‘How NASA Builds Teams’ by: Charlie Pellerin

Do you know what astrophysics is? I’m not going to lie, I had to wikipedia it.  This week we speak with the guy who Invented Astrophysics! ….Ok, not really, that guy has been dead for like centuries, BUT we basically get to talk to the next best thing in Dr. Charles Pellerin.  Dr. Pellerin is the former director of astrophysics at NASA where he led the team that built the hobbled Hubble Space Telescope and then redeemed himself by leading the mission to fix it – so he’s kind of a big deal in a lot of ways.  Actually, let’s discuss how big of a deal he is:

  • Charlie received Goddard Space Flight Center’s highest patent related award for inventing a “Two-axis Fluxgate Magnetometer”. His design then flew on missions to the planets.
  • He earned a PhD in Astrophysics publishing in Solar Physics and the Astrophysical Journal.
  • Catholic University awarded him their Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science.
  • After the Harvard Business School’s “Program for Management Development,” NASA appointed Charlie Director, Astrophysics. He led this program for a decade launching 12 satellites.
  • NASA awarded him an Outstanding Leadership Medal and the American Astronautical Society gave him their highest award, the Space Flight Award.

So I’ll say it again….he’s kind of a big deal and we’re pumped to have him on the show.  We start off with some really nerdy questions about inhabiting Mars, which we WILL do sometime soon according to Dr. P.  Then we dive into the Hubble disaster and how Charlie was able to take that life lesson in a fantastic direction as he outlines in his AMAZING book How NASA Builds Teams.   You will learn all about Dr. Pellerin’s new 4-D approach that is being used by some of the largest companies in the world such as Texas Instruments and Raytheon Co, just to name a few.  The systems and ideas are all outlined for free at http://www.nasateambuilding.com/ or http://www.4-dsystems.com/ . He has a LOT of free information available on there that can help ANYONE from small business to large corporations and especially to the individual employee.  In today’s business environment you really have to be a team player, why not take some advice from one of the smartest guys to ever give it!