Leadership Blog

In 1949, thirteen of sixteen men died battling a relatively small blaze in Mann Gulch. In investigating the circumstances of why most of the smoke jumpers died while three lived, Norman Maclean wrote a book entitled Young Men and Fire, the true story of the smoke jumpers - firefighters who parachute into the back country to fight fires.

Maclean found some startling facts. Mann Gulch has steep canyon walls with the northern slope at a 75% incline. When the wind turned on the smoke jumpers, they were in a race with the fire up those steep walls. Most forest fires feed off dry grass. The north slope of Mann Gulch was mostly tall grass,  so the fire started to spread much faster than anticipated.

A key finding by Maclean was that the thirteen who died had carried their tools - poleaxes, saws, shovels, plus very heavy back packs - while attempting to out-run the fire climbing up those steep walls. In other words, the thirteen laboured as far as they could with all their equipment, even though that equipment was worse than useless in a race with the fire. Their inability to drop their heavy tools and packs ultimately prevented them from outrunning the fire. To these firefighters, their tools were more than simple objects - they represented who they were, why they were there and what they were trained to do. Dropping their tools meant abandoning their existing knowledge, training and experience.

This might not seem like a hard choice to make, but with no training for such a moment, they had no alternative models for behavior. In moments of uncertainty and danger, clinging to the “right” way might seem like a good idea, but not in this case.

The three survivors of the blaze thought outside the box and used different strategies to escape the fire.  Realizing that they were no longer fighting the fire but fleeing from it, they dropped all of their useless equipment. One survivor used a technique called the ‘escape fire’ where he took a match and lit a ring around him so that the fire would “jump” over him.

When he tried to convince others, they continued running up the steep slope because the ‘escape fire’ technique had not been part of their training.

It was their inability to drop the tools and equipment that weren’t working and seek new methods to help them escape that lead to the fire fatally engulfing them.

In your world today:

• What are the poleaxes, shovels and backpacks you continue to run with?
• What are the tired, worn out strategies and tools which you are lugging around with you?
• What existing models of behavior do you need to drop?
• What existing knowledge, training or experience needs to be abandoned?

Very often, what got you to here won’t get you to there. Those who learn the critical business skills and tools necessary to survive (and thrive!) will be the winners.

Survivors and successful people are always learning and practicing to improve their game. New circumstances always require new skills and tools.