The Stress Test: Our True Values Are Illuminated By Crisis.

One of the reasons I go out of my way to fly JetBlue is the DirecTV channels they provide at every seat. I rarely, if ever, watch the History Channel at home. But for some mysterious reason I am drawn to it on an airplane like my five year old is drawn to Krypto The Super Dog on the Cartoon Network. I become transfixed by it. Once I start, I can't stop watching.

Except to write this post.

I am fresh off of writing two posts detailing my previous company's corporate values. So my mind is preoccupied with the topic right now. Today on the History Channel I came face to face with a man who walked the talk of his stated values and clearly understood what it meant to live them.

I don't often cry openly on an airplane in front of strangers, but today I did.

After starting and finishing Realty Blogging (I couldn't put it down and finished before the drinks arrived), I did what I always do on a Jet Blue flight. I scanned through the channels to find the history channel. I landed on an episode  about Rick Rescorla, the security chief at the World Trade Center offices of Morgan Stanley in New York. Rick had predicted the possibility and high probability of the 9/11 attacks and had trained the 2700 employees located on the 44th through 73rd floors of Tower 2 to get out of the building the moment they sensed danger.

The interviews with everyone clearly showed that Rick, in the frantic moments immediately following the attacks, displayed his true values by making sure that every floor under his care was empty. He had a clearly stated personal value that placed the safety of others above his own and was committed to making sure every one of the Morgan Stanley employees could and would survive in the event of an attack. He refused to leave until he could be sure everyone was out. He could have left, maybe should have left. But his values would not let him. Based upon the interviews, my bet is he never gave it a second of thought.

All but 6 of the 2700 Morgan Stanley employees made it home that day to hug their friends and relatives.

Rick did not. He was trapped in the rubble of Tower 2 and his body was never found. He died proving that his stated values were his true values. He'd be alive today if he had been less than authentic in the statement of his values. But he wasn't. His words and values matched. Thankfully.

I am humbled by people like Rick. I feel small. I know that my values truly show themselves in times of stress. Its easy to live my stated values in good times, when there's no pressure. It's adversity, more often than not, that brings my true values to light. The light of adversity is intense. Its impossible to hide what you truly value in those times.

I have no idea what I would have done in Rick's situation. I question whether my own values would have led me to do what Rick did. Perhaps not. Perhaps if it were my wife and children in the building? Certainly. My family members? Certainly. Those who I knew and called close friends? Probably. Names on an employee list, who I had already warned and given detailed instructions on what to do in case something like that were to occur? I just don't know. I'd like to think so, but I honestly don't know.

I will probably never have to find out. The odds are against it. You probably won't either. It's one of the blessings of living in this country. The stresses you and I face on a daily basis are far less critical. They create decisions that are not so black and white. The choices aren't so stark. They are usually grey.

Stressful times tell us more about ourselves than good times.

Those stressful times are the ones we need to pay closer attention to. If we do, we'll see the truth of what we value. Did I overreact? Did I fudge  a bit? Did I stretch the truth? Did I out and out lie to save my skin? What was I afraid of? What did I value? It may be painful, but these are the moments I need to pay attention to. They are the truth. My true personal brand shows through in the stress.

There have been many times in my life in the past, and many more to come in the future, when I will be asked to choose between living a value I view as noble, one I laud and would be happy to proclaim as mine, and choosing to act out another value that I might seek to hide, a less noble value that would be uncomfortable to address in public.

Do I always choose the noble value? No. I'd love to be able to tell you I do, but I don't.

Right now, sitting on this airplane, flying toward New York City at 36,562 feet above the earth, I am simply happy that there are men like Rick who I can look to for inspiration.  He inspired me today.

Who inspired you today?