Obama, Miracle on the Hudson and a Society of Collaborative Excellence

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And what are the odds of 155 passengers surviving a plane crash into the Hudson River? This is not everyday stuff. It is what is possible. It is what is best.

As the pilot saved so many lives, he also gifted so very much to the many thousands of husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues who would have otherwise been so severely impacted. What a gift to thousands. This pilot deserves the highest medal we have. We should create a new medal for him, a medal for exceptional excellence.

As this pilot landed the plane without a life lost, especially just a few days before the Obama Inauguration, I can not help thinking of Obama as our pilot, the world’s pilot. While the future remains most challenging and highly uncertain, one just has a sense that, if anyone can land this plane, it will be Obama. How lucky we are to now not have ordinary leadership. How lucky we are that we have a fellow with so much competence and character. What are the odds? Whatever one’s party affiliation, I suggest that we as a nation are lucky to have a guy with the competence and cool that we now have “in the cockpit.”

And I see bigger things. I see a larger social commitment to collaborative excellence. Just as the passengers remarkably cooperated to exit the plane within 90 seconds, being courteous and effective under pressure, so I see our society evolving. While there will surely be mistakes and a good measure of pragmatism, one has a sense that Obama is leading a culture of collaborative excellence.

In Obama’s facilitative leadership, we see the best of the mediation and facilitation fields having made their way to the halls of power in our nation and the world. “We are all one” and our President is now on the network.

That Obama does not want to give up his Blackberry is so heartening. His rapid rise offers, among other things, a more recent understanding of the “real lives of real people.” Obama is addicted, like many of us, to being connected and to having access to as much information as possible. Our online connectedness is the daily manifestation of the world’s oneness.

And so, with the Obama Inauguration days away, and on the heels of the “Miracle on the Hudson,” I am surprisingly optimistic even in the pits of our economic collapse. Somehow, I have a sense that we are going to be able to put “this plane down” and recover, and even learn from our challenges and calamities.

Ours is a culture poised to recognize excellence in leadership and excellence in performance. “The Miracle on the Hudson” is our antidote to 9/11. It is us at our resourceful best rather than our victimized worst. If only out of necessity, we may now well be entering an era of collaborative excellence. Necessity breeds invention, often just in the nick of time. May it be so.

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John A.  ,   Weston MA	01/25/09
Miracles and wolves: Dear Jim: Thanks for your good article about hope and other important things. You're right about the gift to us, to the mediation field, to America and to the world that this man represents. As he says, "It's in my DNA" to get people to sit down and talk to each other. Having such a person at the top will benefit all of us, in many ways. I now carry the following brief story in my wallet, from last Thursday's NY Times about the first church service President Obama attended. "For the first time, the main sermon was delivered by a woman, the Rev Sharon Watkins.... She related an oft-told Cherokee tale about a grandfather who explains to his grandson that within every person are two wolves fighting--one the wolf of anger, resentment and fear, the other of compassion, hope and love. The grandson asks which wolf wins, and the grandfather answers, 'The one you feed.'" Keep doing what you do and writing what you write. Cheers, John Add New Comment

Jim Melamed,   Eugene OR	01/21/09
Should Mediate.com Be Impartial and Neutral?
Recognizing that important hallmarks of mediation practice are impartiality and neutrality, I am not sure that this translates into a helpful expectation that a mediation advocacy web site should be impartial and neutral. The purpose of Mediate.com is not to somehow mimic the mediation process or expected individual mediator behavior, but to be a vigorous catalyst for the growth and adoption of mediation, negotiation, collaboration and excellence in problem solving. Any submitted quality article relevant to these topics will be published. A similar issue came up during the primaries relative to Obama more purposefully suggesting sitting down with our enemies and also relative to our reporting on Obama's use of language, his speech on race and his leadership qualities. Many articles and blog postings were made noting Obama's collaborative qualities and focus on problem solving excellence. Mediate.com also published some rather excellent articles comparing the leadership styles of the leading candidates and I promise you that we would have been ever so pleased to publish anything meaningful from the Bush administration, the McCain campaign or any other Republican perspective. We simply have not received any such submissions, and I am not sure they exist. We have just lived through the 'non-negotiable' administration and I just don't know that they had a meaningful focus on negotiation, mediation and collaborative problem solving (to state to obvious). I do agree that there is a legitimate (business) issue as to the environment that Mediate.com creates as a context for our many features, including the Mediate.com Directory. So I do understand that some professionals may, for whatever reason, choose to not be affiliated with a web site that allows authors to engage in vigorous advocacy and colorful dialogue. Rather than filter these important conversations out, we see it as our duty and joy to most capably stimulate and share such ideas. Thanks to all for your comments and perspectives. Add New Comment

Alan Gross,   Pocono Pines PA	AlanEGross@aol.com      01/21/09
Obama's relevance to this site?
Yes, Elizabeth, Jim's enthusiasm,and to borrow a campaign slogan,hope for positive change, may have pushed him beyond boundaries that you believe are appropriate for this site. But Jim did at least mention collaboration and connectiveness, two qualities that many of us mediators promote. More germane to many of our interests as citizens AND mediators is the considerable mediator-like rhetoric that marks Obama's speeches and writings. I, for one, was undecided early in the recent presidential campaign until I read Audacity of Hope. As a mediator and peace-maker what impressed me most were the passages in Audacity that preached the value of listening to and understanding those who have different views and values. Instead of surrounding himself with like minded yes-people as so many other leaders have done,he has appointed some independent and diverse thinkers to his advisory group. So Elizabeth, as a mediator, admittedly a strong partisan for Obama, I believe that we now have a leader who holds many values similar to those of our profession and that should yield positive dividends for us, our country and our world. And mediate.com is one place where we can celebrate this potential and to consider how to help the new administration convert the rhetoric to effective practice. Add New Comment

Elizabeth ,   San Francisco	01/21/09
This is No Place for Political Views
Really...it's enough to make me not renew my membership on this website. No political views, mine or yours should be posted on this website! Add New Comment

Mr. ,   San Francisco CA	mister.thorne@comcast.net      01/21/09
Get Your Own
RE: I can not help thinking of Obama as our pilot, the world’s pilot. Get your own pilot. Add New Comment

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