The Hurricane Experience

Having lived in Houston for 28 years, I have been through hurricane preparedness more times than I can count. Prior to Ike, I've only experienced one direct hit, and that was nearly 25 years ago. My wife had never experienced a hurricane, and was somewhat excited about the possibility.

The hurricane first made its presence felt at my home shortly before midnight Friday. Hurricane force winds continued for about 10 hours, and we had tropical force winds for many hours after that. We received about 8 inches of rain during the hurricane, and another 3 inches on Sunday morning.

It is hard to explain hurricane force winds, particularly when they last for 10 hours. The best description is to imagine driving 100 miles an hour with your head out of the window. There is a continual, loud roar which became almost calming at times, because when a gust blew through the noise was very eerie. That this was occurring in the dark certainly did not help.

When we were finally able to emerge from our house (which suffered about $20 of damage) we found that our neighborhood had been transformed. Limbs, branches, leaves, and other debris littered yards and the roads. At least a half-dozen trees in my neighborhood were uprooted.

In the days since, as we have cleaned up debris, tolerated the absence of electricity, and basically engaged in glorified camping, my wife has remarked that hurricanes are not quite as exciting as she had imagined. She had only considered the actual hurricane part of the experience-- the anticipation, the wind, etc. She had not considered the aftermath--the destruction, the inconveniences, and the disruptions. In short, she had not considered the consequences.

This is not a negative comment about my wife. To be honest, the destruction and inconvenience has greatly exceeded anything I anticipated. I knew that some would lose power. I did not expect the entire city to lose power.

Similarly with our businesses. We must do more than look at the short term impact of a particular action or policy. We must look beyond, and identify what will result further down the road. A short term benefit (like the "joy" of a hurricane) can ultimately lead to consequences that are less pleasant (like no electricity for days).

So if we don't market we get the short term benefit of saving money. In the long term we have fewer leads. If we don't develop systems, we cannot delegate. If we don't write plans, we blow around in the wind. And if those winds happen to be of hurricane magnitude, the results can be quite unpleasant.