--- title: Chapter 27 – Use All the Available Runway description: Trusted advisors are runway lights that help you land safely. Dean shows how objective counsel, scriptural finish-what-you-started, and Sully’s Hudson landing model using every available resource in a crisis. --- # Chapter 27 ## Use All the Available Runway – Trusted Advisors **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md --- ### Context for the Reader This chapter emphasizes that no one should attempt a crisis landing alone. Trusted advisors provide objective perspective, accountability, and encouragement when the pilot’s own instruments are unreliable. Dean pairs corporate and biblical counsel with Captain Sullenberger’s Hudson River landing as the living picture of using every available resource. --- I just spent a number of pages talking about how to avoid feeling sorry for yourself and the importance of moving forward with life. Now I am going to relay another facet of decision-making that must be used if you are to take proper action in a crisis. One thing I have learned many times in my corporate experience is that there are usually people around you who are objective and knowledgeable about a problem that needs solving. They can be a positive influence in helping you make major decisions. Those people provide an added dimension to your ability to safely land in a crisis. If you allow yourself to be blinded by your circumstance, there will always be a barrier to your landing. Find a way of getting someone else to take an objective look at the suggested solution for your problem. Maybe a wise friend can provide objective advice and accountability. Second Corinthians 8:10-11(NIV) says, “Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started.” I believe in that verse Paul was trying to tell the church at Corinth to listen to his advice and the advice that was provided by others. He was suggesting that the Corinthians should ask trusted advisors around them to help with their problems. Advice from others was an available asset of the church and is for us today as individuals. He was also saying this to insure they were going to finish the project. - Trusted advisors are not going to intentionally give you “harmful” guidance. - Learn to trust people who are successful and keep them around you. - Use those people to give you ideas. - People enjoy helping other people under the right circumstances. - Keep advisors informed as to your progress in your plan. - Allow them to make you accountable. No one likes to think others are begging, but asking for advice costs no one money, shows respect, and says, “I think you are wise.” The author of 2 Chronicles says in chapter 1, verses 11-12 (NLT), “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people— I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested.” The Bible is pretty clear here to say we are correct in requesting wisdom from others. Use every resource available. Again, using old aviation parlance, you should never waste airspeed, altitude, or runway. One of the greatest illustrations of that fact was the superbly executed emergency forced landing in the Hudson River on February 4, 2009 by U.S. Air Captain Chelsey “Sulley” Sullenberger. He used every aspect of flight dynamics to find a place to land the airplane when both engines were knocked out by the ingestion of geese. There was no thrust available from either engine. The pilot had no choice but to utilize everything left at his disposal to fly the airplane. We now know there was a fantastic outcome to this drama. Captain Sullenberger landed the airplane in the Hudson with expert accuracy. He landed the plane just above stall speed with perfectly level wings so there was minimal damage to the fuselage. If either engine had touched the water early it would have caused the airplane to cartwheel. The landing of that airplane and the perfection of the touchdown in the Hudson is probably one of the greatest examples in recent years of maintaining control, analyzing the situation/taking proper action, and landing as soon as practical. Sully, as we have come to know him, humbly stated in a television interview that his landing was the culmination of years of being taught what to do in an emergency situation. Sullenberger decided to get the airplane on the ground using the best available options. He gleaned experiences from his vast background of flying different types of aircraft; he consulted with the air traffic controllers (ATC) and his copilot to gain the best expertise in the shortest amount of time to quickly make the right decision. (You can listen to the cockpit voice recording and a video depiction of this incredible flight by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjXCulRjPas). I highly recommend taking time to listen to the cockpit voice recording. Captain Sullenberger consulted with all his available resources and experience to determine the best avenue to safety for himself and his passengers. This is an excellent example of what can result when we seek help from others. Our personal life crises often demand similar actions if we are to survive. We, like Sullenberger, need to use everything from our archive of experience and all available advice from experts around us to land safely. You may be going through an emergency right now in your life and, if so, use the example of Captain Sullenberger. He is a great pilot and a modern-day hero. Heroes do not come along very often, so when they do, they are worth studying. It is important to determine what makes a person able to make those instantaneous decisions that lead to success. The ability to make correct decisions often makes the difference that allows a successful conclusion to a crisis. Sulley had been a crop duster, an Air Force pilot, and was now a commercial pilot. Each of those vocational areas trained him to prepare for what occurred on the day he was forced to land his airplane in a river. Your life experiences can provide the same positive results if you use them to guide you through your present problems. Usually, there are some common characteristics of people who are classed as heroes and one of the most important is their ability to make quick and accurate decisions. They utilize every aspect of their experience to find a safe conclusion to the problem. If you are going to expect to have success in life, you must be willing to receive and use information from as many areas as possible. The decision-making process is often tied to the ability to listen to others, formulate a course of action, then follow through. In follow-up studies, the most successful college graduates were those who had listened to trusted advisors and developed the ability to decide what they wanted to do with their careers. Those two factors, willingness to listen and follow through, play a huge role in our ability to perform well when we are faced with a problem. Begin now to use all your available experience in an emergency. Listening to trusted advisors and implementing that advice are essential to moving forward with life after a crisis situation occurs. The key to recovery from a bad situation is to think, act, and respond using all the available resources to gain knowledge and perspective. Wisdom provides additional room—runway—for you to safely land your problem and go forward. --- **Next chapter:** Move Forward to Land – Keep Moving to Grow Stronger **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md