by Dr. Cecil Clements (21st February 2012)
I’ve been enjoying Jim Collins’ new book titled ‘Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos & Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All’ which he co-authors with Morten Hansen. This is a great book coming out of 9 years of research. He’s looking at companies that are 10X changes or successes. Right off the bat he looks at some of the myths that we have about successful companies and he says that the research that they have, undermines these particular myths. I’ll give them to you very quickly.
I’ve been enjoying Jim Collins’ new book titled ‘Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos & Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All’ which he co-authors with Morten Hansen. This is a great book coming out of 9 years of research. He’s looking at companies that are 10X changes or successes. Right off the bat he looks at some of the myths that we have about successful companies and he says that the research that they have, undermines these particular myths. I’ll give them to you very quickly.
- Myth #1: Successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold, risk-seeking visionaries. Research goes on to say that they were not more risk-taking, more bold or more visionary or even more creative than their other comparative companies. What set them apart was that they were more disciplined, more empirical and more paranoid.
- Myth #2: Innovation distinguishes 10X companies in a fast-moving, uncertain and chaotic world. Research showed that innovation by itself, doesn’t turn out to be the trump card expected. More important is the ability to scale innovation and to blend creativity with discipline.
- Myth #3: A threat-filled world favors the speedy; you’re either the quick or the dead – to be very decisive and to act quickly was supposed to be a perk. Contrary to this myth, research shows that it’s the best way to get killed. 10X leaders figure out when to go fast and when not to. There’s a right time to go fast and a time to go slow.
- Myth #4: Radical change on the outside requires radical change on the inside. Basically it’s saying that just because your environment is rocked by dramatic change does not mean that you should inflict radical change upon yourself.
- Myth #5: great enterprises with 10X success have a lot more good luck. This was not true. Both sets had lots of luck, both good and bad in comparable amounts.
In that chapter on luck, he talks about 2 mountaineers, Malcolm Daly and Jim Donini, who in May 1999, began to climb the unclimbed face of Thunder Mountain in Alaska. Just about 100 feet from the summit, they stopped to decide who would go first. Daly told Donini, “Why don’t you go ahead?” Donini said, “No, you deserve it.” So Daly went up and just as he was about to reach the top, he thought to himself, “Just one more hand grasp up and I’ll be on the top.” Then, something slipped and the protection that he had didn’t hold and he began to fall. He free-fell almost 100 feet and as he was going down, his crampon (the knife-like spikes attached to the boot) hit his partner – smashed into Donini’s right thigh and punctured it. Daly continued to fall and fell to about 160 feet, when 8 strands of the rope that he was tied to got sliced through and he was held by just 2 strands precariously on the side of the mountain. Donini made his way down to where Daly was and got him to a particular ledge. Then they realized that there was no way that he could help him. He had to go down to get help. So Donini descended 3000 feet to the base camp and just at that time, heard that his friend Paul Rodrick of Talkeetna Air Taxi was flying by in a helicopter. He managed to get a message to his friend Paul, who came down and flew them to the ranger’s station. They began to put a plan in place to save Malcolm Daly. They were able to come back and just escape by 4 hours, a storm that enveloped the mountain and raged for 12 whole days.
Even when they returned in the helicopter, they found that they couldn’t get through; the communication had gone awry. When this happens, one is supposed to abort the mission. But the guy who was leading the rescue mission wasn’t about to do that. He went through with hand signals, managed to get hold of Daly, got him in a bear hug, then swung 1000 feet out, so the helicopter could pick them up and take them to safety.
Both Collins and Hansen asked the question: How much did luck have to play in this? When you look at it, there was so much of luck. Daly and Donini didn’t cause the helicopter to fly by at that precise moment; why did only 2 strands hold; Daly didn’t die in the fall, neither did he kill Donini on the way down; Donini reached base camp just as the helicopter was flying by. All unexplainable moments! But did luck play such a huge role in being able to get Malcolm to safety?
Both the authors say, “Consider this! Even before these lucky or chance events happen, Daly had prepared. How did he prepare? He built up his strength by 1000’s of hours of rigorous training – biking, climbing, running, skiing and mountaineering. Just before they made this climb, he read survival literature, particularly looking at Ernest Shackleton’s mission to rescue himself and his men from Elephant Island in Antarctica in 1960. He had not allowed himself to wallow in his misfortune. While he was lying there with shattered feet, multiple broken bones, he said, “I loved my feet but there was nothing I could do for them right them.” And he decided not to think about them. Then he made a decision to live. He had to stay warm; he couldn’t allow himself to get hypothermic. So in that position, he began to do windmills with his arms – 100 windmills; not just 80 or 90. Then when he couldn’t, he began couldn’t, he began to scale it down to 80 and then 50. Along with that he also began to do stomach crunches. So he prepared as well for all the things that were going on at that time.
So the authors say that while everybody has a slide of luck, people who make the most of luck or chance or, as I like to look at it, God’s favor that is available for all of us, do we prepare for it as well?
What are we doing to prepare for times like this? When we look at what happened with Malcolm Daly, we see that 3 things helped him.
Even when they returned in the helicopter, they found that they couldn’t get through; the communication had gone awry. When this happens, one is supposed to abort the mission. But the guy who was leading the rescue mission wasn’t about to do that. He went through with hand signals, managed to get hold of Daly, got him in a bear hug, then swung 1000 feet out, so the helicopter could pick them up and take them to safety.
Both Collins and Hansen asked the question: How much did luck have to play in this? When you look at it, there was so much of luck. Daly and Donini didn’t cause the helicopter to fly by at that precise moment; why did only 2 strands hold; Daly didn’t die in the fall, neither did he kill Donini on the way down; Donini reached base camp just as the helicopter was flying by. All unexplainable moments! But did luck play such a huge role in being able to get Malcolm to safety?
Both the authors say, “Consider this! Even before these lucky or chance events happen, Daly had prepared. How did he prepare? He built up his strength by 1000’s of hours of rigorous training – biking, climbing, running, skiing and mountaineering. Just before they made this climb, he read survival literature, particularly looking at Ernest Shackleton’s mission to rescue himself and his men from Elephant Island in Antarctica in 1960. He had not allowed himself to wallow in his misfortune. While he was lying there with shattered feet, multiple broken bones, he said, “I loved my feet but there was nothing I could do for them right them.” And he decided not to think about them. Then he made a decision to live. He had to stay warm; he couldn’t allow himself to get hypothermic. So in that position, he began to do windmills with his arms – 100 windmills; not just 80 or 90. Then when he couldn’t, he began couldn’t, he began to scale it down to 80 and then 50. Along with that he also began to do stomach crunches. So he prepared as well for all the things that were going on at that time.
So the authors say that while everybody has a slide of luck, people who make the most of luck or chance or, as I like to look at it, God’s favor that is available for all of us, do we prepare for it as well?
What are we doing to prepare for times like this? When we look at what happened with Malcolm Daly, we see that 3 things helped him.
- He made sure he acquired knowledge. He knew a lot about mountaineering, he knew about rescue and he made sure that he had empirical knowledge.
- He disciplined his body. Even in that position, forget all hours that he had spent disciplining his body, even when he couldn’t do anything with his legs, he still pushed himself to do windmills with his hands and stomach crunches.
- He also built friendship. The person who headed the rescue mission was a close friend of his. He didn’t give up because he didn’t want to let his friend Daly down. So he caught him in a bear hug and brought him to safety.
All of us have various events that come our way and we cannot understand why they come. But the key in being able to tap into those events is to also be prepared. When events beyond your control take place, we’re able to bring them into control by the way that we have prepared.
There’s an old adage that says, “God helps those who help themselves” and very loosely, I would say ‘yes’ to that. God does help. But he also helps when we can’t do something. But more often than not, the preparation that we put in helps us in these times of uncertainty or chaos or luck, good or bad; chances that come our way that are completely out of the blue. When events beyond your control take place, you can bring them into control by the way that you have prepared.
God Bless Us All.
Resources
There’s an old adage that says, “God helps those who help themselves” and very loosely, I would say ‘yes’ to that. God does help. But he also helps when we can’t do something. But more often than not, the preparation that we put in helps us in these times of uncertainty or chaos or luck, good or bad; chances that come our way that are completely out of the blue. When events beyond your control take place, you can bring them into control by the way that you have prepared.
God Bless Us All.
Resources
- Jim Collins’ - ‘Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos & Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All’
- Transcripts of the Alaska Story by Malcolm Daly and Jim Donini
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