Inspired by a true incident that changed aviation history
By Jamie Mason Cohen, Leadership and Performance Keynote Speaker
Have you ever had a crisis that turned into an unexpected opportunity?
Richard was… stranded.
Richard needed to get off the island that night for something that could change his life…and time was running out. Where was so urgent? He had a date with a new girlfriend on another island and didn’t want to be late.
However, the flight was abruptly CANCELLED…also, no other flights were scheduled for the day off the island. Richard looked around, saw he wasn’t alone, and thought for a minute, “How can I get off this island by tonight? He went ahead and picked up the airlines phone on the counter and frantically called around about chartering a plane. Every charter company was booked…except for one.
But there was another problem.
Richard didn’t have the money to charter the plane. Not even for his seat. The charter company needed an answer now. Not in an hour. Not in 10 minutes. They needed an answer and a commitment NOW.
So Richard said, “Let’s go ahead and order it.”
In the corner of the terminal, he saw a whiteboard and a marker. He walked over and wrote “$39 One-Way Flight”. He then approached the other passengers, who also had their flight canceled, and told them that he chartered a flight off the island and had a few extra seats if they were interested. There was something about the way he approached them that made them believe and trust what he had to offer them. Someone gave him the $39.00. Then another. And another.
Before he knew it, he ended up selling out the flight and using the OTHER passengers’ money to pay for his trip to see his girlfriend. And yes, he made his deadline.
That island that the young man chartered his flight too was known as the British “Virgin Islands.”
The year was 1982.
That flight from Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands became the unofficial first voyage of, “Virgin Airways.” So that young man who was trying to figure out a way to get to his date on time was none other than the business icon, Sir Richard Branson.
Has anyone ever not had a flight canceled? It sucks. But what did a 20-something Richard do at that moment that made him different than the other passengers’ in the terminal that day?
FIRST, he believed in himself.
Branson’s greatness at that moment was that he believed in himself first that he had it within himself to solve a problem.
NEXT, Richard gained others’ trust.
He created immediate rapport with a group of people– his team – whether they realized it or not, who had the same goal, to get to a shared destination.
LAST, Richard asked the right questions.
The others in the terminal, may have reasonably asked, “Why me?” Richard asked, “Why couldn’t this work out if I try something different? Alternatively, How can I turn this obstacle into something positive for the other people with him and me?
Richard Branson’s story is about inner greatness, perspective, and team-work, but above all else, it’s about the IMPACT one person can have in any situation when he works together with ALLIES– the people on his team to do something extraordinary.
In Branson’s example, we see how everyone can find a way to work with your ALLIES to achieve great things.
What would have happened to Richard and the other stranded passengers in the terminal that day hadn’t banded together, trusted each other and tried something different to get to where they wanted to go?
They would have remained in the same place far longer than they needed to be, — there are worse places to be stuck than a Caribbean island – -but the passengers would have felt like they still had a ways to go and were not quite where they wanted to be. At first, Richard was solving his problem, but in the process, he tapped into what him needed and valued.
He understood that people would not believe in him unless he first passionately believed in himself and his goal.
Richard figured out that this new team he had assembled, would give him what he needed after he showed them warmth, respect, and empathy in understanding their situation.
He then saw the crisis in the opportunity, he looked for a way to be better, not bitter and viewed the discomfort of his predicament as a challenge to grow.
He took the initiative, with eyes wide open to new possibilities by asking the right questions, and pushed himself, literally to new heights.
