Navigating a Crisis with Confidence and Curiosity: Lessons from “The Miracle on the Hudson”

In 2009, barely a few minutes after takeoff from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, a flock of birds collided with the engine of US Airways Flight 1549, causing a total engine failure. Faced with a harrowing situation, the pilot made the decision to land the plane in the Hudson River... and thanks to his calmness under pressure, plus the swift actions of the flight crew and passengers, all 155 people on board made it safely off the plane.

Now known as “the Miracle on the Hudson,” this incident offers many important lessons on how to navigate challenging situations with calmness, confidence, and creativity. On the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast, we had the opportunity to hear some of these lessons firsthand from Dave Sanderson, a survivor of Flight 1549. Dave is a nationally recognized leadership speaker and bestselling author, who draws from his inspirational story of survival to encourage others to find healthy ways to cope with their own struggles and adversity.

In this unique episode, Dave shares his harrowing story and offers insights on calmness, curiosity, and more leaders can use to navigate their own challenges and adversity.

Miracle of the Hudson Lesson #1: Every Moment Happens for a Reason

Throughout our lives, we all face challenges and adversity. These range from the massive and traumatic, like plane accidents or a cancer diagnosis, to more everyday challenges like a communications breakdown at work or an argument with your partner. To cope with challenges, both big and small, acknowledge that every moment happens for a reason. Every crisis is a chance to learn a lesson, build your resilience, and grow your mindset, and you can emerge from every challenge with new ideas for how to learn, heal, and grow.

Miracle on the Hudson Lesson #2: Manage Your Own Mindset

To get yourself and others through a crisis or challenging situation, the first step is managing your own mindset. If you can’t manage your own emotions and behavior, you can’t help your team in a productive way. One way to manage your mindset is to think about the meaning you attach to a situation. For example, imagine there’s been a small accident in your workplace. Do you see it as a positive opportunity to improve safety and communications, or are you feeling bogged-down with negative thoughts? By paying attention to the emotional managing you assign to adverse situations, you can reframe your mindset and find more productive responses.

Miracle on the Hudson Lesson #3: Lead with Creativity and Curiosity

In a crisis, everyone will react differently and assign their own emotional meaning to the event. As a leader, this means you need to lead with creativity and curiosity. Instead of judging others for their reactions, pursue authentic interactions. Ask curious question. Learn their story, and you’ll find ways to understand their behavior and emotions. Then, get creative and look for ways to turn a challenging time into a positive opportunity.

Learn More on the Podcast

To hear more from Dave Sanderson, listen to his episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing here.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!

With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.

3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done

4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined

5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed

6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place

8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge

10:56 – In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed

12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it

15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations

16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures

19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared

21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role

23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom

25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects

27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem

Connect with Jake Mazulewicz

Find him on Linkedin

Visit his website