This post doesn't have much to do with Presto, but it does represent a valuable "learning moment" on the path to my becoming a CEO. In a prior life, I was in the scuba diving manufacturing business. I had the occasion to lead a group of 22 intrepid divers to Belize, Central America. This wasn't a relax-on-the-beach trip. It was a live-aboard-a-boat-and-dive-six-dives-a-day-60-miles-out-to-sea trip.
Few non-divers know that Belize has the world's second largest barrier reef, second only to Australia's more famous Great Barrier Reef.
For the purposes of brevity, I will limit my story to a squall that came upon our boat suddenly, causing the crew to cut anchor and run for the leeward shelter of a nearby island instead of taking the time to hoist it aboard.
The next day, the weather cleared and we happened to be crossing the area where we had lost the anchor the day before.
With some bravado by association, I told the captain how I had been aboard many southern California dive boats when they trailed a rope behind the stern allowing the more adventurous crew members to "surf the wake."
Challenging my bravado, and incorrectly assuming I was one of the wake riders, the captain suggested, "We're passing over the area where we lost the anchor yesterday. It would be a big help if you would be towed behind the boat to see if you could locate it"
The gauntlet was thrown. What answer could I give other than, "Sure! Love to."
It was difficult coping with the strain of holding onto the line plus the mass of wake bubbles made it impossible to see much of anything at all. After a few minutes, I turned my head downwards towards my fins to look for the anchor and instead was startled to see a five foot barracuda keeping pace with the tips of my fins!
(photo copyright Simon Rogerson)
For those of you who have never been tête-á-tête with a barracuda, they have teeth just like a German shepherd and continuously open and close their jaws. Ostensibly, this action is meant to force water over the gills for breathing, but it provides a much more meaningful, and menacing, countenance to someone in my position. So, I let go of the rope and hovered there attempting to determine which one of us was the alpha dog. Eventually it swam away and as the boat circled around, I once again grabbed onto the rope to give it another try.
This time being on the lookout for toothy groupies, I spent much more time looking behind me than for the boat’s lost anchor. After about a minute, my silvery friend was back again, six inches from the tip of my fins. Discretion being the better part of valor (read: get another anchor), I decided to abandon my mission and swim back to the boat, never breaking eye contact with the toothy critter.
I was welcomed back on deck with uproarious laughter and the proclamation that I made a fair impression of a fishing lure, the only thing missing from my red wetsuit being a grass skirt and a treble hook.
What has all this got to do with being Presto’s CEO? It taught me to understand when I was playing on someone else's turf and how that meant I was playing by their rules, not mine. It also taught me the value of keeping one's mouth shut at the appropriate time. Always a valuable lesson, and always one that is tough to master.
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