Real-life resilience - Sully

Welcome to The Resilience Brief. On Sundays, I share real-life resilience stories designed to get us thinking about how we can apply the ideas to our own professional and personal lives. These are preventative resilience tools to help us thrive when challenges come our way.

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport on its way to Charlotte. It was an ordinary day, and the 155 passengers aboard had no reason to expect anything unusual. However, three minutes into the flight, a flock of Canada geese struck the plane, severely damaging both engines. With no engines, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew faced a life-or-death situation.

The plane lost altitude quickly and Sully had seconds to assess his options. He radioed the control tower to look for runways to land and his first thought was to immediately return to LaGuardia. But LaGuardia was too far, and he’d risk crashing into a nearby neighbourhood. Option 2 was a smaller airport in New Jersey, but that was also too far. So, with no safe options on land, Sully turned to his only remaining option – to land the plane in New York’s Hudson River.

Incredibly, the plane glided onto the Hudson River and came to a safe stop. The landing was apparently so smooth that passengers initially believed they had landed on solid ground. Every single one of the 155 passengers and crew survived.

The event was dubbed the "Miracle on the Hudson," but it was no miracle. It was a masterclass in resilience, preparation and leadership.

"One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I've been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal." -Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger

Sully learned to fly planes when he was just 16. He grew up in Texas and became fascinated with aircraft by seeing military jets regularly fly over his house. He has three university degrees including a Bachelor of Science and two Masters, plus he served as a fighter pilot in the US Air Force. This training exposed him to high-pressure situations and taught him how to make critical decisions in split seconds.

As a commercial pilot, he had over 19,000 hours of flying experience in multiple types of aircraft, plus additional training specifically for engine failure situations. In fact, before the emergency in New York, he had been involved in studying accident investigations and identifying ways to improve pilot training and emergency preparedness.

When we add up all of this knowledge and experience, it’s fortunate that he was the one in charge of the plane that lost both engines that January day.

This story of Sully making the bold and unorthodox move of landing a plane on the Hudson is a great reminder of the qualities that allow individuals and teams to thrive under pressure. Those qualities include preparation, adaptability and teamwork.

• Preparation builds confidence.

• Adaptability allows creative solutions.

• Teamwork ensures the task is completed properly.

For us professionals, the pressures we face each day usually don’t involve life-or-death decisions. However, the stakes can sometimes feel just as high, particularly when everyone has their internet pitchforks out to destroy our latest ideas (a la Jaguar). Campaigns and products need to launch flawlessly, creative visions must resonate with audiences, deadlines must be hit, and challenges (which are inevitable) must be overcome.

So how do we put these ideas into practice?

Preparation as a solid foundation

Sully’s ability to stay calm and make life-saving decisions wasn’t a fluke. It was the result of years of training and experience. In our world, preparation comes in the form of research, planning, and investing in the time to master our craft. Every time I give a speech or do a presentation, I always practice at least five times. Saying it out loud allows me hear when jokes don’t land properly, or when I catch myself a little less confident than I need to be. That’s when I go back to the material and do it again. Preparation allows us to respond confidently when challenges arise.

Adaptability is a necessity

Landing on water wasn’t in Sully’s training manual, but it was a decision born of necessity. In our professional lives, things naturally change. Audiences evolve, technologies emerge, and new challenges emerge. The most successful are those who can pivot quickly and creatively to find solutions. We can practice this by looking at things from different angles as much as possible, or by inviting a variety of solutions to the same problem. Fostering a culture of innovation can often lead to unconventional solutions that might be what saves us in an emergency.

Teamwork and staying calm under pressure

When the engines failed, panic wasn’t an option. Sully remained composed, made a clear decision, and communicated it effectively to his team. Similarly, professional challenges often require quick thinking coupled with calm leadership. A botched launch can feel like a huge obstacle, but maintaining composure helps us find solutions. Every time I feel myself getting overwhelmed, my body reacts first. We’ve all likely experienced this - we feel it in our stomachs. When this happens to me, I turn to breathing. Big, deep breaths that I have to focus on. Suddenly I’m in control of something, and now my body starts to relax so I can respond accordingly. Only from there can we focus on effective communication and decisive action.  

We can’t predict every challenge that comes our way. However, with the right tools in our toolkit, we can stay calm and focused, adapt accordingly and communicate what needs to be communicated. And when we can avoid panic, we turn even the most daunting situations into opportunities for success. And that is resilience.

Until next time friends, stay resilient.

Carre @ Resilient Marketing Minds