Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

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April 27, 2020 – As the COVIDs Continue…Paddle, Just Paddle

Day #47 of the COVIDs here in Central Minnesota.  We are staying faithful here at Without a Vision = zero outside human contact.

Good morning! Traditionally I’m somewhat bashful, private, and embarrassed about my birthday, but… Happy Birthday to me today. Gotta get over the childhood drama and trauma sooner or later. For Earth Day I hiked a half-marathon (13.1 miles) primarily because I thought I should, and maybe I could. I was right, I could — and I did.

• Tear-jerker of a story about Ford and GM responding to the COVIDs on 60 Minutes last night; A+ journalism!  Wow!

• Fifty years ago I was invited to teach crash courses in ecology, though I had never heard the word before, nor had most.
  • The Bald Eagles were almost extinct, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland had literally caught fire, urban centers were filled with decaying garbage.
  • I taught ecology using spider webs I found in the woods.  Touch any strand of the web, any tiny strand, and it affects the integrity of the entire rest of the web.
    • Try it.

• They say spring advances north twenty miles per day.
  • Start hiking in the Southern Ozarks the first of March and you’ll enjoy what we experience the first of May every single day… I might do that some day.

• I saw these two tips for leaders from Jack Welch:  (1) Don’t be a bore, and (2) Eliminate busy work.  Pretty good.

• Lessons at a young age from summer camp:
  • At age eleven I traded a schedule of onerous farm chores for a week in the woods at summer camp.  That life-changing series of events resulted in a number of eye-popping experiences while kindling in me a lifelong love affair with the outdoors.
  • A tradition at this camp was an overnight canoe trip, a relatively simple two-mile paddle across Lake Pepin while dodging dozens of big barges, a stay overnight at a rustic wayside rest in a picturesque village on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi, the savoring of an ice cold bottle of orange soda purchased for a dime, and then a quick paddle back to camp the next morning.
  • Come morning the wind out of the northwest was quickly working the water into a tempest.  Lake Pepin, a dangerous and unpredictable widening of the river for a 20-mile stretch in Southeastern Minnesota, can go from a glassy surface to massive swells of three or more feet in just minutes.  Casting off from shore against crashing waves bigger than my canoe proved nearly impossible.  We then had to instantly generate speed and momentum in order to make headway through the waves and against the wind.  I don’t recall who was leading our little band of inexperienced misfits, I was the youngest, but it was apparently essential for us to paddle our way back to camp regardless of the perils.
  • So, paddle we did.  My older brother was in the stern of my canoe and he apparently knew something about steering and keeping us afloat.  He hollered at me continuously, “Just paddle, just paddle!”  Which, as it turned out, was pretty good advice.  Our canoe would cut into a huge wave, torpedo completely under the surface for a moment while spraying water in my face, and then somehow pop up out of the roiling surf ready to take on another huge white cap.
  • Again and again he would exhort, “Paddle, just paddle!”  I provided the fuel while my brother took care to keep us pointed into the wind and out of danger of being capsized by a rogue wave coming at us from the side.  As I learned later, the only way to successfully make it across that lake was to head straight into the wind, making a few inches of progress with each stroke of the paddle.  Stay calm, don’t rock the boat, not at that moment at least, “Paddle, just paddle!”
  • I was scared, really scared.  But, with no options other than to keep going, that’s what we did.  After what seemed like hours we eventually made it safely back to camp.
    • Though a true story, this is also today’s metaphor for you to use in whatever way might help you to paddle through these COVIDs — and to make it safely back to camp, or perhaps to an even safer and better destination.  For now, “Paddle, just paddle!”

• “Time is of the essence.  None of us has seen anything like this in our lifetimes.  Our response as business (and professional) leaders therefore should be preparing for something we have not experienced before.  So, what should we do right now, realizing that the number of issues headed our way may be of unprecedented proportions? ADDITIONAL READ: 11 Ways Non-Profits and Businesses Can Survive COVID-19.
  • Remember, we saw the virus coming.  It was really a health-crisis reaction in slow motion.  It started in January.  We looked at it.  It moved elsewhere in February.  We looked at it.  People were still traveling.  Only in early March did we begin to take serious measures in the West.  Why?  Because crises on exponential curves always look harmless in the beginning and then get worse very, very quickly.
  • We are afraid something similar is happening on the economic side.  To respond, we may have to change how we operate… take a lesson out of the military book.  Military organizations are experienced at dealing with super-high-scale crises where the casualty rates in some scenarios are not two percent or four percent, but seventy-five percent.  They have crisis teams.  You probably have crisis teams in your organization already.  These teams are stabilizing the cash position and the balance sheet… and making sure you have a diverse supply chain.
  • It will be up to us as business (and professional) leaders to accelerate the development of protocols to keep people safe when the lock downs lift and they can return to work.” (McKinsey)

When you tell others about me, please emphasize my unique, customized approach.

I work with individuals, governance structures (Boards), non-profits, and businesses wanting to be bigger, better, stronger, healthier, happier… yes, all five are possible and best done in concert, but it typically requires a coach (consultant) or a companion to help illuminate the path.At Without a Vision Consultancy LLC — www.withoutavision.org — we LISTEN, we LEARN, we LISTEN some more, and only then do we suggest strategic directions unique to your situation.  We do not bring a one-size-fits-all template, nor the latest flash-in-the-pan solutions, to working with you.As we work with you we deliver and provide an increase in your CONFIDENCE, and CLARITY while providing coaching and companionship for your journey.We bring more than fifty years of experience from all sides of the Board table in thirteen different leadership roles — 26 of those years as a CEO.
Tell the truth, tell it all, tell it now, tell it often.

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