There was a flash flood over the 4th of July weekend in Texas that killed 100+ people including 30 young children who were in summer camps. In the immediate aftermath politicians, government officials and pundits are pointing fingers at each other quickly assigning blame for the tragedy.
I’ve been directly impacted by two hurricanes, one tornado and multiple tropical storm events – none of which were as deadly as the Texas flood. All resulted in FEMA declared disasters, extended power outages, flooding and shortages of food/water/supplies.
What’s important during these events are the people behind the scenes – the operators. These are the people who get shit done:
- Clear the roads so FEMA and emergency responders can access the disaster areas.
- Stage electric repairman and coordinate logistics so they can restore power.
- Setup shelters for people, animals and workers.
- Get communications running to provide news updates, reconnect families and enable rescue workers to coordinate efforts.
- Run the heavy machinery, chainsaw the trees, pump out the flood waters, repair the electrical lines, get the utilities back up, shovel out the debris, etc.
During these events, we hear from politicians and figureheads. They fly in for a photo op and offer “thoughts and prayers” promising to help in “any way we can”.
The people who matter are usually off camera – with the exception of some local government and emergency response people who are operators themselves.
You can tell who the operators are. They talk about the reality on the ground and the facts. They talk about numbers, time frames, losses and delays. They don’t look glamorous on camera, using their time to provide information and guidance instead of hyperbolic hand waving self promotion.
I respect operators. They are the ones we all really want to help us.
As I listened to the news about the flood disaster, it got me thinking that operators are people we count on every day too.
- Garbagemen who pick up our trash.
- Grocery store workers who deliver, stock and sell us our food.
- Government workers like: DMV clerks, Parks & Rec employees, Road crews
Operators make our lives run better every single day. When they are bad at their job, it makes our lives miserable.
Behind every successful leader is a good operator who is running a team of good operators.
I don’t worry much about “leaders” who talk a big game but have no operator behind them. They can make headlines, but they will always fail to deliver meaningful results.