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PrivateJetBS | Edition 24

Empowering the Next Generation

There’s a moment in every career when you stop asking,
“How do I win this deal?”

And you start asking,
“How do I help someone else not lose theirs?”

That shift is subtle.
But it’s everything.

Because empowering the next generation of brokers isn’t about creating competitors.

It’s about creating professionals.

We All Learned the Hard Way

No one enters this business fully prepared.

You learn:

• After a prebuy reveals something you didn’t anticipate.
• After a contract clause you skimmed suddenly matters.
• After a buyer wires a deposit and the pressure changes.
• After you realize how expensive optimism can be.

There are lessons you only understand after:

• A deal falls apart.
• A negotiation goes sideways.
• A client loses confidence.
• Or worse — a mistake costs someone real money.

Those moments sting.

But they teach.

And the responsibility of experience is this:

Don’t let the next generation pay full price for lessons you’ve already learned.

Leadership by Example, Not Volume

The younger brokers coming up behind us don’t need louder personalities.

They need visible discipline.

They’re watching:

• How you handle tension on a negotiation call.
• Whether you blame others when a deal collapses.
• How you explain risk to a client.
• Whether you slow things down when they need slowing down.

They’re not just listening to what you say.

They’re studying how you behave under pressure.

Because that’s where standards are actually formed.

Share the Scars

It’s easy to talk about closed deals.

It’s harder to talk about:

• The inspection that revealed corrosion you missed on first pass.
• The valuation call you got wrong.
• The seller who walked because you pushed too hard.
• The buyer who taught you patience.

But those stories matter more than the wins.

When you share the trials, the real ones, you accelerate someone else’s maturity.

You shorten their learning curve.

You give them pattern recognition before they’ve had to earn it the hard way.

And that’s leadership.

This Didn’t Start in Aviation

For me, this mindset didn’t begin in brokerage.

Going back to my time in the fire department, I was actively involved in training divisions and preparing the next generation. On the fire ground, experience isn’t optional. It’s survival. You don’t keep lessons to yourself. You pass them down — clearly, directly, and without ego — because someone’s safety depends on it.

That philosophy never left.

At the end of 2025, when I had the opportunity to join jetAVIVA, it wasn’t just about accelerating my role as an aircraft broker. It came with the responsibility of stepping into the role of Vice President of Sales Operations, directly overseeing our team of researchers.

I believe firmly that the pathway through research and sales operations is one of the cleanest, clearest, and most disciplined steps toward becoming one of the best brokers in this industry.

Research teaches:

• Pattern recognition.
• Market discipline.
• How to separate signal from noise.
• How to think before you speak.

So today, I don’t just sell airplanes.

I get to share experience.

I get to bring in industry veterans — from insurance, finance, maintenance programs, OEMs, other brokerages — to speak openly about how they built their careers, what mistakes shaped them, and where they’re headed next.

Because exposure accelerates growth.

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Building Platforms for the Next Generation

In my prior role as Lead of the Future Leaders Sub-Committee, and now the Vice Chair, of the International Aircraft Dealers Association NextGen Committee, I had the opportunity to help build the foundation of what became Fuel Stops and Coffee Talks. These are structured conversations aimed specifically at those under 40-years-old who are trying to grow and expand their reach in business aviation.

The goal was simple:

Create access.

Access to experience.
Access to perspective.
Access to people who have already navigated the terrain.

Because sometimes what a young professional needs most isn’t another sales script.

It’s context and inspiration!

Every Time You Teach, You Learn

Here’s something I’ve come to believe deeply:

Every time you stop to teach someone something, you will learn something.

Think about that the next time someone asks you a question — even if it’s a question you’ve answered a hundred times.

Is the right answer really, “Because we’ve always done it that way”?

I personally hate that response.

Instead, ask yourself:

• Why do I do it this way?
• When does this approach work best?
• How does this protect the client?

If the explanation doesn’t make sense to the person you’re teaching, is it truly the best answer?

Or is there a better solution to a problem you’ve managed many times before?

Teaching forces you to refine your own thinking.

It removes autopilot.

It demands clarity.

And clarity strengthens standards.

Protecting the Client Is the Lesson

At its core, brokerage is not about transactions.

It’s about stewardship.

Teaching the next generation means reinforcing:

• The deal is never more important than the client.
• Speed should never override diligence.
• Confidence should never replace verification.
• And ego has no place in someone else’s aircraft purchase.

When younger brokers understand that their role is to protect — not impress — everything changes.

Their tone changes.
Their pacing changes.
Their preparation changes.

And the industry improves.

Standards Are Caught, Not Taught

You can hand someone a checklist.

You can send them to conferences.

You can review contracts together.

But the real standards are absorbed by proximity.

They’re learned when:

• You walk through inspection findings line by line.
• You debrief after a lost deal.
• You explain why you recommended walking away from an aircraft.
• You model restraint when everyone else is pushing urgency.

Standards are not taught in a slide deck.

They’re caught in moments.

The Long Game

If you’re in this business long enough, you realize something:

Reputation compounds.

The brokers coming up behind you will carry pieces of your influence into every deal they touch.

The way you think about process.
The way you define integrity.
The way you handle adversity.

That’s legacy.

Not volume.
Not market share.
Influence.

The Quiet Invitation

PrivateJetBS has always been about sharing what the deals teach us.

Not just the wins — but the friction.

If you’re early in your brokerage career, I hope these lessons shorten your runway.

If you’ve been doing this a while, I hope you’re intentionally transferring what you’ve learned.

Because empowering the next generation isn’t about controlling the future of the industry.

It’s about improving it.

And that starts by sharing — honestly — from the trials and tribulations that shaped you.

The future brokers are already watching.

Let’s give them something worth modeling.

Trust the Process, Not the Promises.™
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Michael Barber PrivateJetBS Newsletter Managing Director & VP, Sales Operations at jetAVIVA​ Mobile, WhatsApp, & Signal: +1.919.475.8506 ​​​​

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