I remember distinctly where I was on 9/11. I was living in my studio apartment in West Vail. I had a great job working for the developer of Beaver Creek. I had my own place for the first time, no roommates. I was driving my shiny new red Tacoma truck around a great mountain town, skiing all winter, mountain-biking all summer, catching as much live music as I could. Life was good.
I woke up that morning to the sound of NPR on my clock radio. It must have been about 7:30 AM Mountain time when the alarm went off. I could not make any sense of what they were talking about. They were panicked and something big had happened. I drifted in and out of sleep. I had an answering machine and a friend from New York called. She started talking about something, and left a message I couldn’t understand, either. What the hell was going on?
I got up and turned on the television. Planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York? And the Pentagon, too? I just could not process it and had no idea of the significance, so I showered , dressed, and went to work.
Not much got done that day. By the time I got to the office, all the team who had decided to come in were gathered in the conference room, watching the news, mesmerized and in complete shock.
Again, I was working for a development company, had a nice office in Beaver Creek. We felt very safe and far away from any danger. I remember feeling like the Rocky Mountains were fortress walls all around us. I had lived in New York and still had some good friends there, but it felt a world away.
Some of us would occasionally go to our offices or cubes and pretend to work but you couldn’t distract yourself and no one was working in an office anywhere in the country.
The man I worked for at the time was one of the best leaders I’ve ever known and someone I consider a role model to this day. He was hyper energetic, fearless, creative, sincere, fair, generous, and an excellent communicator. Despite his busy schedule and important business, he never walked by someone without saying hello. He made everyone feel included, important, and valuable to his organization and because of that was able to attract tremendous talent around him. He and his leadership style are worthy of another blog at another time.
But I remember something distinctly about how he reacted on 9/11. He was popping in and out of the conference room on that day, too. I think we were all in the room when the first tower fell, and I remember a woman in the office started crying. I just couldn’t imagine what had happened. All I could think of was my favorite view of the towers when I lived in the city, from Mcdougal Street in the Village. Looking south they were framed perfectly on the horizon, looming over trees in the Village and the low buildings in SoHo.
But the leader of our group that day was focused on the President. He was so frustrated by the fact that no one knew where the President was. We now know he was flying around the country on Air Force One, avoiding the possibility of being a target, but I cannot remember the public knew that any time that morning. But our leader at work thought that was terrible leadership and it bothered him tremendously. He thought the President should be on the ground, unafraid, making decisions, and communicating with the country in a traumatic time.
I don’t think anyone else in the office was thinking that. We were thinking, “OK, whatever they tell us or don’t tell us, the President needs to be safe”. I am certain none of the rest of us were anywhere near our company owner and leader on the leadership intelligence spectrum. His reaction was different, he was thinking about how to lead in a crisis, and I’ll never forget that.
Please follow my blog and please connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Thank you.
Ed Morgan Real Estate Fundamentals 