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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Comfort of Expertise

There can be great reassurance in surrounding yourself with expertise during a difficult situation.

On a flight from St. Louis to Kansas City, we were experiencing “moderate turbulence.” We knew this because a Southwest Airlines pilot was sitting in the aisle seat and weighed in on the degree of turbulence, based on his trained expertise. He shared the various levels of “chop” and “turbulence,” letting us know despite our impressions of the flight, it could get MUCH worse. He reassured us he had only seen EXTREME TURBULENCE once in his career.

That information helped make what seemed to be a VERY BUMPY flight much more tolerable.

Next time you’re in bumpy creative skies, look for an expert to help get your bearings, understand why you’re experiencing turbulence, and realize that even with EXTREME TURBULENCE your creative plane won’t break apart.

2 comments:

Jan said...

What if the creative plane does break apart? Maybe the "structural damage" caused by extreme turbulence (definition per your link) can free us up to soar to new creative heights.

I'm thinking layoffs, etc. For example, one of my friends who is experiencing extreme career turbulence is taking this opportunity to redefine himself, his career. He's not starting over as a photographer, but he's changing his emphasis from corporate to portraits, and moving away from the studio to natural light.

Good post. You've got me thinking and it's not even 8 a.m. yet.

Mike Brown said...

Interesting take on this post Jan. It's challenging to recognize "structural damage" as freeing. Guess I've just spent too much time talking with too many people this past few weeks for whom it's more daunting. They're trying to stay positive, but are finding it difficult. Congratulations to your friend for being able to make the necessary changes. Many don't seem to be able to.

Mike