Several years ago, I discovered Laurence Gonzalez’s (’03) book, Deep Survival – Who Lives, Who Dies and Why about individuals surviving “do or die” situations. Recently, I glanced through it again thinking it might be helpful for business people grappling with the challenges of this economy. I couldn’t put it down. Now, I’m convinced of its value for anyone going through any kind of crisis.
Gonzalez studied hundreds of survival stories and presents many of them in his book. He shares tales of people surviving harrowing crashes and others lost in the wilderness. Fascinated by their travails, he ponders why some people make it, while others perish? What general lessons can we learn from how the survivors behaved?
Gonzalez finds that one of the key features “deep survivors” possess is the capacity to focus on “doing the next right thing”. Instead of becoming overwrought, survivors accept what’s happening earlier in the process and focus on extricating themselves. They reason, “Okay, I’m here. This is really happening. Now I’m going to do the next right thing…”
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