A Letter from Chris Suarez
WE NEED MORE FIREFIGHTERS
The fires in California continue this week - burning through literally hundreds of thousands of acres - devastating the physical landscape, homes and structures, as well as the air quality. At the time that I sit down to write this, the Dixie Fire alone has burned nearly a million acres and will probably take its place as the largest fire ever recorded in California history.
Just over 46% of the fire is contained as firefighters battle the blaze. These are some of the most highly trained, highly skilled, and brave men and women you’ll ever meet. They are battling an unpredictable opponent and they are executing every strategy available.
As I read about the Dixie Fire and learned about the dangers of the blaze, the strategies used to control it, and the inconsistencies of any fire, I realized that out of tragedy comes incredible learning and lessons. Every strategy used out in the forest can be used in the office and on the field.
Control Lines
Fire fighters use both natural boundaries as well as created boundaries for the purpose of surrounding the fire, and controlling it. At times this might be a creek bed, a road, or a ridge. If no boundaries exist, they create one by scraping, clearing trees and brush, and digging down to the mineral soil. The goal is to eliminate any fuel for the fire in an attempt to block its progression and growth.
In business we need to create control lines and boundaries to prevent fires from taking away our most important asset - our time. Some of those boundaries are natural. They may be the hour you start or the hour you commit to stop. Some of those boundaries need to be scraped or cleared or dug. Blocking out important hours of your day for the most important activities is just one way to create these control lines.
Back-burning & Burning Out
Often firefighters will dig a small ditch and actually burn the brush inside their control line leading up to the fire to strengthen that line. The control line itself may not be enough. Burning back any brush and fuel ahead of the line creates added protection.
We may need to bring in help to keep us on schedule - whether that be accountability, creating the right physical space, or making sure our teammates don’t call, email, or text us during certain times. Perhaps it's blacking out the dings and pings and rings for a few hours to protect that controlled time by turning off our phones, devices, or silencing notifications. Eliminate the fuel of distractions.
Hot Spotting & Knock Down
Fire fighters focus on the most dangerous parts of the fire and put more manpower or energy on controlling that specific area. They identify the hottest spots of the fire and they run towards it. They then knock down that part of the fire immediately - usually with dirt, water, or a fire retardant.
Put simply, if our role is problem solving in our organization then run towards the problem. Don’t hide. Don’t wait until it gets to your desk. Don’t wait until it becomes a bigger problem. If your role is execution in your organization then run toward the activities that you know will produce proven results. Don’t wait to do that later, or tomorrow, or next week. Run towards the activity and knock it out. Knock down that problem, and knock down the activities that you agreed to do when you signed up for your role.
Aerial Attack
Often planes and helicopters can be used to dump water from above if things are getting out of control but it is still safe enough for them to navigate over the fire.
The 10,000 foot view of your business is critical. Perhaps this has been a challenge for you while you are stuck fighting the everyday fires that keep popping up on the ground. Call in your coach. Call in your partner. They can help see your business from above. Every business owner will need a pilot's license. The role of the business owner is to be willing to fight that fire on the ground while at the same having or acquiring the ability and skill to see things from up above.
Fire line Explosives
Firefighters in extreme cases use explosives to actually fell trees and clear obstructions in advance of a fire arriving. They blow things up strategically to create that control line. The explosives will save time when the firefighters need to clear brush and trees quickly.
At times our business really needs a strategic and consultative explosive. They are there to uproot strongly held habits that have roots deep into the operations and perhaps even culture of your business. This isn’t the common and casual “I need to blow up my business” comment you hear when things aren’t going right. No, these are strategic explosives in a very controlled area of your business - leading to a very specific and expected result. Perhaps it's an overhaul of your technology platform, a redesign of your lead generation lever, a completely new customer experience, or perhaps the moment you realize you don’t have the right talent in an important seat on the bus.
Now a word of caution about fire and fire suppression strategies. As fires grow to extreme temperatures, they actually have the ability to generate their own weather patterns. In fact, some fires burn so big and so hot that they generate their own wind and air systems. They create their own lightning storms. In extreme conditions they can even create fire whirls or fire tornadoes. These can be upwards of 140 miles per hour - lifting cars, uprooting burning trees, and ripping structures off their foundations. The air inside the fire is so hot, and rises so quickly, that it creates an intense uplift of wind, gas, and fire. In the recent California Dixie Fire, a fire whirl spun up a fireball and flung it through the air over 5 miles away, where it landed creating a new destructive fire altogether.
All the perfectly executed fire fighting strategies imaginable can’t prevent the spread of a fire that reaches that level of aggression. As a leader of a business, partner, or employee, ensure that your demeanor, communication style, emotional intelligence, problem solving skills, and conflict resolution strategies prevent that fireball. At times it’s easy to allow business stress, systems breakdown, personal issues, or our natural response mechanisms to add fuel to the fire. We can find ourselves spinning, heating up, generating our own weather patterns even - including lightning, high winds, perhaps even causing a tornado. It’s time to breathe, stay calm, develop a plan, exhibit high EQ, communicate clearly, and show up to resolve the problem intelligently.
It’s time to dig your control lines. It’s time to back-burn. It’s time to hot spot and knock down. It’s time to execute an aerial attack. Oh, and at that moment, you may not want to deploy the explosives.
Chris
