Risk Management

I have a recent event to share with you. I was accomplishing a task that I’ve done many times before. Although the task is familiar to me, I do not accomplish it with great frequency, usually about 2 or 3 times a year. It is a seemingly mundane task. However this time, during the execution of the task, my hand became entangled in the mechanism. No broken bones, but a little blood and a lot of pain. There are a couple of things that stick out in this scenario. One was discussed earlier, the frequency and seemingly inconsequential character of the task. But the other point is, I was caught in this mechanism and could not get my hand out of it by myself.
Now, understand, I’m a mechanic at heart, I knew exactly what to do, but did not have the proper tools to do it. I could not go get the proper tools because I was “attached” to this mechanism. I was extremely lucky that there was a good friend close by. Had I been alone, well…it would have been a lot more painful. My friend was able to free me from my predicament and I applied some ice, probably should have had a couple of stitches, but a tight band aid kept the bleeding to a minimum.

The main point here is that things happen completely unexpectedly. In an earlier post I referred to my youngest son and a mishap while snowboarding. As people, we walk a fine line between staying active and being cautious. I remember a quote from a friend, “A ship is always safest in port, but that is not what a ship was designed to do”. We can always just so nothing, take no risks, but that is not what we, as people, are designed to do.

So Risk Management is the key, a little like Blue Bell Ice Cream. We can eliminate all the risks we can, and manage the rest. (For those of you who do not know Blue Bell Ice Cream, contact me later and I’ll clarify). Even with the best Risk Management, there is just going to be sometimes when things do not go as planned. That’s why we send men and women into space. We could just send robots, but a robot cannot be programmed to “adapt, improvise and overcome” obstacles that were not in the original plan.

So, plan, do your best to manage risk, and live life to the fullest.

Bubba out.

Mixed Emotions

As some of you may or may not know, one of my sons is on a Study Abroad program through Texas A&M University. He is traveling and studying in several European countries along with numerous marketing venues to learn international marketing techniques. There are days when the group gets to take a break and take in the local culture and it is on one of these days that my son had a little mishap. Seems like he decided to go snowboarding in Austria. While he was snowboarding, he made some contact with a stationary object. He was mobile at the time. The result is a broken nose, a couple of stitches and some (temporary I hope) loss of memory. He was taken to a hospital where they determined that he did not have a concussion, but that he would probably be black and blue the next day.

Now, having heard that story a flood of emotions come into play. Emotion 1; happiness or joy in that he was not seriously hurt. Emotion 2; sadness or concern that my son has been injured. Emotion 3; anger and disappointment that he would go snowboarding by himself, in a foreign country. The emotion that is winning out, right now anyway, is happiness that he was not seriously hurt, but sneaking up on the outside is emotion 3. Why in the world would you go do something like that by yourself? I need to remember that he is a man and…uhh...well…uhhhh. SCREW IT, I’m still his Dad and if I want to be concerned, angered or disappointed, I have the right!!!! I’m hoping this is one of those things that will make a lasting impression on him and he will learn a better lesson than if his Dad was hollering at him. So, I’ll mention the concerns I have with that particular decision when he returns, and hope he learns from it.

Now, having said all that, I couldn’t be prouder of him for being chosen for this program, and all the work he has done so far. Keep it up Dude, but take some friends with you!!!