I got home early from an out of town business trip, and we decided to catch a movie (a genuinely Grounded person finds unexpected ways to delight their spouse or significant other, an impromptu “date” is one that my wife especially likes …). We decided to see The Finest Hour, an incredible tale of a true story coast guard rescue of a crew on a disabled tanker off the coast of Massachusetts during an epic storm in the 1950’s.
I won’t give away key elements of the story in case you haven’t seen the movie, but I was amazed at the Grounded parallels that played out during this incredible film. First, the tanker was disabled in a unique way, eliminating their ability to communicate with potential rescuers. Second, there were two tankers disabled at the same time, so while everyone focused on the one rescue, the other tanker (the subject of the movie) was overlooked. Two stories are intertwined; the crew of the tanker trying to survive and the crew of Coast Guard post who attempt to rescue them. Let me talk about the crew of the tanker.
There were one “reactionary leader” of the 30 or so crew members left on the tanker who advocated getting in the lifeboats and “taking their chances.” Another “thoughtful leader” was a quiet man who worked in the engine room, who rarely spoke. He was someone who knew what to do and yet, was not someone that had spoken up in a leadership role before. He was aware that launching the lifeboats in the seas they were experiencing was a death sentence, but there was also the real possibility that they would sink with the tanker.
He thoughtfully devised a plan to keep the ship from sinking and make an impassioned plea to the remaining crew to follow his lead. Initially, he got them all on board, but when a few events made his plan seem implausible, about half of the men decide to launch the lifeboats and “take their chances.” When Thoughtful Leader heard what they were about to do, he realized that if they left the ship a) they would almost certainly perish and b) he could not save the rest of the crew without their assistance. He takes a hatchet up on deck where the men are organizing their escape and promptly cuts the lines holding the lifeboat, which then falls into the water below empty.
The Reactionary Leader immediately begins fighting with Thoughtful Leader until one of the men sees that the boat has quickly smashed against the hull of the tanker, splintering it into kindling and pulls Reactionary Leader off to see for himself. If the men had been on it, they would have died. With new respect for Thoughtful Leader, Reactionary Leader gets behind the plan and pledges to assist.
Sometimes we have to take actions that might seem reckless or foolish at the time but make sense when the entirety of the situation is realized. When you have the opportunity for leadership, a grounded leader will take the appropriate action regardless of how it might “look” to others. There will be time later to explain your actions.