The Bus

When we practise ''who have I helped' stories in our Growth in Focus story workshops most attendees tell business stories but occasionally a personal story is told which entrances the group.

Here is an example from workshop attendee Warren:

At various times in Warren's life he has taken up running to maintain his fitness.

While still living in South Africa in the late nineties, he determined to get up at six each morning and go for a run.

Part of the route that Warren ran each morning was along a wide but quiet two-lane straight road.

For comfort, he avoided the uneven gravel next to the road and ran on the tarmac edge. Warren ran on the opposite side of the road so that he could see approaching vehicles.

In the distance Warren saw an oncoming bus.

Since the oncoming two lanes were wide and clear, Warren assumed that the bus would move aside to give him space as he ran along the edge of the road.

But the bus did not move aside. Instead it passed so close that Warren was almost hit by the mirror and he was forced onto the gravel to avoid being run over. As the bus passed, Warren angrily turned around and raised his finger to give the driver the "bird".

As he continued running, Warren thought about what had happened and his own reaction.

He thought it likely that the African driver, who had no doubt struggled to make a living through the Apartheid era, resented having to move over for a young white person who could afford the luxury of running on the road for fitness.

Furthermore, Warren reasoned that his own angry reaction would in no way change the driver's attitude.

In an instant Warren resolved to not be that angry person.

The next morning, 6 am, Warren was running down the same stretch of empty road when in the distance appeared the same bus, obviously on a regular route. Warren maintained his position on the side of the road but as the bus approached he smiled and waved to the driver.

Again he was nearly run off the road.

Next morning same thing, Warren smiled and waved and the bus nearly ran him down.

But the next day when Warren smiled and waved there was a slight wave of one hand from the driver, and the bus didn't pass quite so close.

After that Warren and the bus driver would smile and wave to each other each morning and eventually the bus steered so far from Warren that it was almost in the oncoming traffic.

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Company: Personal

Source: As told by Warren Nel at a Growth in Focus Story Workshop 2016

Reference:

Story Type: Values; Personal; Who have we helped

Labels: Values; Beliefs; Control; Personal

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For Story Students

The Setting: South Africa when Warren was on one of his fitness kicks

The Complications: The oncoming bus neartly hit Warren

The Turning Point: Warren decided not to be the angry victim, rather to be a smiling friend to the bus driver

The Resolution: Warren and the bus driver became waving and smiling friends on Warren's morning runs

The Point of the Story: Warren and the bus driver became waving and smiling friends on Warren's morning runs

How to use this story: This is a story about personal values and how setting standards for your own behaviour can positively influence others. As Warren says it is about reversing the HAVE --> DO ---> BE sequence

Deciding what you want to BE influences what you DO which in turn leads to what you HAVE

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When to walk away from a big deal

In the late 1990s, One.Tel tendered for the provision of an Australia-wide mobile phone network. The multi-billion dollar tender attracted aggressive bidding from all of the major multi-national telecommunications equipment companies.

One.Tel was a group of Australian-based telecommunications companies established in 1995, soon after deregulation of the Australian telecommunications industry, with high-profile backers such as the Murdoch and Packer families.

The Australian CEO for Siemens we'll call him Joe, led the bid for Siemens Australia, which was a front runner to win due to its advanced and proven technology.

As the tender negotiations proceeded, Joe became increasingly concerned about One.Tel's requirements for unsecured vendor financing - but approval for Siemens to provide this financing had been received from the Siemens board, and Joe was under pressure to "close the deal".

But something didn't feel right to Joe, he was concerned about the security for the financing and One.Tel's prospects. Despite the financing having been approved by Siemens's notoriously conservative commercial management cadre, Joe decided to pull out of the deal.

Joe's managers backed his decision and the main competitor won the tender.

A year or so later, when One.Tel went into receivership, Joe's competitor lost nearly a billion dollars and his brave decision was vindicated.

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Company

: Siemens

Source

: Mike Adams conversations with the main players and Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One.Tel

Reference

: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One.Tel

Story Type

: Teaching

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For Story Students

The Setting

: Tendering for a new mobile phone network in late 90's Australia

The Complication

s: One.Tel required the vendors to provide unsecured vendor financing

The Turning Point

: Australian CEO made a gut decision to pull out of the tender process

The Resolution

: Siemens competitor won the tender and lost nearly $1 billion AUD when One.Tel collapsed and went into receivership

The Point of the Story

: Going with your gut feel when something feels wrong about a deal is often the best course of action but it takes courage.

How to use this story

: The story shows the importance of sticking with your convictions

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Service Recovery after Disaster - getting service back on track

The radio networks that allow communication between train drivers and central control rooms are critical to safety infrastructure. If the radios fail, trains cannot operate.

On May 2nd 2004, the Siemens-supplied train radio system had a network-wide failure which lasted several hours. Fortunately the outage occurred on a Sunday - if it happened on any other day, there would have been chaos on the entire rail network.

Siemens state manager John Chapman, realising the critical nature of this incident, rushed to the Railcorp control room and worked with the Railcorp CEO to schedule buses to ensure minimal passenger disruption.

Finally, when the radio network was restored, John turned to the CEO and said "this is going to cost us isn't it?".

The CEO's response was "let's split the bill".

What could have been a very expensive litigious issue was solved with a handshake because John had given up his Sunday and worked with his customer to return them to normal operations.

You can have great service but your service quality is only truly tested when you are in a service recovery situation.

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Company

: Siemens and Railcorp

Source

: Mike Adams conversations with former NSW Siemens state manager John Chapman

Reference:

Story Type

: Values

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For Story Students

The Setting

: 2nd May 2004, Sydney, Australia, Citylink Metro rail system

The Complications

: The train radio system failed for several hours which stopped the entire train network. Siemens was the supplier of the train radio equipment and Railcorp was the train operator

The Turning Point

: Siemens and Railcorp worked over the weekend to schedule buses while the radio network was being repaired

The Resolution

: The Railcorp CEO agreed to split the difference on the cost of the failure

The Point of the Story

: The Railcorp CEO agreed to split the difference on the cost of the failure

How to use this story

: When talking about Service and service recovery

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HP - We trust our people

Hewlett Packard is a 'storied' company and famous for its 'trusting' corporate culture. Here is one of the stories that created that culture.

Every company veteran knows the legend of how one of the company founders, Bill Hewlett, came in one weekend to work and found the equipment storeroom locked and how he broke it open with a fire axe and left a note insisting that it not be locked again because HP trusts its people**.

A story like this that shows how a leader behaves is worth far more than any corporate mission or values statements. Employees are influenced mostly by what leaders do not what they say or write.

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Company: HP

Source: https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=42103

Story Type: Values

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For Story Students

The Setting: Dave Packard working on a project on the weekend canot access the required tools because the tools are locked up

The Complications: The equipment stireroom was locked and weekend staff could not work

The Turning Point: Bill Hewlett broke into the storeroom with an axe

The Resolution: The weekend workers could work but more importantly Hewlett left a lasting legacy about how HP people should treay each other.

The Point of the Story: The weekend workers could work but more importantly Hewlett left a lasting legacy about how HP people should treat each other.

How to use this story: When discussing corporate vales and trust

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9/11 Emergency Evacuation

The Morgan-Stanley Company occupied 22 floors up to level 72 in Tower 1 of the World Trade Centre in 2001; here is their survival story.

Rick Rescorla may be the greatest American hero you’ve never heard of. A decorated Vietnam veteran of British birth, Rescorla was the head of security for Morgan Stanley’s World Trade Center offices in New York City. With a workforce of nearly 3,000 people, the bank was the towers’ largest tenant.

Although Rescorla’s heroics hold a special place in the hearts of Morgan Stanley employees, his deep understanding of crises made him a pain in the neck to some…

Rescorla was an expert disaster planner. He worried that the World Trade Center represented a major terrorist target, so he put Morgan Stanley employees through frequent, random evacuation drills.

When Rescorla’s evacuation drill orders came, everything stopped. Every last person in the company knew the evacuation routes, time limits, and contingency plans - would practice them. Although Morgan Stanley traded hundreds of millions of dollars a day through its World Trade Center offices, every employee had to participate in Rescorla’s evacuation drills.

Rescorla appointed team leaders and fire marshals for every floor. They underwent extra training. Their jobs were to make sure the different floors would follow his comprehensive 22-floor evacuation plan. Every visitor to Morgan Stanley would receive a proper safety briefing before conducting any business in the offices. Some folks found Rescorla’s drills annoying - some wanted to skip the interruptions and keep working.

The first plane hit Tower 1 at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001. The Morgan Stanley offices were in Tower 2. Office workers felt the explosion and saw the damage; they could see people breaking out of windows and crawling out to escape the heat and flames. Some were jumping.

Shortly after impact, the Port Authority came across the buildings’ intercom system - the order was for everyone, in both towers, to stay put.

Rescorla was already out taking action  right according to plan. He ordered his security staff, floor leaders, and fire marshals to evacuate immediately. He picked up his walkie-talkie and bullhorn and commanded the operation, floor by floor. The Morgan Stanley evacuation plan went into full effect, and the people responded the moment the order came down. They had been drilled in exactly what to do.

Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., the second plane hit Tower 2: the jolt knocked people off their feet, desks and file cabinets overturned, papers littered the floors, the power went out. Many sustained injuries in the stairwells and on the Morgan Stanley floors. The stress on everyone jumped from high to extreme. But the evacuation continued according to plan.

Rescorla knew everyone in the building was in serious trouble. His people were performing well, but he needed to maintain their focus. He didn’t want anyone freezing - so he picked up his bullhorn and began singing songs from his youth. They were the same songs he’d sung to his men back in Vietnam. They helped people keep fear at bay and focus on the task at hand. The songs worked just as well in the World Trade Center stairwells as they did during the war.

In between songs, Rescorla paused to call his wife. “Stop crying,” he told her, “I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I’ve never been happier. You made my life.”

By around 9:45, the evacuation of Morgan Stanley’s offices was nearly complete. But at the bottom, Rescorla turned around and started heading back up. A handful of people were unaccounted for - including members of his security staff.

Then, there were the firemen, police, and people from every other office in the building. Everyone knew Rescorla wouldn’t come out until every last person had been rescued.

Rick Rescorla, American hero, was last seen in the 10th floor stairwell, heading higher. Not long after that, at 9:59 a.m., Tower 2 collapsed.

Thirteen Morgan Stanley employees died on 9/11. This includes Rescorla and four of his security team. But the remaining 2,687 employees, plus 250 office visitors, survived. [**Note the time lapse to building collapse was 14 minutes**]

They survived in large part thanks to Rescorla and his knowledge of something called “negative panic.”

They survived because Rick Rescorla had a plan.

[From Dr David Elfrig’s

Doctor’s Protocal and Field Manual

, Agora Publishing, Investment Advisory]

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Company

: Morgan Stanley

Source

: Ralph Ritchie, 2013

Reference

: http://survivingtimesoftrouble.com/httpritchieunlimitedpublications-commorganstanley/

Story Type

: Insight, Values

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For Story Students:

The Setting

: Sept 2011, World Trade Centre

The Complications

: Corporate staff do not appreciate safety training or fire drills

The Turning Point

: Rescoria's planning and practice regime was critically needed when the twin towers were struck by terrorist controlled planes on 9th September 2011

The Resolution

: Rescoria's training saved 2687 employees out of a total staff of 2700 in the tower that day.

The Point of the Story

: Rescoria's training saved 2687 employees out of a total staff of 2700 in the tower that day. The story demonstrates the values of protection and safety

How to use this story

: Any situation where customers need to be convinced about the importance of emergency response preparedness

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