In a cockpit, when things are moving fast, you don't have the luxury of pulling out a 500-page manual to find an answer. Pilots divide their knowledge into two distinct categories: Memory Items and Reference Items.
As an entrepreneur—or as some call me, the "Process Doctor"—I've realized that most startups fail because they don't make this distinction. They either try to memorize every small task, leading to burnout, or they have no core philosophy, leading to a "moral compass" that spins in circles when a crisis hits.
Memory Items — Your Business Doctrines
Memory items are the things every pilot (and every leader) should know by heart. In a startup, these aren't technical tasks; they are your philosophies and doctrines.
Your memory items serve as your moral compass. They help you judge mistakes and decide who belongs in your "cockpit." For example, at I Crew, one of our memory items is that "life extends beyond the laptop". If a situation arises that contradicts this philosophy, the decision-making is already done—the philosophy dictates the action.
As a CEO, you are the judge, jury, and executioner. Without memory items, your judgment will be inconsistent.
Reference Items — The Standard Operating Procedures
Reference items are your SOPs. These are the repeatable processes that you don't need to memorize but must be able to execute perfectly by following a checklist.
Your job as a founder is to:
- Identify where the money is made.
- Identify the repeatable processes behind that revenue.
- Teach those processes to someone else and say, "Boss, every day you have to do this".
When you have solid reference items, your team shouldn't have to call you to ask, "What next?". The answer should be intrinsic to the department's manual.
Engaged Autopilot — Scaling Through Systems
Building a business that runs on "autopilot" doesn't mean you stop working; it means you stop micromanaging the ordinary. In aviation, the Pilot Monitoring reads the checklist while the Pilot Flying executes.
In your company, your systems should handle the "normal procedures" so that you, the entrepreneur, are free to handle the "abnormal procedures"—the emergencies, the engine failures, and the high-level shifts in flight path.
If a call comes from your team, it should only be because there is an emergency that the SOPs couldn't cover. This is how you transition from being a "talker" who is stuck in the idea stage to a "builder" who scales.
Don't experiment on the client's time. Use discipline to build your checklists and philosophy to guide your heart. When your memory items and reference items are in sync, you aren't just running a company—you are commanding a flight that can reach any altitude.
Fin.
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