I used to believe that executive level positions were about flying at a steady 25,000 feet in the air. Now that I have one, I realize it’s actually about flying 50,000 feet in the air most of the time. But sometimes you see something down on the ground, maybe something sparkles, stops moving, or even emits smoke. When that happens, you dive, not just down to 25,000 feet, but maybe to 10,000 feet, maybe to 1000 feet, maybe even sometimes all the way to the ground. You reach for an opportunity, you solve a problem, you put out a fire, and then you take off again.

The key is not to be distant nor to be up close but to do both depending on the circumstances. The difficult part comes in knowing how to read the ground, knowing when to fly high and when to swoop down, being able to do both fly and walk adequately, and then leaving as soon as you’re done.