Several ISM team members are fans of Andrew Weir’s novel, The Martian, which follows a botanist-astronaut’s struggle to survive after finding himself stranded on Mars. (The protagonist, Mark Watney, is basically MacGyver in a spacesuit.) We don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but his struggle in space offers lessons for Business Managers back here on Earth—if you know where to look.
1. Think before you act.
When disaster strikes—say, when your crewmates abandon you on an airless planet that can reach lows of -100 degrees Fahrenheit at the planet’s equator—the ability to act quickly and decisively can save your life. But what happens if you act too quickly, pouncing on the first potentially viable idea without bothering to check for possible problems or better iterations?
Disaster, that’s what. Watney comes close several times to near-fatal situations without considering his actions first, notably when he decides to burn rocket fuel inside his home to release hydrogen and create water. By starting immediately with a solution without considering all the consequences—namely, that not all of the released hydrogen would bond with oxygen and so collect in the air—he inadvertently turns his Mars habitation into a bomb.
So act quickly, act decisively—but act with intelligence and consideration, as well.
2. Consider the alternatives.
As we’ve said, Mars is extremely cold—so Watney needed to figure out how to stay warm while he drove to the other side of the planet to his escape rocket. The only way to do this without eating up extra power from the car’s battery was to cradle an atomic generator pod in the backseat that sheds enormous amounts of excess heat. On the other hand, should the casing erode, he would die in a nuclear explosion.
Since the alternative to using the reactor (which could explode) was certain death from hypothermia, Watney made the decision to carry the reactor despite the danger.
Occasionally, Business Managers find themselves between a rock and a hard place, forced to make the least hazardous decision to soldier on to the next step. But if it’s a choice between potential discomfort—with a high chance of going to pieces—and certain failure, don’t be afraid to take the risk. Things could still go horribly wrong, but at least you’re working toward a solution rather than delaying the inevitable.
3. Buy time by identifying and solving the most urgent problem first.
The Martian is full of immoveable deadlines (no pun intended). Watney can only grow enough potatoes to last some 450 days before he dies of starvation; the next Martian trip is scheduled to arrive in three years; and Watney only has enough air to survive for five minutes outside of a broken airlock. These times are fixed, and Watney works both within their constraints and around them to survive on Mars by identifying which problems need to be handled first.
[Please note: Minor spoilers ahead.]
In that last scenario, Watney finds himself hundreds of yards away from his wrecked habitation, trapped in an airlock with a space suit and a busted faceplate. At first, he only has a certain amount of time to solve all of these problems, due to the air restrictions. Watney can’t solve all of these issues at once, so he identifies the most pressing issue to handle—the cracked airlock leaking air into the Martian atmosphere like a sieve—to buy himself more time.
With a repaired airlock, Watney won the breathing room—figuratively speaking—to address all of the other issues, including his lack of a home.
[End of spoilers]
In the end, Watney was only able to survive because he identified the most pressing issue to solve first, which then gave him the time to resolve the other crises. If he had tried to fix every problem at once, he would not have had the time to execute any plan and so would have died.
Similarly, we run across “fires” that demand our immediate attention, in addition to our perennial work issues and other problems. The next time you find yourself being pulled in nine directions at once, take a moment to consider how all of these issues relate. Then, identify the first thing that must be done that can possibly buy you the time you need to handle the other problems—and then tackle it.
To borrow from a Earth-based saying for a moment, the fastest way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
4. Laughter is the best medicine.
Despair hits us all, especially when things look bleakest. Attempted solutions and compromises fall apart; obstacles and regulations appear insurmountable; and paperwork is unending. During his stay on Mars, Watney also felt despair, especially after incidents like the airlock episode and the hydrogen bomb scare.
But what kept him from giving up—beyond a stubborn nature and pride—was his ability to make a joke, even when no one else was around.
Watney's sense of humor has captivated readers and movie-watchers alike, and kept his character alive through some of the toughest trials space exploration has ever devised. You, too, can maintain your sanity and ability to work by maintaining a sense of humor in your work life. Taking a step back to see the funny moments in an office interaction or a certain problem—one that would have you laughing had it happened to anyone else—can help you keep your step unfaltering and your mind unwavering from the problems you must address.
We hope our sojourn through a marooned astronaut’s time on Mars has both entertained and given you some good food for thought as we enter into another busy season of holidays, audits, and reviews. Before we end, though, we would like to offer a special thanks to business consultant Curtis McHale for originally extracting some of these lessons from The Martian so we could adapt them for Business Managers at private-independent schools.
Avoiding disaster means having a plan mapped out far in advance of potential roadblocks—especially when it comes to your school's financial future. Join us on January 9-10, 2016, in Houston, Texas, for our Strategic Financial Planning: Skills and Implementation workshop, led by ISM Executive Consultant Dr. Walter Buckalew. Learn how to cultivate current financial success while positioning your school well for the future, no matter what catastrophes await.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Private School News Vol. 10 No. 1 When Disaster Relocates Your Campus
The Source for Risk Managers Vol. 5 No. 2 Your Personal Emergency Office Kit
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 32 No. 14 Action Research: A Multi-Faceted Tool
I&P Vol. 26 No. 2 What the Head Must Know About the Business Manager's Work Environment
