Elevation: Acting on Optimism

We All Received a Life Lesson in Preparation Fifteen Years Ago. We can still act on it.

"What a view of the Hudson"

That was what US Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger said to First Officer Jeff Skiles as they took off from runway 4 of New York's LaGuardia airport on January 15, 2009. Less than a minute later, plane and birds collided.

I had a chance to see Captain Sullenberger speak when he returned to his alma mater, Purdue University, where he'd earned his Master's degree before embarking on a career of 35 years of flying that preceded the ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson river on January 15, 2009. He approached the podium to a thunderous, emotional, and sustained standing ovation reserved for true heroes. But heroism was nowhere in his talk that day.

A Story of Hope

Instead, he'd come to share a story of hope and to tell everyone at Purdue that day why the lessons from what would become known as the Miracle on the Hudson were really about preparation and training and could apply to us all. On that January day in 2009, 155 people boarded a plane in New York thinking they were going to Charlotte, North Carolina. They weren't. They just didn't know that yet. Skiles, normally a Captain himself, was flying as a First Officer on Flight 1549 due to a staff reduction at US Airways. At 2,818 feet of altitude, it became abundantly clear that they would not be going to Charlotte.

This Happened in 208 Seconds

Cockpit: MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, Cactus 1539, we've lost thrust.

One minute can change everything. And the next four minutes changed the lives of 155 people forever.?As the captain put the plane into a counter-clockwise arc over The Bronx, here's the short version of what happened in the moments from 3:27pm to 3:31pm as the plane began descending on that January day in 2009.

Tower: You need to return to LaGuardia. Do you wanna try to land runway 13?

Cockpit: We’re unable, we may end up in the Hudson.

Tower: How about runway 31?

Cockpit: Unable.

Tower: What do you need to land? Runway 4 is available.

Cockpit: I don’t think we can make any runway. What’s that to the right, Teterboro?

Tower: You wanna try to go to Teterboro?? Turn right to runway 1.

Cockpit: We can’t do it. We’re gonna be in the Hudson.

Tower: I’m sorry, say again Cactus?

This is Your Captain, Brace For Impact

Note the calmness and precision of words in the face of a probable tragedy. No drama. In less than four minutes, the air traffic controllers offered the captain of US1549 four separate options to land the plane. Each was declined and the captain then told the tower where he was putting the plane down which allowed a nearly immediate rescue to follow, which prevented hypothermia in the frigid waters of the Hudson. And details mattered that day as US1549 cleared the George Washington Bridge by less than 900 feet before landing in the Hudson.

A Plan and Training: Preparation Meets Intellect

Captain Sullenberger said that what mattered most that day was a plan. And training. He said that his dream was to be the best pilot he could be. But he also said that he knew that a dream was not sufficient. He said that to be the best, he knew he'd have to train and do the hard work. Captain Sullenberger had more than 20,000 hours of flight time when he landed US1549. He also had 7 years as a fighter pilot. And he was a glider pilot. Oh, and he joined Mensa International at the age of 11.

Preparation Precedes Results

He told the crowd at Purdue that he spent 35 years making a million tiny deposits regularly that allowed him to take one very big withdrawal when he needed it most. He humbly summarized what led to their heroic outcome this way, "Everybody did their job, just as they were trained to do. There was a checklist for ditching the plane, but no time to go through it. Instinct got us through it.".

Brace, Brace, Brace! Heads Down, Stay Down!

The flight attendants didn't need to find and read a script to tell the passengers what to do as the plane descended toward the river. They had memorized what to say over years of practice. The actions of the two pilots and three flight attendants were a direct result of years of training and preparation. Instinct comes from practice. Do the right things to prepare and the results will follow. Captain Sullenberger said that Flight 1549 showed people that there are always further actions you can take. On that day in 2009, there was no second-guessing between flight attendants, pilots, and air traffic controllers. The crew and tower personnel did precisely what the plan called for. A significant part of the credit for what happened when flight 1549 went down that day lies in preparation. As disaster loomed, the crew and rescue teams calmly and consistently implemented what they had learned in years of training and emergency drills. No one involved had ever undergone a situation like this one, and yet their countless hours of experience combined to achieve the best possible outcome—an inspiring and successful end to the story.

Elevation: What Happens When We See Remarkable Goodness

Elevation is an emotion elicited by witnessing actual or imagined virtuous acts of remarkable moral goodness. Elevation motivates those who experience it to open up to, affiliate with, and assist others. Elevation makes an individual feel lifted up and optimistic about humanity.

Captain Sullenberger gets the last word on what we can learn from that day in 2009. In his talk at Purdue, he consistently redirected attention away from himself to what we might all learn from that day. He left the crowd with these final thoughts, "There are ways out of the tightest spots. We as individuals, and as a society, can find them. Every day we wake up, we have an opportunity to do good, but there's so much bad that you have to navigate to get to the good."

Can We Act on the Optimism From The Miracle On The Hudson?

Every day, we have another chance to act on the goodness that came on January 15, 2009. Maybe a chance to focus on where preparation and training can make us better in our own chosen endeavors or maybe other areas where we can do good. As Sully said, every day we have an opportunity to do good.

Scott Strubel is the Vice President of the Americas Partner Organization for Darktrace and author of the book Simple, but HARD (https://simplebuthardbook.com/ ). You can find more articles on leadership, sales, and partnering at Scott's blog scott-talks.com .