One of the posts that put this site on the leadership map was 5 Words That Haunt Leaders. Those words were, “I never saw that coming.” All leaders get surprised from time-to-time but regularly being blindsided should never happen.
The following are five recent stories of unexpected threats and what leaders can learn from each.
A Third-Party Error
On Wednesday, April 17, millions of people in Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, and Texas were without 911 services because important fiber optic cables were severed by a light pole installation.
You may be unaware of this but 911 emergency call center services are provided by Lumen Technologies. Afterwards, a Lumen spokesperson was quoted in this article, “Some customers in Nevada, South Dakota, and Nebraska experienced an outage due to a third-party company installing a light pole — unrelated to our services.. We restored all services in approximately two and a half hours. Our techs identified the issue and worked hard to fix it as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding.”
A “third-party” problem can happen to any of us. Something we did not cause but are responsible for, can happen to anyone in leadership.
Leaders, are you prepared to take ownership of their mistake, apologize, and fix the problem as quickly as possible?
Rescued At Sea
Tom Hanks did not get rescued from a remote Pacific island in the movie Castaway but three fisherman recently did.
As told in this article, the fisherman left Polowat Atoll, part of Micronesia, on Easter Sunday in a small 20-foot open boat. They were experienced fisherman but unexpected large swells damaged the boat’s engine. In addition, the radio battery died before they could signal for help. If anything could seemingly go wrong for these men, it did.
Forced to abandon ship, they made their way to Pikelot Atoll, an uninhabited coral island about 415 miles southeast of Guam. Using palm leaves, they spelled “HELP” in the sand. After being stranded for a week, United States Coast Guard and U.S Navy teams finally saw the letters and rescued the castaways.
Tom Hanks would be proud.
Leaders, when unexpected swells overtake you, will you then begin making a series of good decisions which will lead to your rescue?
Runaway Elephant
The Jordan World Circus was performing this week in Butte, Montana. One of the show’s feature attractions, an Asian elephant named Viola, was getting a bath when she was suddenly startled because of a truck backfiring. Viola then began running through the streets of Butte. See the video below.
The people of Butte are used to seeing large animals like bear, moose, and elk. But nothing like this.
Local resident Mataya Smith was driving by and saw the elephant. She said, “It’s probably safer for her to get loose here because we all kept our distance. Everybody slowed down, backed up when she was coming towards them.”
Leaders, when large problems unexpectedly come across your path, do you have the composure to slow down, back up, gain perspective, and properly address the situation?
Space Junk
On March 8, Alejandro Otero is sitting quietly in his Naples, Florida home. His son was just a couple of rooms from. It seemed like just another Friday when suddenly, a piece of space junk fell from the sky and tore through his home.
In March 2021, Nasa said in this article the object was part of some 5,800l bs of hardware that was dumped by the International Space Station after it had new lithium-ion batteries installed. A NASA official said, “The hardware was expected to fully burn up during entry through Earth’s atmosphere on March 8, 2024. However, a piece of hardware survived and impacted a home in Naples, Florida.”
It wasn’t just a home, it was the home of Alejandro Otero. Afterwards, a clearly startled Otero said, “It almost hit my son. He was two rooms over and heard it all. I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage. I’m super grateful that nobody got hurt.”
It is shocking to me that an event three years ago (the installation of new batteries in the ISP) has such a dramatic impact in someone’s life today.
Leaders, is there anything which happened in your past which could suddenly revisit you today and have a devastating impact on those you influence?
The Good Samaritan And The Hockey Puck
I want to end of positive note.
Recently, Asia Davis and her 4-year-old son, Nasir, were enjoying the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters game. As told in this story, a puck suddenly flew into the crowd and was headed towards Nasir. Davis said, “That puck was coming so fast, you know. Especially when I realized it was coming, it was already there. He doesn’t realize he almost got taken out by a hockey puck.”
It was then a fan sitting nearby also noticed the approaching projectile, acted promptly, and blocked the puck from hitting the Nasir.
Afterwards, Asia wanted to thank the Good Samaritan but neither knew his name or how to find him. She did the only thing a reasonable person would then do – she told her story on social media in hopes someone would know the identity of this hero. Well, it worked.
The individual who protected Nasir was Andrew Podolak. Andrew said, “I was just coming out and trying to enjoy a hockey game and next thing you know everything blowing up on social media, this that and the other and a whole bunch of people contacting me. Its truly a good feeling.”
The Monsters later invited Asia, Nasir, and Andrew to drop a ceremonial first puck at a subsequent game.
Davis concluded, “I’m really thankful that he was there. Thanks to Andrew, everything was fine.”
Leaders, do you have people around you who can deflect incoming problems and make everything fine?
Conclusion
- Leaders, are you prepared to take ownership of third-party mistakes, apologize, and fix the problem as quickly as possible?
- Leaders, when unexpected swells overtake you, will you then begin making a series of good decisions which will lead to your rescue?
- Leaders, when large problems unexpectedly come across your path, do you have the composure to slow down, back up, gain perspective, and properly address the situation?
- Leaders, is there anything which happened in your past which could suddenly revisit you today and have a devastating impact on those you influence?
- Leaders, do you have people around you who can deflect incoming problems and make everything fine?
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