For the last fifty years, fighter pilots have used a secret tool for continuous improvement. This is the disciplined and effective debrief — something most companies talk about but don't know how to do. Authors Murphy and Duke succinctly provide not only the reasons for debriefing, but how to conduct an effective debrief. They call it the Stealth Debrief process. It provides a simple means of analyzing root causes while yielding actionable lessons and addresses organizational weaknesses while empowering and reinforcing strengths. Excerpt from: One Giant Leap For Manningkind Even with the breakout seasons of second-year players Cruz (who set a franchise record for receiving yards, with 1,536) and Jason Pierre-Paul (whose 161/2 sacks were the most by a Giant since Michael Strahan's 181/2 in 2003), New York still entered the final two weeks at 7--7 after a four-game losing streak that tested the bonds Coughlin worked so hard to build. During the bye week following a 4--2 start, director of player development Charles Way invited fighter pilots from Afterburner Inc., a corporate training company, to address the team about the value of "debriefing" sessions. Pilots returning from missions build trust through sessions in which they sit in a room together, stripped of name and rank; each speaks openly about mistakes he made during the mission. Players also received a copy of a book by one of the pilots, James D. Murphy, the title of which expressed the ultimate goal: "Flawless Execution." Soon Manning and Tuck, respectively, were leading offensive and defensive debriefings the day after games. Coaches were not present. Meetings lasted from 20 minutes to an hour. "I wasn't coaching anybody," Manning says. "I was just coaching myself, looking at what I needed to do better and telling everybody. Then everybody would talk about what they needed to do to improve." Says linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, "There was a time there when we needed every single minute of [debriefing]. It wasn't about calling people out. It was an opportunity to see everybody hold themselves accountable. The big part of why we're here is that fingers don't get pointed. These kind of teams don't come along very often." If accountability and execution characterized New York's undefeated run from 7--7, those qualities were beacons during the Super Bowl. The Giants had two fumbles but recovered both. (A third was negated by a New England penalty.) They trailed 10--9 at halftime and by eight early in the third quarter but shut down the Pat I tried to tap into some of the Giants' magic by reading" The Debrief Imperative: The Secret Tool that is Transforming Businesses the World Over." Written by former Air Force fighter pilot James D. Murphy, the book explains the value of a post-op debriefing meeting, and also explains how such meetings should be executed. Murphy and his Afterburner Inc., company give high level seminars on the subject, and they visited the Giants facility in early November to visit with coach Tom Coughlin, his staff and the players. They spoke about how a group could review a game in the most constructive manner possible. I asked Giants left tackle Dave Diehl what he thought of the seminar. "We all took something from it," he said. "There is no better person to watch film with than your peers. Football is so much about accountability and selling out for the guy next to you. You don't want to let the guy next to you down. When you can watch film as a group, people can stand up and say, hey, that was my mistake, I was responsible. That leads to a belief in one another."The book stresses that a debriefing session should be nameless and rankless. That way, the truth comes to the forefront and egos are pushed to the background. For instance, when watching tape, any player or coach can point out anything he or someone else could have done better. Instead of just having a superior pointing out errors, players take ownership in the process, making it more powerful. "They use the term nameless and rankless, so when we watch the game and critique ourselves, I had to take off the title of defensive coordinator," Perry Fewell told me. "[Justin] Tuck had to take off the title of captain. We had to be critical of each other, go in the room and hammer out what was the right thing to do, versus who was at fault. Once we were able to do that, we were able to communicate and we broke down some barriers that normally would be defense mechanisms." Fewell said what the Giants learned that day has impacte Practicing Military Precision EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. --There are team meetings. There are position meetings. And then last Monday, the Giants held a debriefing. Fighter-pilot style. Defense captain Justin Tuck and offensive captain Eli Manning confer with coach Tom Coughlin in September. Like any NFL coach, Tom Coughlin spends his days seeking some sort of an edge for his team. A noted military buff, he's often turned to speakers from the armed forces, and