[January 30, 2014 – Thursday] I’m writing this from the Atlanta airport this morning, being delayed along with thousands of others since yesterday. For those who have been out of the last 48-hour news cycle, the city of Atlanta and much of the southeast was in gridlock after two inches of snow and ice hit mid-day Tuesday.
Both the governor and mayor of Atlanta have come under severe criticism for their lack of action and the city has taken a “black eye” as folks across the nation are “laughing at the city” that was shut down by only two inches of snow. Here is where good preparation by experienced leadership really matters and where aftermath problems made better.
Commuters stuck in traffic for hours (over 10 hours), thousands of children forced to spend the night in schools, emergency vehicles unable to get through, and the governor blaming (incorrectly) the weather service for failure to warn him. As of this morning, there are still hundreds of cars and trucks abandoned on the highways. I have been assured they were checked for people.
State and local officials have been in near continuous press conferences explaining what happened. On the heels of a similar storm in 2011, plans were rewritten, lessons learned and documented, and promises made that such an event would not bring the city to a halt again.
While the 2011 and 2014 storms are different, the belief is that the city’s senior political leadership was unprepared. Despite improvements and a confluence of unexpected events, a perception is reality and the political leadership is slammed for a monumental failure.
Successful senior leadership means being prepared, having on-hand leaders with relevant experience, and knowing how to handle big problems. It also means learning from mistakes and applying those lessons across a broad spectrum of unexpected events.
What the public is not interested in, are excuses and finger pointing – there has been plenty of that in Atlanta. A natural reaction of many politicians is to blame others. The result is citizens less trusting and with less confidence in those they have elected.
In an age of hypersensitivity and politi8cal correctness, along with political leaders without all the required and hon3ed traits of a balanced senior leader, the results are predictable … gridlock. Oh, looks like I am finally told our plane will be boarding – cross your fingers!