The world has been watching the extrication of the Chilean miners – one by one – in a rescue attempt since Tuesday night. This is high drama with all of us admiring the process and methodical planning of the drilling and rescue crews.
The world has been watching the extrication of the Chilean miners – one by one – in a rescue attempt since Tuesday night. This is high drama with all of us admiring the process and methodical planning of the drilling and rescue crews. The twenty minute ascent of the numbered miners has each of us breathless, praying that the journey meets no resistance or glitch. The safe arrival on the desert plateau is overwhelming, and the medical and social triage in place is sensible. Reentry must be extraordinary.
This is such good news to a world beset with bad news every day – the same story, different lands and leaders, but similar results – war, mayhem, strikes, floods, earthquakes, toxic sludge, CEO earnings, Wall Street bonuses, unemployment and foreclosures. These are the usual leads to our daily news cycle - same old, same old - depressing, sad, ongoing. But, now in Chile in a remote area in a country we really do not know much about, we have this Herculean effort undertaken. Expertise from around the world has contributed, from NASA to the German company who made the cable to launch and retract the capsule, from the US drilling team, earlier entrenched in Afghanistan, drilling water holes, to state of the art optics. This is something to behold, and the drama continues to unfold. We, the world, are watching, hoping, praying – and, the news has been good, very good!
Now, take this mood back to your our workplace and operation, where the atmosphere is probably more sullen and reserved. For the last several years your employees have lived with great uncertainty. They have watched colleagues “excessed”, belts tightened, compensation threatened, “do more with less” - empty cubicles, empty promises. They are survivors, too, obviously not on the same stage as the Chilean miners, however, in their minds, their lives have been shaken, and you have the opportunity to demonstrate some leadership. We have a global, human situation in Chile, which started with a most dire mine collapse. Within that miner group for 69 days underground we are told spirits were lifted, structure was imposed, and humanity prevailed.
If there ever was a script written for you to deliver to your troops, you have it now. Stand and deliver and help bring them back to the surface of optimism and opportunity.
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