The Ozarks
A version of this story appeared in Total Annarchy, my fortnightly newsletter that helps you be a better writer, storyteller, marketer. Get it in your inbox; you’ll love it.
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I spent last week in the Ozarks speaking at an event and experiencing the beauty and wonder of stunning blue lakes and steep mountain passes and deep endless woods that went on forever and ever and that at one point prompted me to wonder—watching the setting sun turn the lake from bright blue to dusty violet to inky black—should I quit my job? Move to the Missouri mountains? And become a Bass Pro Shops influencer?*
*(Kidding about the quitting part. Not the rest of it.)
Bass Pro Shops Influencer?
The other keynote speaker at the Ozarkian event was Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. Sully is the pilot who, in January 2009, successfully landed an Airbus 320 in New York’s Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard.
The aircraft struck a flock of Canada geese—or maybe it was the other way around and the geese struck the aircraft? Either way, both engines failed shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia airport.
The event became known as the Miracle on the Hudson. Tom Hanks played Sully in a 2016 Hollywood movie named… well, Sully. The US National Transportation Safety Board called the unexpected landing one of the most successful in aviation history.
“I didn’t know that day would hold the 208 seconds on which my entire career would be judged,” Sully (the man, not the movie) said on stage in the Ozarks last week.
Sully on stage
“At the end of the day… we all have to ask ourselves one thing: Did I make a difference?”—also Sully.
Wow. What a hero.
But also… How do you stand up and talk about AI and marketing after that? How do you follow a true hero on stage?
Sully’s best day at work literally saved lives. My best day at work is when an audience laughs at my jokes.
Oof.
“I need to set expectations,” I told the crowd last week as I took Sully’s place on the stage.
“I haven’t landed a plane in the Hudson. Tom Hanks hasn’t played for me in a film…. well, yet. But I hope to offer some inspiration of a different kind to you, anyway.”
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In the Ozarks last week, Sully talked about the in-flight decision he had seconds to make, as first one engine then the second caught fire and the cabin filled with the smell of roasting goose. A smell that might’ve otherwise triggered thoughts of happy, cozy holiday dinners—but of course… not that day.
“Three things were going through my mind,” Sully said. “One… this can’t be happening. Two… this kind of thing doesn’t happen to me. But also three… this flight will probably not land on a runway.”
Disbelief, Denial, Time to Act. That third thought pushed him to action. Again, in seconds. He said last week: “I was convinced I could do it… I could synthesize a lifetime of knowledge, experience, and judgment.”
“The more we are able to embrace change…the more change can be a competitive advantage,” Sully said.
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It’s odd to think about a course-correct that saved 155 lives as a “competitive advantage.”
But what Sully meant was that all the prep and planning in the world only gets you so far. Circumstances change. Culture changes. Geese hit planes (planes hit geese).
We all have to adapt. But more important… we have to spring to action, too.
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The Ozarks invited me to their deep lakes and deep woods to talk about Marketing and AI. And the idea struck me (or I struck the idea) that all of us in marketing are similarly challenged here in 2023.
AI strikes marketing (or marketing strikes AI) most broadly on November 30, 2022, when ChaptGPT suddenly pops into the scene, almost immediately mangling our creative engines.
Since then, we’ve had to figure out how to adapt. What does it mean for us as marketers? As creatives? As writers? What’s the course we need to chart?
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It’s not a perfect analogy. Because here’s the difference: We don’t need to make a decision in 208 seconds. Lives are not at stake (although maybe some livelihoods are).
The problem is that some companies and some leaders seem to think they need to move in 208 seconds.
They do not. Nothing is on fire.
We can do what Sully didn’t have the luxury to do… to take a breath. Take a beat. But like Sully, to take a thoughtful, measured, informed approach as organizations, as people.
I talked about this last week—coincidentally, with another airplane metaphor (what are the chances?) From the Ozarks, Sully reminds us again.
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It’s funny how often we feel pressured to act because things feel on fire. In reality, they rarely are.
You might be tempted to think that Sully saved 155 lives because he acted fast. That speed alone was a competitive advantage. But that’s not the whole picture.
It wasn’t his split-second action alone that saved lives. Instead, it was the slow accumulation of knowledge that allowed him to make the right fast decision.
“At the end of the day… we all have to ask ourselves one thing: Did I make a difference?”
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Let me leave you with this thought about how to approach AI, inspired by Sully and the Ozarks:
Step 1: “Synthesize a lifetime of knowledge, experience, and judgment.”
Step 2: Take a breath. Take a beat. We’re built for this, remember?
Step 3: Make a difference.