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“To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for that which would be his finest hour.” —Winston Churchill
This month, we’re watching a clip of the movie Sully, starring Tom Hanks. This movie is based on the story of Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a commercial airline pilot who performed an emergency water landing on the Hudson river after both aircraft engines were damaged when the plane struck a flock of geese. All 155 people on board were evacuated before the Airbus A320 sank.
Our main takeaway from this story is that when it comes to opportunity (or emergencies), preparation is paramount. There’s no doubt that without Sully’s immense preparation, that situation likely would have gone very differently.
Hopefully none of us will ever have to land a plane on a river, but if Churchill is correct, we will all be presented with opportunities to do something special and unique. If we don’t prepare, those chances will pass us by.
What can we learn from this? How can we prepare for a future we can’t see so that, like Sully, we can be ready when the need and opportunity arises?
Short-Term vs Long-Term Preparation
"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." -Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Sully had no way of knowing that one day he would take off from LaGuardia airport, fly through a flock of geese, and then have to decide whether he could make it back to the airport without crashing into a heavily populated area. After all, there was no protocol in place for emergency landings so soon after takeoff before reaching cruising altitude. How do you prepare for a situation like that?!
Preparing for emergencies is good and necessary. On top of that though, how do you prepare for less scary and life-threatening opportunities you don’t see coming?
We find it helpful to consider two kinds of preparation: short-term and long-term.
Short-term preparation is the prep you do for a specific outcome. For example, you might train for a marathon, study for a certification, or plan a trip. This is for the future you can see and a result you can expect. (As much as you can see the future, anyway. We can never really be sure.)
Long-term preparation is the stuff you do on a regular basis to make the future better when you don’t actually know what the future holds. This is the stuff you know you should be doing, like developing your strengths in a general way, taking care of your body, saving money, etc. (You could also call these good habits.)
We tend to value specific preparation more than general. We’re more likely to work out to prepare for a race or look good for an event. We’re more motivated to save for a house or a new mountain bike than just for…the future.
It can be more motivating to know what we’re working for. Long-term preparation usually doesn’t pay off right away, so it can be harder to do consistently. It’s important, but not urgent.
The thing is, you need both kinds of preparation.
Sully was as prepared as he could be, and that preparation paid off as he made a decision that saved the lives of 155 people.
Sully was a fighter pilot before he was a commercial pilot. He trained for both roles for years and developed his natural aptitude and instincts for flying a plane and making quick decisions when the stakes are high.
He also prepared in more specific ways, like learning everything he could about the type of aircraft he flew, including its capabilities and limits. He knew he wouldn’t make it back to the airport. He also knew how to perform an emergency water landing (as well as anyone can know. It’s risky no matter what.).
Both of these types of preparation served him well when it was time to act, and they’ll serve you well too!
In your own life, how can you “learn to fly the plane” and also develop your skills, intuition, and creativity in your areas of strength? How can you develop your aptitudes so that the specifics will come more easily when it’s time?
Here are some areas to focus on for your long-term preparation.
Where to Start: Your 3 Circles Journey
This is the #1 way to prepare for opportunities and whatever else the future may hold.
If you don’t know what we’re talking about, read this post.
This journey can look like following your curiosity, asking others how you can be helpful, and noticing what comes easily to you (others can help you with this, because we often don’t see it in ourselves!).
This isn’t about “following your passion,” (because what even is that?)
The thing about pursuing your 3 Circles is that you never know where it will take you. As Steve Jobs said, “You can only connect the dots looking backward.” It takes trust and confidence to lean into this process without knowing how it will turn out.
Also, if you’re a Redmond associate, make sure you attend the 7 Habits Seminar, Discovery Seminar, and culture meetings. Retreats are also a great way to immerse yourself in these ideas! Talk to your team leader or a culture team member if you want to sign up for any of these events.
We also have a 3 Circles book! Just ask a culture team member if you want a copy.
Develop Good Habits
You know what habits we’re talking about. Move your body, eat well, get enough rest, brush and floss, spend less than you earn, save/invest your money, etc. Do those things that will pay off later, that you know are important, but not urgent.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is also an amazing book to read for this.
Nurture Your Relationships
Relationships are incredibly fulfilling. They make life worth living and work worth doing. Your life will be much more rich, enjoyable, and yes, full of possibility and opportunities if you prioritize and develop relationships and relationship skills.
Though Sully was the captain on Flight 1549, he didn’t land that plane all by himself. He also had the support of his copilot, Jeffrey Skiles. Their relationship and ability to collaborate was a crucial factor in the success of the emergency landing.
Learning to collaborate effectively, see other people as people, and appreciate other perspectives will prepare you for so much. There will be support when you need it. You’ll surround yourself with lots of helpful perspectives, strengths, and possibilities, and have the skills to collaborate with others to create great things.
Trust the Process
Long-term preparation doesn’t have the sparkly prize to keep us motivated. It takes trust and confidence that your preparation will pay off, even if you don’t know how.
The good news is that pursuing your 3 Circles, nurturing your relationships, and taking care of yourself in body, heart, mind, and spirit is a very fulfilling, meaningful way to live. Ideally, long-term preparation will also be its own reward, and you’ll feel in flow.
When opportunities do appear, you might not even see them as opportunities, but as the natural result of how you’ve lived your life.
How We Prepare at Redmond
So how do we do this as an organization?
Our Culture Efforts
This is why we emphasize culture and development so much at Redmond! We want our people to develop their strengths, learn who they are, and become the best version of themselves (or be on that journey, because there’s no such thing as “arriving” here.)
We’re also working together to create an environment where people can grow because they feel seen and safe enough to be who they really are.
As a group (and individuals), we’ll be ready for opportunities when they present themselves. And the more prepared we are, the more opportunities we’ll see and will come our way!
Collaboration, Reflection, and Exploration
Reflection isn’t just one of our core values, it’s an everyday practice here at Redmond. This often looks like discussions and asking questions together so we can understand what’s going on and how—or if—to respond.
It involves asking the right questions, like "What am I seeing? What am I missing? What are you seeing? What are we both missing?”
This helps us grow together. This is where our ideas come from and how we constantly improve our processes so that future success becomes inevitable. So far, it’s working!
What being prepared looks like
How do you know if you’re prepared?
There’s no way to know for sure. And like any journey we talk about here, there’s no “arriving.” But here are some side effects of good preparation:
You see more opportunities. Opportunity is always around us. We just can’t see it if we haven’t prepared. Sometimes opportunity doesn’t knock. It just sits down next to us quietly and waits for us to notice.
You can be relevant in the moment. When an opportunity comes up, you know what to do next. (Or at least have a really good idea.) You’re tuned in. You can prioritize. You can pivot. It’s in moments where preparation meets relevance when we have the most impact!
You’re growing while doing great work. If you’re in your 3 Circles, you can see how much room there still is to grow, but you’re also making strides where you are!
Preparation Is Never Wasted
We can’t know the future. We can’t know if our preparation will ever “pay off” in the ways we expect.
It doesn’t mean you “feel” ready. No matter how much we prepare, these opportunities often still challenge us to step up and grow into them.
If, on the morning of Flight 1549, you would have asked Sully if he felt prepared to land an Airbus A320 on a river, he may or may not have said yes. But he did it. It was terrifying and challenging, but he did it.
You can’t prepare retroactively when the opportunity has passed. If you make preparation a regular part of your life, when the moment comes, you’ll be able to respond!
