Canoe Trip

I was a Boy Scout when I was younger. I even earned my Eagle Scout award. One of my favorite things about scouts were the trips. I was especially fond of canoe trips, which fortunately my troop went on several times a year. Usually a group of the fathers and most of the troop would go. We would camp out the night before and canoe down the river the next day.

We had a limited supply of canoes and typically rode 3 to a boat. There is a specific pecking order in a canoe. The person in the stern (back) is the top dog, because he is the more experienced and steers the boat, the guy in the bow is number 2 because he has the best view. The bottom of the list is the guy in the middle. In most of the canoes we used, the middle guy was lucky if he had a seat and didn't have to sit on his knees. Each trip our scoutmaster would decide how to split up everyone and assign us to canoes.

It was normal that each of the fathers got to be a stern man and would typically have two of the younger guys assigned to his canoe. The older scouts in groups of three would often get their own canoe and take turns riding in the stern.

On one trip when I was 15, for some reason our scoutmaster appointed me to be a stern man and assigned not 2 but 3 of the youngest of the group, 11-12 year old guys to my canoe. I am not sure how their mothers would have felt knowing their babies' lives were put in my hands, but I am happy to say we did survive. It's not like we took on any class 5 rapids, but we did have some fairly challenging parts of the river to navigate.

On this particular trip we stopped for lunch right before an especially unique set of rapids. At this point the river split for about 100 yards and you had to choose between a pretty straight shot right off a bridge. The other choice was a route where rocks and downed tree limbs caused rapids that made an almost 90 degree right hand turn just before the two channels came back together. Put together 40 guys who range in age from 11 to 50 something and you get a lot of testosterone and inevitable competitive spirit. Add to that, we had an hour for lunch to evaluate, discuss and taunt each other about the challenge of making it down this portion of the river. We also had to evaluate the obvious risk to taking this route. Even at 15, I actually did take my responsibility for the 3 newbies seriously.

After lunch, two of the dads who had some older boys in their canoes decided they were up for the challenge. The generally accepted strategy seemed to be approach the turn slowly to insure the stern man has the best chance of steering through the gap. We all watched as the first canoe went off and almost immediately hit a tree limb at the turn flipping the canoe and dumping the occupants in the river. The second group had

an even worse time, their strategy was to get sideways before they got to the turn. They miscalculated the speed of the water and before getting through the angle their canoe struck a boulder with the water sucking the canoeist out and carrying them 20 yards down the river without their canoe.

By now most of the other guys have decided to take the safe route, and I have three 11-12 year old boys. What do 11-12 year old guys know? They have been watching this and think it looks like great fun not risky at all. So I am now committed to taking the challenging route with my sorely inexperienced crew.

The secret to canoeing through rapids is to move your canoe faster than the water, so I told my crew to hell with the accepted strategy, just paddle like crazy as soon as we take off and don't stop. I did my best to point the canoe in the general direction of the gap, so we don't have to make the turn completely, but can hopefully cut off the corner and shoot through the middle.

I suppose you have guessed we successfully shot through the rapids and made the turn coming out on the other side of the channel upright and dry. Our group in fact was the only one to make it though the challenge that day, in fact most of the other canoes opted for the safe route.

I tell this story because I think there are a lot of business lessons in it.

* Watch the people who go before you and learn from their mistakes.

* You always need to paddle faster and harder than the water around you.

* Enough enthusiasm from your team can make up for lack of experience.

* Be willing to cut corners when you need to and take an unorthodox approach.

* Even if the challenge seems overwhelming don't shy away from taking the difficult route.

( it is usually the most rewarding.)

* Enjoy your victories, for years afterwards those three younger guys would remind me about our success together.