Weekly Action Tips - January 25. 2010

Whilst living in Boise Idaho, North West US in 2006 I was first introduced to a good friend who's many jobs included Smoke jumping... Like me at the time you probably have no idea what that means; Smoke jumpers are fire-fighters who parachute in to fight wildfires. It was also the time I first heard the story of Mann Gulch...

Mann Gulch Landing Zone

Along a stretch of wilderness in Hellena National Forest, Montana (probably best known to us for Yellowstone Park and Little Big Horn) lies Mann Gulch, a small canyon whose rocky north side now hosts bunchgrass, a few small tree stumps, some white concrete crosses, and painful memories of a hot day in August 1949.

That day thirteen of sixteen smoke jumpers died within 90 minutes of jumping in to battle a relatively small forest fire that turned deadly. Foreman Wagner Dodge's idea was to direct the fire 'down gulch' towards the Missouri river. Although the North side area they parachuted into was surrounded by steep canyon walls populated with long grass it was the perfect spot to get behind the fire and execute the plan. No one on the ground that day could have predicted the changeable wind patterns that drove the fire from the South side to the North side of the Gulch... Suddenly the smoke jumpers found themselves in a deadly race up the steep canyon walls trying to out-run the oncoming fire.

It was later discovered that all thirteen who died still carried their equipment while attempting to out run the fire. Even though these heavy tools like axes, saws, shovels, and backpacks were completely useless in such a race, they were more than just objects to the fire-fighters. They represented who they were, why they were there and what they were trained to do. Dropping their tools meant abandoning their existing knowledge, training and experience.

This might not seem to you like a difficult choice to make, but they had never been trained for such a moment, they had no alternative models for behaviour to follow. In moments of uncertainty, clinging to old ways of doing things might seem like the right thing to do, but in the long run it is usually deadly.

The three survivors of the Gulch were forced to think outside the box and use alternative methods of escaping the fire. Once they realised they were no longer fighting the fire but trying to escape from it, they knew they had to drop all of their useless equipment. Two out ran the fire and the third, Wagner Dodge used a old American Indian technique called an 'escape fire' where he took a match and lit a ring around him so that the fire would "jump" over him.

He ordered the other men to do the same but they continued running up the steep slope. It was their inability to drop the tools and equipment and seek new methods to help them escape that lead to the fire fatally engulfing them.

The question is this: What are the axes, shovels and backpacks you are carrying? What are the tired, worn out strategies and tools that you are running with in your business? What existing models of behaviour do you need to abandon? What existing knowledge, training or experience needs to be improved?

Subsequent investigations indentified the slope, the dry grass and unpredictable winds as contributing causes, along with leadership and communication. The team's only radio broke and Dodge did not know most of the team that day, perhaps the reason why they did not to follow his leadership or wisdom to set an escape fire.

To understand wisdom as a source of reliance in tough situations you need to examine beliefs. All beliefs are consistent with experience and the fire team's belief at Mann Gulch, was that their purpose, as they had been trained, was to put out relatively small fires fast before they become big ones. In other words they knew little about fighting big fires.

J A Meacham described wisdom as an attitude rather than a skill or quantity of knowledge... To be wise is not to know particular facts but to know without excessive confidence or excessive cautiousness.

As in business the over confident leader dismisses curiosity because they believe they know most of what there is to know. The over cautious leader shuns curiosity for fear it will only deepen their uncertainty.

The Mann Gulch disaster led to many changes. In today's world there has been a worldwide financial fire raging for some time. Wisdom is again prevailing in our banking community and we have had to learn ways of fighting bigger fires... Our economy will recover but it has changed, just as your markets have changed. What got you to where you are today may not get you to where you want to go tomorrow, so how do you need to change in order lead change in your business?