LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – Trish and I waited for the crowds to thin out and then went to see Top Gun Maverick today at the local Regency Director’s Cut Theatre. People we trust on television promised us it was a patriotic, feel-good movie. They were right.
In the movie, Tom Cruise reprises his role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from the original Top Gun (1986). Set 30 years later, the sequel shows Maverick’s return to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (also known as U.S. Navy-Fighter Weapons School-“TOPGUN”).
From the perspective of Lightning Fast grant writing, one of the most interesting things about the movie is Maverick’s insistence that the pilots he trains, “Don’t think. Just do.” Obviously, this advice is particularly useful for fighter pilots who need quick reaction times in order to survive. If you are taking time to think in the midst of aerial combat, you are going to make slower decisions and potentially become an easier target for an enemy missile.
Maverick shares his wisdom with a group of younger aviators. Among them is the son of Maverick’s deceased best friend Lieutenant Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, USN. Unfortunately, Goose’s son, Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, is something of a slow poke who thinks too much. Not good.
Just in the nick of time, Rooster picks up on this new perspective so well that Maverick has good cause to reproach him for his recklessness. “What were you thinking?!” asks an exasperated Maverick. Rooster responds: “You told me not to think!”
Ironically, a lot of the things that the movie Top Gun: Maverick associates with world-class fighter pilots are useful for grant writers too. Undoubtedly, the traits illustrated in the movie have been derived from many years of training pilots who are facing huge challenges in highly complex environments. These include quick reaction times, over-the-top self-confidence, a persistent effort to replace thinking with good habits, unconscious competence, and a bias towards taking action. As Maverick tells us: “Don’t think. Just do.”
