operational career was between, I would say, 25 and 40, with a large focus on the 30s. You know, this is the average age of fighter pilot 30, 35. Which means that you get a lot of responsibility very soon, very early in your career, and that's what I mean, always with some background, and looking back, say well, I was 35 years old and I was in charge of all these aircraft, all these people, hundreds of people.

Speaker 1: 7:16

It seems quite young these days, doesn't it? Because I feel like the youth today feels as though the age is getting a little older for to be able to be in responsibility.

Speaker 2: 7:29

So 35, maybe even 30, 40 years ago seems like a yes, at 35, I was with my team, my squadron, more than 200 people, 15 fighter jets in Chad to support, to protect the Chad against Mr Kadhafi and etc. But it comes early, but you don't feel that when you are in charge, because the things are coming like that.

Speaker 1: 7:59

So one of the things that I'm inspired by with you, jean-paul, is your leadership right. So if you're put in an environment, at the age of 35, to be in charge of a squadron, did you say about 200 people? That's a lot of people to be 35 and in charge. What sort of training did you have to have? Because I think things that people can relate to is focus and training and what we can do in our own lives to attain a level of discipline, because we all need to be leaders maybe in a family, or maybe you have a business or maybe you're starting a business but at some level, we all require leadership values and leadership skills. Where did you develop yours and how do you think you developed yours in such a way that has led you through an illustrious career of being in charge of a lot of people and having a lot of responsibility?

Speaker 2: 8:58

Well, I never thought that I would get to such level of responsibility. I was not really looking for the level of responsibility. I have been looking on the present and the near future, saying, well, I must do whatever I can to achieve the objectives. I mean the mission, to integrate the people, to make sure that we work as a team. You know and and therefore Cesar, both team and the family you have the most part of that. Yeah, the people are, must be very close to each other. There are different ranks, this is true, but you must respect any people. Everybody has to bring. The man, woman has to bring something, and I learned that very early in my career, as soon as I start flying, and even in the Air Force Academy, I felt that my life one day will depend on on those people who are on the ground. He would be the mechanics, the air controller did, and all this chain of Responsibility, this chain of expertise I am with. At the end of the day, the spare head is the pilot. The pilot is only part of the biggest system.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Yeah, so it makes me think of sport a little bit as well. I mean, when we are trying to set out to create harmony in the world, or peace, or we're trying to create something bigger than just one person, we always have to rely on a team. And the one thing I was thinking of was formula one from, for instance you know, yeah, the driver can drive. It is all the mechanics behind the drivers and all the team that have to go in. So even though you may be the skilled pilot, you still have to rely on so many people, so there's a real level of trust that's required there. Did you feel that that was really important to becoming the person that you?

Speaker 2: 10:59

well, the comparison is very good. This is a different objective, but nevertheless, yes, you rely on others, and this is where I understood that, if you are fortunate and enough to get a certain level of responsibility, you must build, I would say, trust, and not only you trusting your people that you are in charge of, yeah, but them, I'm trusting you as well as a leader.

Speaker 1: 11:32

So how do you, how do you develop that trust? What are the skills that you've acquired over the last sort of 40 odd, 50?

Speaker 2: 11:37

years, you know, I used this to take a Say which says in life, there is no love, there is only. They are only proofs of love. So when you lead people, you, it's not enough to say, well, this is why you are good, but you have to prove that in the day to their life, to be interested in what they do and to To make them happy and proud of what they do. So recognize the people, recognizing every single People because they are bringing something and they are very proud of what they do. Well, they see you as kind of God, if I may say so, because you are. You are the man in the machine, you are the head, you are the chief of the Air Force, you are the chief of transformation. So they look at you as a very remote, but you have to make them understand that we are not remote. You cannot know everybody Personally, but nevertheless you must try to get the best feeling of what they think, what is their life, how, what are the concerns, and try to to help them in doing that.

Speaker 2: 12:47

Because you know, and certainly in the forces, in the army, the people have a tough life, as you can see nowadays. They are on permanent basis, available there must be, etc. They have their family and it's not easy to to compose with that with their children, with their spouses. So you must take that into account and show that you are a human Between other humans. But you are the leader and you assume that you are the chief. So you have to decide, you have to make tough decision, but if you trust the people and if they trust you, it makes life much easier. And I can quote a lot of example of that, during operations for instance.

Speaker 1: 13:31

Yeah, I mean that's yeah. I think everybody can relate to that, and I just wanted to say that I noticed like a common Thread or a common denominator, which is you said that you had humble beginnings, and that humble beginnings makes you want to relate to people, no matter where they are on any hierarchy scale. And it sounds as though, even though you you didn't necessarily ask for the leadership roles or desire that, you found yourself in that because you have a sense of humility that you've developed it. You, you figured that if I'm in charge of a lot of people, I want to care about these people Because ultimately, I can't serve to the best of my ability Unless these people are helping me.

Speaker 2: 14:18

Yeah, and and taking really your role as as, as a support in their development. The personal development, yeah, you know, it's in my job as a fighter pilot. Initially I thought, well, I will learn to fly an aircraft, I will learn perhaps to be part of the team. But what I didn't figure Initially is that as soon as I get some qualification, I was in charge of the people, of my teammates, and to teach them, to learn them. This is part of how you build a common sense discipline, share discipline, because you know you see the people start the bottom and they go even Sometimes to the top, but they have been through all these different stages so they understand exactly what it means to be a young operational pilot. Yeah, what is your need? And and secondly, I I never made concession. I mean because this is a tough job and there are many tough jobs as well outside. But this is a tough job, so you cannot make concessions. You need to be very demanding to make sure that the people raise rich the label, which is which is expected?

Speaker 1: 15:44

Yeah, this is a really good point. So you're actually always, from your team and yourself, demanding some level of excellence. Yeah, absolutely. So, okay, that can be tricky, I'm sure. How do you do that? How do you get that out of yourself? If you were by yourself, how do you demand excellence for yourself? Or if you're in charge of a few people, whether it's a large amount of people or a small amount of people, how do you demand excellence?

Speaker 2: 16:08

Well, you start to just say to lead by example as much as you can and you.

Speaker 2: 16:17

People must trust you and they can accept mistakes if you are able to accept mistakes as well, but they first. They want you to give them a vision and a little bit outside of that, I would say the two key elements of building the future would it be the Air Force or in other organization for me is to give a vision where we go and hope, the hope to succeed, the hope and the tools to the qualities, the tools that are needed to achieve this hope. And the people hope to be a fighter pilot fun. They have to go through the state, but if you tell them this is how you, this is where you, we should go together. So I will try to to support you, but you have to do your own own homework.

Speaker 1: 17:18

You have to to accept this kind of discipline, because if you're not disciplined enough, you put the life of other athletes and this is, yeah, what we see on the it's really interesting that you say that, because, whether you're in the military or any other business or organization, or you're an athlete, you're putting, you've got to put your faith into training, haven't you got to put your faith into the repetition of developing yourself, your team, everything to the highest possible standards. And I just see this thread throughout, whether it's in the military or whether it's in sport or whether it's in business. I just see that this character that you have to develop within yourself has got to have all these values of vision. You've got to have the discipline, you've got to have focus, you've got to have a hope. You know, it seems like I've read lots of books. I've read lots of incredible leaders, autobiographies, I've met wonderful leaders. You know, I'm a leader in my own way and I'm just inspired that the same characteristics that are required literally seemingly universal.

Speaker 2: 18:34

You're right. I mean training is the key, and certainly for the forces. I mean, obviously you don't go in real operation everyday, fortunately. But we used to say you, you fight as you train, and the more demanding you are in training and the more you are able to just to be successful in your missions, which which means as well that and it's sometimes difficult to make the people understand why we are so demanding in this time for training pilot, why you need them to fly low level attitude, weather. Do you expect to do the day to day basis because of that?

Speaker 2: 19:16

The day when they have to go to order, they were to go to operations. There is no time for that, there is the stress. But if they have those skills in training, in very demanding training, I can't see you really able to achieve what what they have to achieve. So this is the price to pay. This is true for an air force. This is true in many domains is the more demanding you are when you can really yourself can be your competencies, your experience and the better it is for the future so it's almost like putting yourself in uncomfortable situations.

Speaker 1: 19:53

more and more and more will allow you to be able to Shine when it's after you.

Speaker 2: 20:01

Yeah, I don't never try to to override or pass over the difficulty that's face the reality. It's, I mean, nothing simple. The world is changing. This is true. We have now the new technologies. We have a lot of questions. So we have to face that and saying well, technology are built by men, women. So if this man and woman will be the technology, are well trained and qualified, they will be technology for the good, for people or the human being, and not technologies by themselves. So you see, my job as a fighter pilot was a mix of human skills and technology. I relied, we relied a lot on technology which are evolving on a day to day basis and you are trying to get the best of the technology but not to overload With multiple information. You have to be very selective. But this is amazing, how the couple of human being, the expertise and the technology, what we can achieve with that together.

Speaker 1: 21:16

so if we just go back to some of the things that we see in a pop culture you know we've just had the top gun Maybe come out in the last year or so. I remember having this conversation with the other day how realistic is other other the scenes and how realistic are the actual aircraft in comparison with what you know, perhaps with your experience in, because you are mastermind behind creating the, the Rafa military aircraft.

Speaker 2: 21:55

The scenario, but all in all it's it's like that and you can feel those kind of values. You see, and this is the most important thing, part of this movie, because you feel the value of the old experience pilot, what it can bring the youngest, initially him as an old guy, but, yes, like such an experience that you have to build on. That we respect very much in my job, respect very much experience myself. I vlog more than 4000 flying arrows and you can say, well, if you can transmit a little bit of that to your young colleagues, that would be absolutely outstanding. And this is what you see in this film. As far as the aircraft are concerned, they are taking a f18, which is good aircraft, not the latest and some futuristic as well aircraft.

Speaker 1: 22:47

It's part of science fiction In the end scene. Is that actually a real aircraft or is it.

Speaker 2: 23:00

We are looking to the future. So what will be the future with? Perhaps one day we will take a kind of this aircraft and go into space? It's not so far. You will see that coming in the next decade. So this is amazing. The story of the aeronautics is is outstanding. Sorry. Started at the beginning of the 20th century.

Speaker 2: 23:23

It went so fast yeah and when the aeronautics was invented, that was the first world war. And the air, the air dimension, took his place progressively and suddenly it became absolutely essential. You cannot control the battlefield without controlling the air, and we see that in many conflicts of today so from the right brother, setting up that first.

Speaker 1: 23:47

Where we are now is and you know, potentially getting into space. So I just wanted to talk about this the stress on the body, the stress maybe on the battlefield, the stress in our day to day lives, to put yourself in an uncomfortable position. How do you handle uncomfortable when maybe what's being demanded of you by your team, by the mission, maybe it's your business, what's been demanded of you by your family? How do you find harmony? How do you find that calm? What have been your skills that you've learned throughout your career that have helped you handle perhaps some of the most intense stressful situations? And I know what's going on, what's happening in the Middle East right now between Israel and Hamas and that very difficult period, and we wish peace in all that area. How do we handle that? You know, if we were an individual, and I'm asking you know, from human to human, what's the best way to handle some of these really difficult experiences and what can we do? I?

Speaker 2: 24:56

think there's no single recipe, as you can, as you know, but I think if you are clear in your values, I would say it helps a lot. I mean, you know what what you are, in my terms, you are fighting for. Everybody can have its own fight if you know why you are fighting for. Well, I take my lessons of my own commitment. I discovered progressively that at the end of the day, as a military pilot, I was fighting for peace. That was the aim yeah, to provide peace, to keep peace and to make sure that the world was safer.

Speaker 2: 25:44

And I start flying during the Cold War. I can tell you that was very tense. When the Cold War ended I felt relaxed and say we have achieved something, but the world is such that it was not the end of the story. Sure, which means that if you know exactly what you are, what are your values?

Speaker 2: 26:07

Obviously, I mean is part of my value of function, but the people are part of my values and the respect for what our ancient set have built. I mean peace, democracy, liberty. This is my permanent day-to-day focus and I would say commitment, saying well, what we can do to keep these precious things. And if you look at that, you say well, we have a wonderful in the heritage, so it makes you, it gives you a lot of strength to confront all the difficulties you have in your life. Okay, today we have. We have done something together. We have tried to achieve a better understanding between the people, and when I was ahead of the NATO command, that was 28 countries at this time and I was working with these 28 countries to make sure that they were committed together to protect our values and they're a single organization, a wonderful alliance, the Atlantic Alliance. So in doing that, you must listen to the people for sure, because if you go alone you don't go very far and you must keep yourself balanced. Sport is an essential part of my life.

Speaker 1: 27:40

So what sports do you play to keep yourself in balance?

Speaker 2: 27:42

Well, I used to play soccer, but I always liked swimming, running, sort of things. So, and I consider sport as an essential part of life at every level. It doesn't need to be a professional, but just to keep you fit, but fit in your head, fit in you, and, and obviously I like music, I like poetry yes.

Speaker 2: 28:10

I try to write for myself, for my family. Everybody has his own, his own garden, if I may say so, and and that's good like that. So no single recipe. You have to face the the reality of life, but if you keep your values in place, what is important, what is crucial, what is essential, but we can achieve that and to give the best to the people. This is the experience of a life, and now I'm getting to 70s and I think this is a story of life.

Speaker 2: 28:46

Life is very precious. Life is the best present that we have on this earth and we must make the best of that. That's absolutely. If you look at the world like that yeah, obviously there are places in the world which you see, you say, well, they will not solve that, say, yes, but we have good experiences. We have managed to come out of two worldwide world war in Europe, yeah, and now Europe is what it is, but it is at peace with itself. It is the democratic, I mean, and it is able to provide the people a good social life. So let's appreciate that and make sure that we are able to keep that for the future. So if you keep this kind of value as a vision, it helps you every day to do what you have to do it's interesting because sometimes you can overlook why you're doing something.

Speaker 1: 29:53

If you're caught up in stress, you're like you don't go back to the why, and I think that that's always a good reminder for why you're getting up in the morning, why you're going to work, why are you creating this business, why are you part of this organization? Why, what, what, what are you fighting for? What is your heart telling you to do? And I think it's a really simple but very effective and profound message that we can all be reminded of. I just want to say it's been super inspiring talking to you, jean-paul. Thank you for sharing your expertise, thank you for sharing your understanding and giving us a little insight into your, your job and your illustrious career, and and and thank you for sharing with us like some hope as to why we do what we do in the world and that the armed forces play a part of, but also what we can do as human beings, because I think we could all have the power to make personal change which will affect global change in its own way.

Speaker 1: 30:54

So thank you for coming onto the show and thanks for sharing your wisdom.

Speaker 2: 30:58

I hope the best to your listeners, something to yourself, I mean. We can build a safer, better world together, fantastic thank you so much thank you thank you.

Speaker 1: 31:11

If you've enjoyed this episode or any of the others, please leave a review, because your reviews make all the difference. See on the next episode and thanks for tuning in.