Landing the Plane

December 14, 2006 by gbrown

2 years ago my wife and I visited the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. An enduring memory is the white knuckle flight into Paro airport where the runway seems to appear out of nowhere amongst clouds and mountain forest. The short 200 metre dirt stretch of land gives even the most qualified of pilots a matter of only seconds to get the approach right.

Running a business is in many ways similar to flying a plane. You can’t do it properly without the right instruments. McKinsey’s saying “If it’s manageable its measurable” needs to be at the core of all business. Vanish Patel, a property mentor I admire in London, said poignantly about setting my goals “How do you know you’re halfway there?” If a manager is running a until without the numbers, how can he manage effectively? Knowing the numbers at the end of the month like reading the altimeter after you’ve flown into the side of the mountain, is simply too late.

Is the nose of the business pointing up or down? What happens if I pull this lever? And, let’s get first things first – where am I flying to?

When you’re stuck in a mountain airport 5000 metres above sea level surrounded by the beautiful peaks and the rich blue Himalayan sky, you’re grateful you’re not stuck at Gatwick terminal 1 with crowds of holidaymakers slumming it on airport seats, struggling to get their week of sun and beer in Spain. Despite our frustrations, a Druk Air rep quite said that the reason they don’t fly when its cloudy is because “there are rocks in those clouds”. I wasn’t going to argue.