Notes from Astronaut Scott Kelly's keynote at NI-Week 2019

I had the good fortune of listening to Astronaut Scott Kelly who delivered closing keynote at NIWeek2019. The talk was so good that most senior leaders of NI that I met later (including Scott Rust) asked did I attend Kelly’s talk. I had taken some notes as he spoke and thought I’ll try summarizing it as a part of this week’s BBL newsletter. It is not structured and comes in the same order as he spoke.

Scott Kelly has spent over 500 days in International Space Center, including a trip of nearly an year as a part of experiment that NASA was doing (what happens to human bodies in space when they spend an year or so as they prepare to send people to Mars someday). He has written a book called “Endurance” highlighting his journey.

• He opened the talk with this quote

• “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to do extraordinary things” – Edmund Hillary 

• Mantra for success:
• Set a goal, have a plan and put in hard work.
• Focus on things I can control, take risks and not be afraid to fail.
• Doing the above I’ve learnt sky is not the limit
• Childhood
• Was average in school. Could not focus on anything for long. In this era, I’d have been classified as having ADHD. Never thought being Astronaut is possible. 
• Initial and profound inspiration was my mother, who decided to become the first female police officer of their state. My dad set-up a 8ft wall for her to practice to climb and jump to the other side – one of the tough physical test as a part of admission test.
• My mother was 5.5ft and it was too much for her and no one thought she would be able do it. But she was determined and had a plan and pursued with all her might. She had broken the goal in to a series of small goals. First goal was just to jump and touch the top, and once this is done then the next goal was to hang on to it, and the next step was to do pull ups and the final step was to climb it and get over the wall.   
• This was the first time I saw the power of goal, the need for a plan and the fruits of working hard to get there.
• College
• Continued to be an average student. Ended up going to the wrong college, as in went to “this” college thinking it is “that” college – perhaps only one in the country.
• Life changing event when I read the book The Right Stuff – by Tom Wolfe. Changed the life as I figured out I’ve all the traits to become a fighter pilot, but didn’t know how to study!
• Turned myself into good student, changed majors, graduated and joined Navy.
• “How we start has no bearing on what we can become – goal, plan, hard work”
• Became a pilot, test pilot, and finally flew the F14-tomcat.
• Professional
• I failed with the first landing on the aircraft carrier and was sent back. Got options to fly bigger plane that lands on runway and not landing on ship, which would have permanently moved me away from being a fighter pilot, let alone be an Astronaut.
• Spoke to a guide and mentor who pointed out that my learning has plateaued and I was no more making small and continuous improvement. Guide/Mentor also asked me to never get comfortable even when there are failures and said you’d eventually succeed.
• I decided to take risk and asked for a re-test. Was able to land the F14 on the deck in both day and night and got inducted into Navy which paved the way to become an Astronaut eventually.

• Message
• Successful people’s trait: Ability to take risk, make mistakes and at times even willing to fail.

• We also have to make things little better all the time. Never rest on laurels.

• Compartmentalization – focus on things you can control, doing the job and ignoring everything else.
• Greatest accomplishment is knowing that I’ve done the hardest thing I never thought I’d be able to do and be around to tell the story.
• Teamwork. Spacework is a big team work, including team in ground. Anything complex can be achieved only by a team, though the person in the front might get all visibility etc. Always be a part of the team
• Leadership - Depends on the situation. Use the option that makes the most sense for a situation -  Vote. Make decision. Dictator – decide and announce. Consensus etc.,
• Diversity. Having diverse set is a strength.
• Orbital perspective: Don’t see political borders. When looked from a higher perspective, there are people, problems etc., and nothing else. We are all humans.
• If we can dream it, we can do it. If we plan, focus only on things we can control, appreciate teamwork and work hard….. Sky is NOT the limit.

There is no way I can make justice to the electrifying 60mins that just flew (“Good communication forces you to listen” – Max De Pree). I doubt whether he’d allow NI to put up his keynote in public. I’m checking around if it can be made available to just employees. In the mean time I searched youtube and you can see some videos here and here that covers most of the things he spoke (including the jokes).