The Call of the Wild
or
The Call of the Poindexter
which do you answer to?
Risk Manager. The mere term brings to mind the calculating nerd sitting behind a desk, horn-rimmed glasses 3/4 of the way down his nose, peg leg pants, button up shirt, tie, shaking a fingers at people and scolding them for anything more adventurous than adding cinnamon to their oatmeal. You've known the guy, I call him a Poindexter. The one that finds every reason to tell you that you should not be doing what you are doing on the premise that he is watching out for you, when you really suspect that deep down inside, it's so that he can justify his own inactions... never stepping outside of his safe protected cubicle himself and trying something "risky". I've got a guy like this in my head. At times I can hear him nagging at me. He tends to annoy me, and often I would like to tell him to sit down and shut up. Sometimes I do....sometimes I don't.
Now that I have painted that picture, I'll throw this out there.... I myself am a huge proponent of risk management, not to prevent me from doing something "adventurous", but rather as a tool to give me the best possible chance of success when I do. Notice that I have conveniently slid the word "adventurous" into the same context in this paragraph, as I did "risky" in the previous paragraph. Are they one in the same. No. However, make no mistake, they are related in a symbiotic sort of way. For me it is difficult to imagine one without at least some of the other.
Each one of us has our own definition of what constitutes "adventure". It is a personal thing. How far you are willing to step outside the box...your comfort zone...defines what you consider your "adventure". A good friend of mine laughs when he defines adventure as " You know it's an adventure when, at some point during the trip, you wish you were somewhere else". While this is hilarious, there is a modicum of truth there for him as well as me. We both seem to get that adrenaline high, when we push ourselves a little outside the comfort zone. After all, an adventure is supposed to be something exciting, right?...something outside the norm, challenging, that gives a sense of accomplishment when completed. What level of outside-the-box constitutes your "adventure" is a personal choice we each make.
So now I have stated that yes, for me setting out on an adventure, a quest that is really going to get my juices flowing, might be something that makes me a little uncomfortable at some point. It's going to be something that tests my abilities, and/or stretches the previously known boundaries I have set for myself. There is going to be a certain element of risk involved. I know and accept that. It would be easy to misread this as "when Sean sets out on an adventure he is going to do something crazy, out there, or God Forbid....REALLY RISKY".....and this is where I would disagree with you. For , as much as I hate the term and connotations that go along with "risk management"..this is where I do my best to practice the art. And make no mistake... managing risk is an art.
For the better part of my adult life I have been involved in occupations that require risk management of one sort or another. One of the benefits of this is that I have become intimately familiar with working within a risk vs benefit model.
In my current occupation it is at the heart of what I do. From top ranking officers all the way down the line to entry level firefighters, every single guy on my department can recite to you, on demand, our risk management model. It goes like this:
We will risk a lot to save a savable life
We will risk a little within a managed plan to save savable property
We will risk nothing to save that which has already been lost.
This is what we practice day in and day out. It keeps us alive. On every single scene we pull up on, every member of the crew has to know and understand where we are operating, within the risk management model. It is a dynamic thing, different on every scene and in a constant state of change as the situation either escalates, or de-escalates. An initial size up of the scene is made and a determination of what mode we are in announced ( High , Low, or NO risk).The risk management model then dictates which tactics and strategies are acceptable for the current status of the situation and which ones we will put into play. The scene is continuously re-assessed to make sure that the risks we are taking are commensurate with the benefits that we may be able to obtain by our actions. As either the conditions change or goals are achieved, the model has to be re-evaluated to make sure the current risk level in is sync with the current goal. No-one is to put their life at risk for a fully involved house that will be bulldozed anyway. That would be ludicrous. But, take that same scenario, add a trapped victim who is still in a location within a house that is deemed "savable" and we will pull out all the stops, accepting the high risk mode of operation in order to achieve the high reward (saving a life). The risk taken to obtain an objective, has to be proportional to the reward that is on the table and can be realized.
A Managed Plan
What the heck does that mean? A managed plan? Sounds like an investment portfolio...and I guess in a way it is. It is an investment in my, my boat's, and my crew's safety. It means not going hell-bent-for-election into a situation without first giving some consideration to my preparedness, my vessels condition, the weather, and any other considerations, up to an including my state of mind on that particular day, all of which could affect the outcome.
Christmas Day was a prime example for me. I really wanted to go sailing on Christmas Day. It looked like there was going to be good wind based on the forecasts the night before. I had friends who were also thinking that they might go out for a sail. What could be a better way to spend a few hours on Christmas Day?! Christmas morning arrives. Jo, her mom, and I all do our exchanging of gifts and spend the morning together. As the afternoon came on....Jo says "We aren't doing anything, why don't you go sailing?" (Geese I love that girl!) Of course, I thought that was a great idea!
I checked the weather. It just so happened that the National Weather Service had issued an "urgent notice" for very strong winds to 45 knots along the Colorado River Valley just north of where we are located. The warning did not extend down into our local area, but the Southern edge of the warning area was only 15 miles north of us. On top of this ...this was just a day that, for some reason, I was dragging a bit... just kinda tired. I figured we would probably not get the full 45 knots down here, but a good 25 to 30 was more than reasonable to expect based on that forecast. I've sailed in that before, but to be honest, my fun factor usually starts to diminish approaching 30 knots. The more I thought about this the more I thought...I just don't feel good about it. I'm tired, the wind is building, 15 miles North of here it's forecast to build to 45 which is WAY more than I would want to deal with. If that happens, 30 knots would be more than reasonable to expect here locally. 30 knots......30 knots, and not being on my game,..... 30 knots, not being on my game and sailing a small boat with no engine.......And there he was.....The Poindexter. Right there in my face. He looked up from a stack of meaningless disheveled papers he was working on, stood up, pushed his horned rimmed glasses up his nose a bit, put both hands on the desk, frowned, leaned across, stared right into my eyes, shook his finger and said..."If you end up on a lee shore today with the wind chop beating you up, cold, wet, and miserable and maybe a damaged boat....will you look back tomorrow and think that you made a sound decision today?" He then threw down the facts to make his case...."Being that you know you really aren't on your "A" game today, the winds are forecast to be very strong, you won't be able to paddle against them should you need to, the water is cold... is this really something you want to do?"
The know-it-all tone in his voice really disgusted me. I really, really hate that guy. But today ..he was right. I was tired, not really in the mindset, the forecast was a bit ominous, and setting out in an small engine-less boat in potentially challenging conditions and cold water was not the thing to do ,for me, on that particular day. What was the quote from Top Gun.?...
"Better to retire and save your aircraft than push a bad position"...
LOL :-) OK, OK...maybe a little mellow dramatic but you get the point. I've got nothing to prove to anyone. I sail for the fun of it. There was a good chance I might not have fun,...and if not...what risk was I willing to accept? Answer: NONE
Rather than drag Scout to the ramp and go sailing, I went to the
But wait...... I was with my gal and it was a beautiful day. "Scout" was at home, undamaged, in the garage, awaiting our next call to adventure when everything felt right. I really hadn't missed out on anything. I've seen the type of sailing I "missed" many, many times. I will see it many more times in the future as well.
Turns out it was a good call after all. So you may not always see me "out there". Sometimes that little voice is gonna start nagging me...and sometimes I am gonna listen. I guess reality is....I owe him one. So far...he's kept me out of any big trouble....and fact of the matter is, he really hasn't prevented me from achieving too much pleasure in my life. I guess his rent is paid up for a while.
Damn Poindexter.
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