This past weekend I went with my beautiful wife to see the
new movie “Sully” the story of Chesley Sullenberger (Sully) and Captain of US Air
flight 1549. The afternoon of the flight it was a brisk 32 degrees in January
2009, and all seemed in order for a routine flight from La Guardia, NY to
Charlotte, NC. You know the story and the outcome. As Hollywood always does,
they need to put their spin on things, create a little drama…and they did. It’s
a very good movie, and definitely one I recommend seeing. If you’re anything
like me, you enjoy seeing triumph over challenges, good over evil and not being
Pollyanna(ish), I like it when things work out, especially after struggle.
Even knowing how things worked out, the entire 208 second
flight and saving all 155 souls on board, it still feels good to see it happen
in front of your eyes. And there’s plenty of action. Anecdotally, I find it
interesting and entertaining that Hollywood can take a 208 second flight and
turn it into a 5,760 second movie (1hr 36m). As a private pilot and business
man, I had several take-aways from the movie. The most compelling for me were;
·
Fly the plane
·
Being present trumps over analysis
·
You get one attempt to stick it
Let me elaborate a little;
Fly the plane-
I remember as a young and aspiring pilot my instructor repeated his
instructions clearly during pre-flight, while flying and post-flight. “No
matter what’s going on, always fly the plane!” Don’t allow the skeptics,
critics or whatever is holding you back from flying your plane (actual or
metaphorical). Don’t let the noise drown out what’s in-front of you, be aware
of it, but always fly your plane. This point made me choke back a tear or two
when it was said in the movie, as a flood of memories filled my head and the
need to do this in business and life. Think of the meetings you attend with
your smart phone and check email, or social media. Put it down and fly your
plane.
Being present
trumps over analysis- in our go faster, ever complex and getting more
analyzed world, we tend to “wait” until someone or a device says it’s ok to
act, to go, to make things happen. Often times at the risk of losing momentum or
the opportunity at hand. At the risk of spoiling the movie, as if I haven’t
already, there’s a point, a crescendo when Sully quietly asks the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), how many attempts the simulator pilots had
before landing the ill-fated US Air flight back at La Guardia successfully?” It
took the simulator pilots 17 attempts and countless hours of planning to
execute this. To be clear, Sully and co-pilot Jeffery Skiles had 208 seconds of
total flight and less than 35 seconds to determine what to do. As you’ll see in
the movie, it appears that they choreographed, yet in reality is was instinct,
training, preplanning (in business terms it would be; to-2-top, strategic
analysis & planning, role playing, collaboration, and cross-functional team
building), or what I like to label #oneteam. Getting buy in from your disparate
teams is prerequisite to defining what success is, the steps to achieve it and
unraveling the process. In the moment, “being present trumps all of this, do
your planning, and then fly your plane!”
You get one
attempt to stick it- Unlike the simulator pilots that had 17 crash
landings prior to sticking it, we (usually) get one attempt to “stick it,” which
in pilot terms means to land the plane on the center line and the predetermined
location, with minimal disruption to forward movement (i.e. smooth). In
business and life, it’s just as true. Think of your last meeting or
presentation, did you wing it? Did you get buy in prior to setting up the
appointment? Did you define your objective, target/goal and decide what success
was? Did you share this with your team or team mates prior to meeting? All of
this to showcase the need to pre-plan, collaborate, share stories, decide what
success is and how you plan to execute this strategic plan. And then, after
sticking your presentation, collaboration or life plan, conduct a post mortem.
What went as expected, what can be improved, what are next steps to get us
closer to our objective, and how might we share experiences that improve
transparency, increase cadence and promote the #oneteam concept.
I’m reminded of a quote and it’s appropriate for this blog.
“We are drowning in information. While starving for wisdom” – Anonymous
Too often we’re either delayed or paralyzed because our
boss, our computer or whatever analysis you’re doing doesn’t explicitly tell
you when, what and how to execute. I’m telling you, the time is now! Be sure to
do your due diligence, analyze the objective, create a clear action plan and
before taking off, share this plan with your boss and stakeholders and the ones
you already know will poke holes in your success. And always remember to “fly the
plane!”
