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The First Class Leaders Academy

Close the gap between what you intend and the impact you have.

A six month program that teaches you one simple drill for the moments that go sideways with people.

Book your free Clarity Call

Sixty minutes with Kyle on where you are now, where you want to be in six months and what's actually in the way.

80+ five star reviews9.2/10 average satisfaction

200+ people trained across 58 organizations. Coached by Captain Kyle Freiburger and the First Class Leaders coaches.

The gap nobody trained you for

You were promoted because you were good at the work. Nobody trained you to lead the people doing it, so you figured it out on your own and most of the time that's been enough. But every so often a moment goes sideways.

  • You give someone feedback and they get defensive.
  • You push back in a meeting and the room goes quiet.
  • A one on one ends with more tension than it started with.

Then you drive home replaying what you said. The next time it happens you react the same way because knowing better in the car isn't the same as doing better in the moment.

The way through

You're not broken. You're untrained. The Academy gives you one simple drill and six months of reps on what's actually happening to you.

  • Catch the moment
  • Choose one move ahead of time
  • Take the action and debrief it
Book your free Clarity CallSixty minutes with Kyle. No obligation to join.
A manager talking while a colleague across the table looks frustrated

Your intentions were good. They always are. But intentions are invisible.Impact is not.

Is this you?

You can name the moment

If you lead people, or you're about to, you've probably lived at least one of these.

This is for you if

  • Someone snapped at you, corrected you or talked down to you and you went quiet
  • You said nothing when you should have spoken up, then replayed it for hours
  • You reacted in a way you regret and you're not sure how to change the pattern
  • You came across as too direct or too controlling without meaning to
  • You keep putting off a hard conversation because you don't know how to have it well
  • There's one person you just can't seem to work with and you're carrying it home
  • You're a manager, team lead, business owner or pilot who leads people and you want to close that gap, not just understand it

It isn't for you if

  • You're looking for a quick script rather than a skill
  • You mainly want help proving someone else is the problem

Flying with fewer than 1,500 hours? Start with the Copilot free trial. It's the same drill and it's there whenever you need it.

Why this works

Pilots train for the engine fire. Nobody trains for the conversation.

Kyle Freiburger has more than 10,000 hours in the cockpit. In aviation you train for the engine fire until the drill is automatic, so nobody has to invent it in the moment. Day to day life with people has no drill at all.

Memory itemsIllustration

Engine fire

1THRUST LEVERIDLE
2ENGINE MASTEROFF
3FIRE HANDLEPULL
4AGENTDISCHARGE

Trained in the sim until it's automatic. Nobody expects you to invent it in the moment.

NEW
Take the LeadAny seat

Reaction

1SIGNALNOTICE IT
2TAKE THE LEADSAY IT
3A.C.T.FIND THE MOVE
✓DID I LEAD?I TOOK IT

Simple enough to remember under pressure. It never changes, so you always have somewhere to go.

Take the Lead is that drill and it works the same way in a cockpit, a boardroom or a one on one. You learn to catch the moment, find your move and debrief it, so you can keep closing the gap on your own, with or without us.

How the drill works

Three steps you run on your real moments

Your coach helps you run them on what actually happened this week and Copilot carries the reps in between.

1.0

Signal.

"Something's off."

You don't need to know why yet. Notice it in you, or notice your impact didn't land the way you meant it, even if you're already reacting.

2.0

Take the Lead.

"Say it."

Out loud or in your head. It's the choice to lead instead of blaming and justifying. Rank has nothing to do with it.

3.0

A.C.T.

"Find the move."

Ask how you can take the lead right now, choose the principle you need and take one action. If it didn't land, go again.

  • Ownership
  • Curiosity
  • Humility
  • Courage
  • Support

The choice

Take the Lead.

A choice to focus on what I can control and learn from what I can't. Not waiting, blaming, justifying or deciding who's right.

The measure

How do I know I led?

I took one action toward a principle. The outcome isn't the measure because I don't control it. It's a direction, not a finish line.

What you get inside the Academy

Everything is built around what's actually happening to you

There's no syllabus to sit through. Every part of the Academy exists to help you run the drill on your real situations and get better at it each time.

A private hour with your coach every two weeks

About 12 or 13 sessions over six months

You bring the real moments from your work and leave with your next move, built with a coach beside you.

A ninety minute live group call every week

Normally Tuesdays and always recorded

This is ground school. You learn the drill and practice it with other people leading people.

Coach access between sessions

On WhatsApp or text

When a hard conversation is coming up on Thursday, you don't have to wait two weeks or walk into it alone.

The Copilot app

A couple of minutes a day

Your daily rep between sessions, so you're practicing the drill and not just talking about it.

Your DiSC profile and debrief

At the start of month three

A clear picture of how you show up and how other people experience you, once the drill is already in your hands.

The Academy community

Other people doing the same work

You're not the only one who's ever replayed a conversation on the drive home.

Lighter than it looks

An hour every two weeks, ninety minutes a week live or recorded and a couple of minutes a day in the app. Your first win comes early because you leave your first private session with one move to try right away.

You may work with Kyle or one of the First Class Leaders coaches.

What six months looks like

You wouldn't jump in an airplane and just know how to fly

Leading people is the same. It's a skill and skills take reps, which is why six months is the minimum we recommend. You won't see the whole shift in four weeks but you'll feel something move in your very first session.

01

Your first session

One move to try right away

You bring a real moment from your week and leave with the move you'll make the next time it shows up.

02

Months one and two

Learn the drill and use it

You start running Take the Lead on your own moments and debriefing what happened with your coach.

03

Month three

See how you show up

Once the drill is in place, we use a behavioural tool called DiSC to help you see how other people experience you.

04

Months four to six

Make it yours

You keep running reps on whatever your situations call for and build the habit of closing the gap on your own.

We start wherever your real situations call for first

  • Self awareness and how others experience you
  • Emotional regulation and ownership
  • Communication and hard conversations
  • Relationships and expectations
  • Presence and how you show up

In their words

What people say after the work

200+people trained across 58 organizations
80+five star reviews
9.2/10average satisfaction
A must for anyone embarking on an Airline job or a management job. I have 35 years of Flight Instructing experience and over 13,000 hours and I learned so much from this course.
Julie MarzoliCaptain and Flight Instructor
Our team was able to learn about each others motivations and stressors and are now better equipped to handle internal disagreements and conflicts.
Curtis SchmalzTeam Lead
First Class Leaders is an incredible opportunity for anyone who wants to improve their interpersonal skills. Especially those transitioning into a leadership role.
Evan LynchFirst Officer, Porter
An exceptional program that combines theory and practical application. I left feeling inspired and equipped to take on new challenges in my career.
Erika ArmstrongAviation Professional
This course will have a positive impact on how you approach interactions at work and throughout your daily life.
Roger JamiesonCaptain, Global XRS
This type of training is missing in the pilot world.
Guy ThomasChief Pilot, Novajet
Book your free Clarity CallSixty minutes with Kyle. No obligation to join.

Meet Kyle

He built the training he wishes someone had handed him

Kyle Freiburger has been flying for over 20 years, first as an Air Canada captain and now as a Gulfstream captain.

For a long time his intentions were good and his impact was something else entirely. People told him he came across as rude and arrogant and he thought there was something wrong with him. It wasn't a personality flaw. It was a missing skill and nobody had trained him for the human side of the cockpit any more than they'd trained you.

He's spent the last decade learning how to close that gap and he'll tell you honestly that there are still signals he misses. That's exactly why he believes in reps. First Class Leaders exists because nothing like it was there when he needed it.

10,000+ HOURSGULFSTREAM CAPTAINFORMER AIR CANADA CAPTAIN
Captain Kyle Freiburger

Your Clarity Call

60 minutes with Kyle

It's free, there's no obligation to join and you'll leave with a clearer picture of three questions either way.

  • 1Where are you now?
  • 2Where do you want to be in six months?
  • 3What's actually in the way?

Kyle holds five Clarity Calls a week.

Book your free Clarity Call

Fair questions

Before you book

What does it cost?

We walk through the investment on the Clarity Call, once we both know whether the Academy fits what you're working on. The call itself is free and there's no obligation to join.

Do I have to commit to six months?

The Academy runs as a monthly membership and six months is the minimum we recommend because leading people is a skill and skills take reps. You won't see the whole shift in four weeks. You'll feel something move after your first private session. We'll talk through what makes sense for you on the call.

How much time does it take?

An hour with your coach every two weeks, a ninety minute group call each week that you can join live or watch later and a couple of minutes a day in Copilot. There's no big lecture day and no binder to read.

Is this only for pilots?

No. It's for anyone in, or moving into, a role where they lead people, including new managers, team leads, business owners, captains and first officers. Aviation is how Kyle teaches it, not who it's for. If you're a pilot with fewer than 1,500 hours, the Copilot free trial is the better place to start.

Do I need to be in a leadership role already?

No. Plenty of people start before a promotion or an upgrade so they're ready for the people side before it lands on them.

I've done leadership training before and it didn't stick. Why would this be different?

Most people have. A course hands you ideas on a Tuesday and the hard moment shows up on a Thursday. Here your private hour is built on what actually happened to you and the reps in between are what turn an idea into something you do.

Will I stop reacting?

No. Anyone who promises that isn't being straight with you. What changes is the gap between the reaction and your response. You'll catch it sooner, choose your move ahead of time and debrief it after, so it happens less and costs less when it does.

Who will I be working with?

You may work with Kyle or one of the First Class Leaders coaches. Every Clarity Call is with Kyle.

What if I miss a group call?

Every group call is recorded, so you can catch up the same week.

The honest promise

Small and soon beats big and never.

The promise isn't that you'll be perfect. It's that you'll start closing that gap and you'll know how to keep closing it on your own. It starts with sixty minutes with Kyle.