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 Return to Free Articles & Tools Index CEO in a Cenote January 2008 I recently spent some time with a CEO who feels like he is between a rock and a hard place. Frankly, he is. As he described his situation, I was reminded of a family event that felt very similar. About 10 years ago, I took 3 of my kids to Mexico for a vacation. We found a condo in an area called Akumal which had some outstanding beaches and great snorkeling. Several locals told us that we had to check out a local phenomenon called a cenote. Do you know what that is? I didn’t. In this part of Mexico, there are fresh water underground rivers that sometimes have connections to the surface called a cenote. (A better definition and picture can be found at www.gomexico.about.com/od/ancientsites/g/cenote.htm.) So one afternoon we loaded our snorkel gear into the car and drove down this bumpy dirt road to find our cenote. We parked the car, walked down a dirt path and found this cave-like structure with an absolutely beautiful pool of water in it. Although the water was crystal clear, you could not see the bottom. I had already jumped into the pool when my daughter for some unknown reason threw her mask in but hesitated before jumping into the pool. Her mask started to sink. Without thinking and without my mask on, I dove down, saw her mask and was able to rescue it. Unfortunately, I had my contacts in and lost them both. I was now vision impaired but was determined not to let it affect our fun. We all enjoyed swimming around this pool and watching several scuba divers disappear below us. After a few minutes of this, a local boy yelled at my kids to follow him. He swam to the edge—where the wall met the water—took a deep breath and went under. Without a thought, both of my boys followed him and a second later so did my daughter…and didn’t resurface. Without many apparent options, I followed them and popped up into an air pocket perhaps 10 or 15 feet beyond the wall of the cenote. It was rather dark which further challenged my already poor vision. Before I could find my breath to yell at the kids, the Mexican boy plunges under water again and as you might guess, my kids follow. Now I’m more frightened than mad. I follow the kids and end up in a smaller and darker space and this time use an “R-rated” version of “Stop”! They do. The local kid, however, dives again and is gone. I am now quite frightened. I don’t know where we are, don’t know the exact direction out, have poor vision and am feeling very responsible for the well-being of 3 other humans. If we go under and swim the wrong way, we are dead! We also can’t just stay were we are. This is how my CEO friend was feeling. Poor visibility, not sure where he was, are not sure where he should go. He was also responsible for a bunch of people’s welfare. He and his executive team had failed to plan. They hadn’t considered the future (which had now become “today”) and how they would succeed. They had been treading water for a number of years. Luckily for my kids, I found a wee bit of calm, used what information I had, asked for their concurrence that we were heading the right way and took action. Had we not done something, we would have used our energy treading water until we eventually ran out of gas and drowned. This is pretty much the path that I suggested for the CEO of this company. Gather information, involve your team in the decision and then take action. Whether you are stuck in the water below a million pounds of rock or running a company, treading water is not a good long term strategy. |
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