Who's in the Control Tower?

Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it?
Ted Striker: Surely you can’t be serious.
Rumack: I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.
- From the 1980 film Airplane!

Part II of a Five-Part series titled “Beyond Silos: The Power of Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration”

Air Traffic Control has been in the news a lot lately and not for good reasons.

The Federal Aviation Administration is dealing with a national shortage of air traffic controllers which has strained the bandwidth of current ATCs, especially those at some of our nation’s busiest airports. Making matters worse has been a string of public relations nightmares due to close calls and the tragic mid-air collision at Reagan National Airport earlier this year.

For decades, domestic air travel in the U.S. has been the safest and most efficient in the world, and it remains so despite the recent incidents. However, what the incidents have highlighted is how vital air traffic controllers are to safe American skies.

Every day, thousands of flights share the same sky. Pilots are skilled aviators, the planes they fly are sophisticated, and airlines have routes to carry out. But none of that works without air traffic control. Controllers sequence takeoffs and landings, keep traffic moving, and communicate clearly when the weather turns. They clear the way for planes that need an emergency landing. Their job is to make the whole system work.

Big, multi-stakeholder initiatives need the same thing: a controller—integrator—in the middle. A neutral project manager who sits at the center and keeps forward momentum, holding partners accountable to their piece of the pie. When third-party integrators are tapped to lead an initiative, executive leadership teams can remain focused on their role in the effort while the engine continues to run in the background.

1. The Job: What the “ATC” Actually Does

We know air traffic controllers play a critical role to safe skies. So what do they actually do?

Air traffic – both in the sky and on the ground – is one of the most complex environments that we know. ATC’s daily responsibilities include monitoring aircraft positions, communicating with pilots, and issuing instructions to ensure safe takeoffs, landings, and in-flight routing. They must balance speed and efficiency with safety, coordinating thousands of flights while accounting for weather, mechanical issues, and emergencies.

Every command they issue has immediate high-stakes consequences, which requires sharp focus, precision, and constant situational awareness. In this way, controllers act as the guardians of both passengers and crew, orchestrating the steady flow of traffic across congested airspaces.

Similarly, integrators who sit at the center of multi-stakeholder initiatives serve as the central force holding complexity together. Daily responsibilities include monitoring timelines, coordinating stakeholders, and issuing guidance to ensure that projects move forward smoothly. Integrators must balance speed and efficiency with deep work, aligning resources while accounting for shifting priorities, unexpected challenges, and competing agendas. Every decision carries ripple effects across the initiative, requiring sharp focus, precision, and constant situational awareness.

Integrators are the unseen conductors of collaborative work. To stay with my ATC comparison, they’re the ones who sit up high behind tinted windows and make sure everything works. Integrators manage overlapping workstreams, tight deadlines, and unpredictable variables, keeping order in what could otherwise collapse into confusion. Their importance lies in creating structure within complexity—transforming countless moving parts into a coherent and unified effort that stakeholders may not fully see but deeply depend on.

Across meetings, strategy sessions, and execution phases, they prevent conflicts, align efforts, and ensure that each contributor’s work connects to the larger goal. Without their steady hand and calm under pressure, initiatives risk losing focus or momentum, making their orle not just logistical, but essential to collective achievement and impact.

2. The Invisible, Steady Hand

It’s best when air traffic controllers are out of sight and out of mind. How often do you sit in line for takeoff thinking about the air traffic controller?

Planes depart and land, and passengers assume everything unfolded as it should have. Success in this role is measured not by visible triumphs but by the absence of disaster, the silent prevention of collisions, and the seamless flow of air travel. Yet controllers carry high-stakes accountability without ever touching the controls of the aircraft, relying instead on pilots to execute their instructions expertly.

In this way, they embody a paradox: immense responsibility without direct control. Their steady focus ensures that what could descend into chaos instead appears effortless, a testament to their unseen discipline and foresight. The invisible nature of their success underscores how much depends on their vigilance, precision, and quiet orchestration.

Similarly, integrators thrive when initiatives move forward without friction. Deadlines are met, conflicts avoided, and stakeholder priorities resolved before they disrupt progress. Success is not always celebrated, because the very evidence of their effectiveness lies in the absence of breakdowns or delays. Yet like controls, they carry immense responsibility without direct ownership of the deliverables, relying on the execution of others to fulfill the plan.

This dynamic demands foresight, discipline, and constant vigilance. Their unseen efforts create the conditions for stability and success, ensuring that complex collaborations hold together. Without their guiding hand, initiatives falter. With it, they appear to move forward naturally—seamless, steady and often unrecognized.

3. Calm in the Chaos

ATCs are trained to remain composed in storms and emergencies, offering calm direction when turbulence (literally and figuratively) threatens the flow of air traffic. They must maintain a three-dimensional awareness of altitude, speed, and timing, orchestrating movements that protect order in an environment where error can have catastrophic consequences. Their ability to provide clarity in the midst of complexity is what makes them indispensable to aviation’s safety and success.

At the center of constant motion, they embody calm under pressure. Pilots and passengers alike depend on their ability to bring structure to unpredictable circumstances, to make sense of what otherwise would be chaos, and to transform uncertainty into coordinated movement. Their work represents trust—that someone is watching, guiding, and holding the system together.

In much the same way, integrators must remain steady when initiatives hit turbulence, whether caused by budget cuts, shifting goals, or competing agendas. They maintain a multidimensional awareness that extends beyond timelines to relationships, politics, and long-term strategy, ensuring that nothing collides or spins out of control. Their clarity and calmness give stakeholders confidence, even in moments of strain or conflict.

Like controllers, they are the calm at the center of chaos. They provide the reassurance that there is order in the storm, that someone is seeing the full picture, and that the path forward remains clear. Their presence transforms potential collapse into coordinated action, ensuring that progress continues even under pressure.

Big, innovative visions rarely fail because the idea isn’t bold enough. They falter because the complexity of execution overwhelms the system meant to carry them out. Just as air traffic controllers turn the chaois of the skies into safe, steady movement, integrators turn the chaos of multi-stakeholder work into momentum toward a shared destination. Their value lies not only in managing tasks, but in providing the structure, calm, and accountability that keeps complexity from unraveling.

In today’s world, where ambitious change requires collaboration across diverse sectors, integrators are not optional—they are essential. They create the conditions for progress by holding complexity together, guiding people through turbulence, and ensuring that every moving part connects back to the larger goal. Without them, big visions stall under the weight of competing priorities. With them, those same visions become achievable, coordinated, and transformational.

Next in the series:

Learning from failure: where and how multi-stakeholder initiatives or collaborations fail, and what we can learn from them. (Release date: 9/8/25)