Maybe you’ve read Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado.  Parrado co-wrote the 2006 book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, with Vince Rause. In Miracle in the Andes, Parrado returns to Piers Paul Read’s 1974 book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (which tells the story of the Uruguayan Rugby team who were alumni of Stella Maris College (Montevideo) who were involved in the airplane crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed into the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972).

 Miracle of the Andes, however, is told from Parrado’s point of view thirty-four years later.  Last week, I had the extraordinary opportunity to hear Parrado speak.  His gripping tale of survival in the harshest conditions imaginable held the audience in a state of suspension for almost an hour.  As in the book, he takes an introspective journey presenting both the jaw-dropping realities of the 16 survivors’ story and the life-altering lessons he learned from the experience.

While English isn’t his first language, Parrado never the less took us on a remarkable journey with flawless storytelling execution.  He is not a high energy, motivational speaker in the classic sense - in fact his presence on stage is utter calm.  Yet he is simply one of the most inspiring, powerful people you’ve ever seen on a stage because of his ability to allow the story to unfold.  He shares powerful insights and turns them into universal lessons for us all. 

Early on, you learn that the entire group of survivors went on to become very successful businessmen.  Why, you wonder.  He creates the question and then tells you that as a teenager he learned how to make life and death decisions.  As you hear his story you realize after this ordeal, nothing would ever be hard.  We suddenly appreciate how we, too, must be courageous, move ahead and keep going.

Few of us will ever live through such a harrowing experience, however, we can all appreciate and tap into the power of storytelling in our presentations.  Stories not only relate powerful points; they transform the psychological and emotional experience of the audience.  Leaders who tell stories know the power of relating experiences that allow others to share in the insights and learn from them.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of the crash, below this photo you’ll find an abridged version. If you’re interested in learning the art and magic of storytelling, I invite you to go to our web site www.bates-communications.com and find resources, including free articles as well as my book, audio programs and home study course on How to Speak Like a CEO.  Also don’t forget our next boot camp is coming up in October - our early bird rates are still available until early August.  www.bates-communications.com/bootcamp

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known less formally as the Andes flight disaster, was a chartered airline flight carrying 45 rugby team members and associates that crashed in the Andes on Friday the 13th of October, 1972. The last of the 16 remaining survivors were rescued by December 23, 1972. More than a quarter of the passengers died in the crash and several survivors of the initial impact had died of cold and injuries by the next day. Twenty-nine were alive several days after the accident, but the number of survivors was further reduced by an avalanche sweeping over their wreckage shelter.

The crash survivors, thinking they would be found and rescued within hours, a day or two at worst, had very little food and no way to make heat in the harsh climate, at over 3,600 meters (11,700+/- feet) altitude. Faced with starvation and the radio news reports they heard that the search and rescue mission for them had been abandoned, the survivors eventually fed on the dead passengers who were preserved in the snow. Rescue teams were not aware of the survivors until 72 days after the crash when survivors Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 12 day snow trek across the treacherous Andes mountains, found a Chilean huaso who guided them to safety where help was found for the other survivors still trapped at the crash site.

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It isn’t a stretch to compare what business leaders face right now with a metaphoric ”bird strike” - a catastrophic event -sudden economic meltdown -causing immediate and loss of altitude that for some could spell doom. Like U.S. Air’s heroic captain Chesley Sullenberger, we never expected it to happen.  Now, we have to think fast, evaluate the options and find a safe landing spot - where there is no traditional runway in sight. 

Captain Sullenberger, 58, has told his compelling story to the major networks, capturing the imagination of a weary nation, longing for good news.  The account is riveting:  the loud thump of birds hitting the plane, sweeping through the air system; he never saw it coming.   We can relate.  Even as the news unfolded, we didn’t expect it to be this bad.  By no fault of our own, we find ourselves in a rapid descent.  What went through Sullenberger’s mind? He told Katie Couric, ”My initial reaction was one of disbelief. This doesn’t happen to me.’”

Like Sully, we are coming to grips with the seriousness of our situation–so what can we learn from his heroism.  How can we make a safe landing in the Hudson?  What can we take away from the story of this leader with such skill and presence of mind?   

Lesson 1: Assess the Situation from your Vantage Point

When the tower recommended Sully land at Teterboro, he quickly realized it wasn’t going to happen.  “Unable” was his response.  He quickly assessed the situation, rejected the option presented based on immediate evidence in front of him, and came up with a plan he could execute.  As a leader, you have to accept the situation in front of you and make the call. There is no other way to lead when rapidly changing market events are pummeling your aircraft.  

Lesson 2: Control your Emotions

Like the captain of the damaged aircraft, many of us are experiencing emotions we haven’t felt in business before - and there is a physiological component to it.  Sullenberger said, “I had to force myself to use my training and - and force calm on the situation,” he said. 

Like the pilot in the cockpit, as a leader you must get in control of your emotions and focus on what matters.  By doing this you also have a tremendous impact on the psychology and functioning of those around you.  Survival experts say that survivors commonly are able to remain calm, believe in themselves, and focus on the future.  When doubt and worry to creep in, reject them immediately; don’t allow those emotions to impair you vision.   

Lesson 3: Visualize a successful outcome

Sullenberger credited his lifetime of experience as a pilot with preparing him to see the terrifying accident’s successful outcome.  He had spent thousands of hours in the cockpit, and more hours in a simulator, preparing for such a day.  And to the credit of the airlines, they never stopped providing this type of leadership/skill training.  Note to CEOs and organizations: don’t stop preparing and training leaders - because they need to know how to react in a crisis.

Lesson 4: Don’t look for perfect solutions.

Sullenberger said after the flashbacks and sleep trouble as he grappled to “forgive myself for not having done something else. Something better. Something more complete. I don’t know.” But as we all know, in times like these are no perfect answers.  We did not see the bird strike, we can only react and use our training, stay focused, and land the plane. 

Lesson 5: Communicate Clearly, Concisely and Accurately 

The last communication to air traffic controllers from the pilot of US Airways 1549 was direct and to the point.  “We’re gonna be in the Hudson,” he says to controllers.  He never wasted words, but he told people exactly what would happen.  “Brace for impact,” he told the passengers, a signal that also prepared the flight crew to fall back on their training, remain calm, and get passengers safely off the plane.

Lesson 6:  Balance Confidence and Humility

Anyone in Sully’s position could be forgiven if they were overwhelmed by national media attention, as well as the heartfelt letters, emails and well wishes that poured into their homes in buckets. Sully is a reluctant but gracious hero.  “I don’t feel comfortable embracing it, but I don’t want to deny it. I don’t want to diminish their thankful feeling toward me by telling them that they’re wrong. I’m beginning to understand why they might feel that way,” he said.

Peter Gibbon, author of A Call to Heroism: Renewing America’s Vision of Greatness, told CBS’s Katie Couric there are three components that make a hero: extraordinary achievement; bravery and courage; and “greatness of soul”. Sullenberger’s humility stirs the public admiration, Gibbon said.

The miserable economy may help stoke the fascination with all things “Sully,” but the pilot would be heralded regardless, said “We want our heroes to be modest. One of the appealing things about the captain is he’s everyman. He’s a reluctant hero. He’s the Gary Cooper type, and he also gives credit to the team,” said Gibbon, a senior research scholar at Boston University.

Lesson 7: Give People Hope

Something about this episode has captured people’s imagination, said Sullenberger.  “I think they want good news. I think they want to feel hopeful again. And if I can help in that way, I will.”  Likewise, as a leader, recognize that your employees are looking for reason to hope, too.  Motivating and inspiring people, telling them you believe in them and giving them hope for the future - that’s what leaders do.  Now, more than any time in our history, it’s time not just for management, but for leadership.  

In my new book, Motivate Like a CEO, I provide concrete approaches to providing hope and inspiration to your employees.  These are practical, everyday actions you can take, to communicate the right message and be in the right frame of mind.  If you contact Shellie Dunlap sdunlap@bates-communications.com I will send you our article excerpt from the book: The Eight Principles for Motivating Others Through Communication.  If you would like to be on our mailing list and receive monthly articles on leadership and communication, go to www.bates-communications.com and click on newsletter.  We’ll immediately add you to our community and send you updates on events, books and tools you can use to develop your leadership communication skills.

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“A hero can give his life all in one day or he can give it one day at a time.”

       Deena Burnett wife of Tom Burnett, Flight 93 hero and alumnus of Pepperdine University

Last week our team visited Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA http://www.pepperdine.edu/ to prepare the leadershp team of a Fortune 100 company for presentations to their CEO.  After the session, I took a walk outside the Graziadio School of Business and Management, http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/ and discovered a beautiful little memorial park perched at the top of the foothill.  This peaceful oasis offered a magnificent vista of the Pacific where you could rest on a shady bench, put your feet into a water pool, or walk around and read some leaders’ quotes post the 9/11 disaster. 

I had certainly heard of Tom Burnett, a Pepperdine alumnus and one of the heroes of 9/11. But after reading what his wife Deena said about heroes, I was curious to learn more, so I went on the Burnett Family Foundation web site.  There, I found a transcript of their cell phone conversations up until a few minutes before the plane crashed into the ground. 

This writing may seem like a departure from what I usually talk about, but it really is about heroes and leadership.  I started thinking about what Deena Burnett said.  How can each of us strive to be every day heroes?

As you read this transcript of their calls, perhaps you’ll be struck again as I was about how these brave citizens became heroes.  They took action in the face of impossible odds because it was the right and only thing to do. 

If each of us were to keep in mind every day this lesson in leadership, the world would be a better place indeed.  Imagine if as leaders we decide to act, even when the odds are against us, because it is right.  This would move our country and our world closer to a model of leadership that we sorely need today. 

Transcript of Tom’s last calls to Deena

6:27 a.m.( pacific time) First cell phone call from Tom to Deena

• Deena: Hello
• Tom: Deena
• Deena: Tom, are you O.K.?
• Tom: No, I’m not. I’m on an airplane that has been hijacked.
• Deena: hijacked?
• Tom: Yes, They just knifed a guy.
• Deena: A passenger?
• Tom: Yes.
• Deena: Where are you? Are you in the air?
• Tom: Yes, yes, just listen. Our airplane has been hijacked. It’s United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. We are in the air. The hijackers have already knifed a guy, one of them has a gun, they are telling us there is a bomb on board, please call the authorities. He hung up.

6:31 Deena calls 911

6:34 The phone rang in on call waiting, Tom’s second cell phone call.

• Deena: Hello
• Tom: They’re in the cockpit. The guy they knifed is dead.
• Deena: He’s dead?
• Tom: Yes. I tried to help him, but I couldn’t get a pulse.
• Deena: Tom, they are hijacking planes all up and down the east coast. They are taking them and hitting designated targets. They’ve already hit both towers of the World Trade Center.
• Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane. (a pause) Oh my God. It’s a suicide mission…(he then tells people sitting around him)
• Deena: Who are you talking to?
• Tom: My seatmate. Do you know which airline is involved?
• Deena: No, they don’t know if they’re commercial airlines or not. The newsreporters are speculating cargo planes, private planes and commercial. No one knows.
• Tom: How many planes are there?
• Deena: They’re not sure, at least three. Maybe more.
• Tom: O.K….O.K….Do you know who is involved?
• Deena: No.
• Tom: We’re turning back toward New York. We’re going back to the World Trade Center. No, wait, we’re turning back the other way. We’re going south.
• Deena: What do you see?
• Tom: Just a minute, I’m looking. I don’t see anything, we’re over a rural area. It’s just fields. I’ve gotta go.
• He hung up.

6:45 a.m. Third cell phone call from Tom to Deena

• Tom: Deena
• Deena: Tom, you’re O.K. (I thought at this point he had just survived the Pentagon plane crash).
• Tom: No, I’m not.
• Deena: They just hit the Pentagon.
• Tom: (tells people sitting around him “They just hit the Pentagon.”)
• Tom: O.K….O.K. What else can you tell me?
• Deena: They think five airplanes have been hijacked. One is still on the ground. They believe all of them are commercial planes. I haven’t heard them say which airline, but all of them have originated on the east coast.
• Tom: Do you know who is involved?
• Deena: No
• Tom: What is the probability of their having a bomb on board? I don’t think they have one. I think they’re just telling us that for crowd control.
• Deena: A plane can survive a bomb if it’s in the right place.
• Tom: Did you call the authorities?
• Deena: Yes, they didn’t know anything about your plane.
• Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane into the ground. We have to do something. I’m putting a plan together.
• Deena: Who’s helping you?
• Tom: Different people. Several people. There’s a group of us. Don’t worry. I’ll call you back.

6:54 a.m. Fourth cell phone call to Tom to Deena

• Deena: Tom?
• Tom: Hi. Anything new?
• Deena: No
• Tom: Where are the kids?
• Deena: They’re fine. They’re sitting at the table having breakfast. They’re asking to talk to you.
• Tom: Tell them I’ll talk to them later
• Deena: I called your parents. They know your plane has been hijacked.
• Tom: Oh…you shouldn’t have worried them. How are they doing?
• Deena: They’re O.K.. Mary and Martha are with them.
• Tom: Good. (a long quiet pause) We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area. We’re going to take back the airplane.
• Deena: No! Sit down, be still, be quiet, and don’t draw attention to yourself! (The exact words taught to me by Delta Airlines Flight Attendant Training).
• Tom: Deena! If they’re going to crash this plane into the ground, we’re going to have do something!
• Deena: What about the authorities?
• Tom: We can’t wait for the authorities. I don’t know what they could do anyway.
• It’s up to us. I think we can do it.
• Deena: What do you want me to do?
• Tom: Pray, Deena, just pray.
• Deena: (after a long pause) I love you.
• Tom: Don’t worry, we’re going to do something.
• He hung up

In celebration of Tom Burnett’s life, the family set up a foundation to educate young people about how to be good citizens and leaders of tomorrow.  Here’s the web site:

http://www.tomburnettfamilyfoundation.org/index.html

General comments for the Burnett family should be directed to tomburnettfamilyfoundation@msn.com

Mailing Address:
The Tom Burnett Family Foundation
P.O. Box 633
Northfield, MN 55057

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