Let’s Take Our Culture to Mars!
Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - Joe Kiedinger
Yesterday was my ironing day. Yes, I’m the ironer in the family. My wife has five-people’s clothes to wash. I offered to help in that category when we first married because she is particular about what to mix with what and how to fold, so I stick to ironing (a little tip from me to you: Magic Sizing is my spray of choice for a light starch—it leaves no residue).
I spent a little over two hours last night ironing while watching the movie, The Martian starring Matt Damon. It’s a great movie. I thought I wouldn’t like it. If you have ever seen Castaway starring Tom Hanks, it’s dark. The movie depicts how isolation drives a person crazy.
The Martian was quite the opposite. This was about problem-solving. For those of you who have no idea what this movie is about, here is a very quick overview. Several people travel to Mars, they set up a laboratory, they need to leave and then one person gets left behind due to an accident during which they thought he was killed.
It’s a story of perseverance through problem solving. At the very end, there is a scene with Matt Damon’s character talking to future rocket scientists. He says something like, “Space will never cooperate with you. I could have chosen to die and accept that fate, or I could choose to solve problems one at a time. One solution led to another problem that I had to solve.”
To me, that’s growing a department or growing an entire business. Really, it’s the game of life! The world doesn’t always cooperate when we make plans. We must always be prepared to solve problems along the way. A culture of perseverance must be instilled to survive the journey.
After all, the journey is the reward!
Joe Kiedinger
ACTION PLAN: Instead of trying to come up with everything that could possibly go wrong, teach people how to be problem-solvers so that when things come up they know how to respond.