Abandoned or Foolish?

Posted by jlubans on October 31, 2024  •  Leave comment (0)

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Caption: Where's the Down Trail?
*
My suggestions for Elon's efficiency board (see previous post) will have to wait.
This AI generated picture has me jumping the line.
The story is about a Colorado wilderness adventure in late August that could have ended with a dead teammate.
Instead, the teammate (Steve Stephanides) survived the night lost on the side of a mountain in wind and icy rain.
Large questions remain of how and why he was left to make a solo ascent/descent of a 14,000 foot high mountain, (almost 4300 meters).
Was going solo a team decision? Was there conflict? Was leadership befuddled ?
The Search and Rescue team leader suggests all was not well in the group: "In what might cause some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks, one member of their party was left to complete his final summit push alone."
Another source builds on this freshly sown doubt: "during a company outing, they left (Steve) behind on a trail, forcing him to spend the night alone in the wilderness during a heavy storm."
And more roiling of the murky waters: "Stephanides' colleagues had inexplicably collected belongings left in a boulder field to mark the path down, officials said."
Now is this just the usual journalism pushing-conflict-where-none-exists or was something nefarious going on?
Will there be an After Action Review, an AAR? What will it reveal?
As a participant and leader in numerous outdoor team building events, I see how things can go off the rails.
Once, bowhunters trudged nearby a team's individual solo retreat amidst trees and bushes like the deer they were hunting!
At night, a rowing boat and crew I was ineptly captaining as a participant just missed smashing into coastal rocks.
Or, a participant clad only in shorts and t-shirt could develop hypothermia from an unexpected deluge and temperature drop.
Etc.
As we know, there is risk in any wilderness adventure. Often the higher the controlled risk, the more to be learned.
The best planned adventures are ones that have anticipated most contingencies.
Foremost, you never leave anyone behind.
If a person is slower than the group, assign someone, usually a co-group leader with a satellite phone to stay with the loner.
Always be prepared, as Boy Scouts say, for worst case scenarios.
A first aid kit and expertise in how to use it are essential.
And, if the group is in conflict - like my Tom the Turkey's Tale of a flock intent on pecking to death an injured turkey, one of their own - that has to be resolved on the spot.
Avoidance - which may well have been what occurred on the mountain - is negligence.
Mr. Stephanides appears to want to put this sorry mess behind him. His alma mater (University of Florida) published an interview on October 1, Fueled by determination, double Gator Steve Stephanides survives 30 hours on a Colorado mountain.
The story tells of his survival but makes no reference to why he went solo or why the team did not report him missing until 9PM.
Bottom line: I would stay clear of any future wilderness adventures with this crew of co-workers until there is an AAR with clear resolution of what happened and how to prevent it ever happening again.

*Image created by Microsoft Copilot AI, October 30, 2024.
___________
John's books can be ordered via these links:
Fables for Leaders
&
Leading from the Middle

Copyright all text by John Lubans 2024

An Immodest Proposal

Posted by jlubans on October 23, 2024  •  Leave comment (0)

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It's been a while since my last essay.
In a dry spell, some suggest turning to AI.
But, I derive satisfaction from writing my own words, from creating in my head and transferring to e-paper.
I've used AI to recast something I've written, but to ask it to take a pile of my raw words and to make it sensible just ain't playing the game nor is the product worth reading.
Anyway, I am back.

You can blame Edgar Wallace* (or my reading too many action hero comic books in my youth) for what I have been thinking lately.
When I first read Wallace?\'s Four Just Men (1905) I was intrigued and tantalized. The story is about four wealthy men who form a secret society dedicated to executing prominent public figures they deem corrupt or harmful. In other words, vigilante justice, Dirty Harry, maybe Philip Marlowe but more likely Mike Hammer.
Of late, I've been bemused by the hapless impotence of governments, law enforcement, and private agencies to deal with criminal hackers - located in distant (and often hostile) lands - who insinuate malware and lock up, e.g. hospital data centers, and demand ransom. Unless you pay the ransom, your system stays locked and harms countless individuals.
While there's much hand wringing by authorities, the hackers dirty work eludes the law with impunity - there's complicity (backscratching) between the local government and the hackers including, more than likely sharing in the plunder.
Our hands are tied, whine the authorities because we, unlike the hackers and their sponsors, respect and abide by rules for sovereign nations even when that nation permits evil behavior.
These hackers are overtly criminal - eating Cheetos in your raggedy underwear while e-kidnapping hospital data should qualify one for that designation - so why not form an extrajudicial action group, akin to the Four Just Men, to detect, counter, and eliminate these extortionists?
And, along the way, steal their keys to offset their malware.
First, do something straight out of an Edgar Wallace book.
Nail a forewarning, to their physical front door(s). Word it something like one of Wallace's lurid book jackets:
Unless you stop, We shall have no other course to pursue but to fulfill our promise. You will die at Eight in the Evening.
Once read, I imagine more than a little consternation among the perps. How did they find me/us? Who put up the note? Where's our protection? I'm busy at 8, can I re-schedule?
If the forewarning is ignored, the action force can either do the Four Just Men thing or exercise other options.
Such as?
First, expose and humiliate the hackers - publish their mug shots. They wear dark glasses and hoodies for a reason.
Intercept and disrupt the hackers local source of electric power. Then, super charge the current and fry their hardware - a la certain exploding pagers - including refrigerators, tvs and wall clocks and their George Foreman Panini Presses.
Step two: Identify and confiscate their e-assets.
As well, sanction in painful ways, their corrupt enablers. Fry their home appliances; the lady of the house will make a forceful point far beyond an embargo on their bank account.
If to no avail, then unleash the final option. A particularly colorful way - like a Bruce Willis pic- would involve precise and explosive drones!

*Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British writer known for his sensational detective, gangster, and adventure stories. His first major success came with ?The Four Just Men? (1905).

Next blog: Wanted: A Few Good People. How to Implement Elon Musk's proposed Government Productivity Council, starting - with urgency - Internet Access for Rural Areas and Electric Charger networks.

Copyright all text John Lubans 2024.