# 10

"Men who think that their officer recognizes them are keener to be seen doing something honorable and more desirous of avoiding disgrace." -- Xenophon, ancient Athenian historian

It is often said be careful how you treat people on the way up, because you will pass those same people on the way down. In our helter-skelter daily routine, we often fail to recognize those

around us....the very people that we depend upon to get us through the hard times that life sometimes sends our way.

The following article is by Charles Plumb, "Packing Parachutes" (Insights Into Excellence, Executive Books, Harrisburg , PA. )

Who Packs Your Parachute?

Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam . After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent the next six years in a Communist prison.

He survived that ordeal and now lectures about lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk . You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. "I packed your parachute," the man replied.

Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"

Plumb assured him, "It sure did--if your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a navy uniform--a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom

trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk . I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory--he needed his physical

parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute.

He called upon all these supports before reaching safety. His experience reminds us to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead. Let People Know When They Do Something Right--catching people doing something right is motivating. People thrive on approval and recognition.

An Exercise For Recognizing Another Person's Strengths: As you sit in a public facility (like a restaurant, airport, or waiting room at the doctor's office) notice each individual. What is something positive that you could say about each person? A snappy dresser, the way they walk with purpose, the pleasant smile on their face.

Practice the same exercise in the work place--it will focus your attention on the positive. Let the individual know that you have noticed them. You never know when that individual may be packing your parachute.

Contact Tom at: tomhughes@motivationNmore.com

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