The Angelou report: Failure is an option
By Bill Settlemyer
Executive Publisher
Anyone who has seen the movie Apollo 13 probably remembers the quote attributed to mission director Gene Kranz. Faced with the grim odds against bringing a crippled spaceship and three astronauts home safely, Kranz yelled, “Failure is not an option!”
According to one account, the real Kranz didn’t actually say that, but the quote does accurately represent the attitude of Kranz and his colleagues in the real Mission Control. As the rescue mission progressed, always teetering on the brink of disaster, the engineers and flight directors continued to lay out all the options, “but failure was not one of them.”
Closer to home
Here in the Charleston region, there have been times when we’ve pulled together and acted as if failure was not an option. The first noteworthy example I observed was the closing of the Navy base and shipyard following the last round of BRAC base closings, but to my mind the most exceptional example was the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Post-Hugo, everyone dropped whatever they were doing, checked their egos at the door and looked for ways to help their fellow citizens and the recovery of the community and the region’s economy.
My personal contribution was to join two others leaders in suggesting the formation of the “Save the Season Task Force,” which rallied the hospitality industry around the common goal of bringing the region’s biggest economic sector back to life as quickly as possible.
My efforts during that crisis were of minor significance compared to the heroic, selfless and determined actions of tens of thousands of people here from all walks of life. Our community had wonderful help from around the country, but by and large we picked ourselves up by our own bootstraps and brought the region back stronger than ever.
Not so good…
But how do we perform in the absence of a crisis, whether we’re addressing community challenges or economic development issues? My answer would mimic the favorite phrase of The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart: “Ahhh….not so good!”
Why? Because our behavior as business leaders too often follows traditional 20th century smokestack America patterns—always cautious, always deliberate, rarely bold and way too risk-averse.
In other words, we tend to move too slowly and too bureaucratically as leaders. We’re afraid of ruffling anyone’s feathers and, even worse, afraid of challenging each other to “raise our game” when it comes to leadership on community and economic development issues.
Angelou on the shelf?
Last year Austin, Texas-based Angelou Economics was commissioned by the Charleston Regional Development Alliance to make recommendations for future economic development activity in the region.
The report was released late last month. It is excellent. It provides a clear tactical and strategic road map for our business, government and civic leaders to follow. You’ll find the full report, about 200 pages long, posted as PDF files at www.forwardcharleston.com (click on the “Reports” link to find the files). The first section is an “economic scan” of the strengths and weaknesses of the region, with few surprises. The second recommends that we target five “industry clusters” for special attention in our economic development efforts.
The last section, the marketing plan, is required reading for anyone concerned with the region’s economic development strategy in the coming years. The report tells us what to do and how to do it.
But will we do it? The tasks presented to us will require a level of cooperation, boldness, initiative, speed and risk-taking that is uncharacteristic of our leadership. To be honest, our past history strongly suggests that we will fail to realize the opportunity presented by the Angelou report.
Whenever I speak critically on the issue of business leadership, I tend to anger people that I respect and view as peers, friends and colleagues in the region’s business community.
But I have concluded that it would be irresponsible on my part and disloyal to my community if I failed to offer my candid and honest opinions on this subject. And I can assure you that many others share my opinion. Unfortunately, many of those who have similar views are more likely to whisper their frustrations to each other instead of speaking up. That must change too.
The point is not that traditional patterns of leadership are bad. Many good things have been accomplished within the confines of our traditional leadership framework.
Rather, the point is that the traditional patterns are no longer sufficient to allow us to compete effectively in a rapidly changing world that knows no boundaries to economic competition. Our real competition is overseas. They are moving aggressively up the capitalist food chain and present a clear threat to the viability of our economy and the security of our jobs.
You know this saying very well: “If we keep doing the same things in the same way, we’ll get the same results.” If we want different results, we’ve got to energize and change the way we engage others as leaders, and we’ve got to broaden the leadership opportunities for people in our business community, especially those who are younger and have the biggest stake in the region’s future.
Some months ago, Angelou held a focus group with young professionals from around the region. The Angelou staff person who led the session was blown away by the energy, great ideas and eagerness of the group to tackle the complex task of improving the competitive position of our region and participating in the effort to market the region to others around the country.
These and many other young people have much to offer. They are eagerly awaiting the call. Will our current leaders have the courage to make the call, and to share both the responsibility and the authority to promote the success of the region? Stay tuned.
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