Musings at Altitude

My wife watched Armageddon for what must be the 100th time tonight, and as always, she teared up when Bruce Willis gave his farewell speech from space to his daughter and then again when the shuttle landed and the little boy runs out to hug his father.  She’s like that.  Even when she knows what’s going to happen and has seen that same scene time and time again, the tears begin to fall.

In business and in life, there are times where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what will or will not happen, and even though those with great experience have seen that same scene time and time again, they still react with the same emotion when they see it play out the very same way again. 

Sometimes the reactions are smiles and great joy.  That happens when teams have worked hard to be prepared for the scenarios that they face and because of that preparation, positive things happen.  But at other times, the reactions are tears and great pain.  That happens when teams crack under pressure because they didn’t take the preparation phase seriously or they lack alignment at a critical moment when complete harmony on the team is required for operations success.

Amazingly, those with great experience track the preparation (or lack thereof) and sense and see the outcome long before it happens.  When they sense some very bad things on the horizon, those highly experienced folks sometimes take on the insanity or the lack of focus and through their sheer will and commitment to creating success, force the team towards a much more acceptable solution.  But many other times, those folks that see so clearly the unfortunate path that an organization is on will let it play out even though they know the catastrophic consequence of the path that is being taken.

Having been there, I can tell you first hand that even those that see so clearly what is playing out will sometimes continue to watch with the insane hope that the outcome is different than what they see so clearly.  This happens most frequently when new voices and new opinions join an organization and drive the path and the plan in a direction that is counter to what would historically work.  Folks with legacy experience then watch with uncertainty, wondering if these new people have some magical clue for ensuring success in the company.  But over time, those people with insights nurtured from years of experience in an organization watch things play out in the way they originally expected and then wonder why they didn’t act to push harder and seek change long before the eventual outcome occurs.

As I looked at my wife this evening and saw the tears once again from those two scenes in Armageddon, I realized that she will never stop crying and never stop watching.  But those of us in business who anxiously watch things play out the same way time and time again have the choice to either quit watching or change the scene.  Both options could dramatically affect the outcome.  Though my wife will never change the outcome in this particular movie, this movie of life which we now are watching live can be changed dramatically if those who sense and see a very negative outcome will act rather than watch and seek change rather than expect the tears.