#Interview / The Extraordinary Response of Ordinary People / #heroes #911 #neverforget #servantleadership #firstresponders

The World Trade Center, Manhattan 9/11/01

Being a hero has nothing to do with the way you look, and everything to do with the kind of person you are, during extraordinary circumstances. Seemingly ordinary people operating in extraordinary ways suddenly change. They became unmistakably different, even resolute in focus, as if on a mission. 

Their are untold stories circulating around the tragedy that took place on September 11, in 2001. That most well-known stories are those of the fire fighters rushing up the stairs of the World Trade Center towers looking to get people out of the building, many of these fire fighters got trapped inside as they did their job. Paramedics and all kinds of official first responders placed their health in harms way as they rushed towards the disaster. Airborne debris-filled the air, and at the time of the chaos to help the injured, it was not known if the attacks would continue. Going forth into situations, predicaments and untenable environments requires a certain kind of mind and heart set. One of these was Security Chief Rick Rescorla. He worked for Morgan Stanley. Eerily, months immediately before the attack, he predicted that such an attack could soon take place and successfully pushed management to allow him to carry out routine evacuations of all civilians in the forty floors the company inhabited. When the planes hit, Rescorla, of English descent, got a megaphone and began the evacuation of 2,700 people, singing folk songs from his upbringing in Cornwall, England as he escorted people down the stairs an out of the building. He made it out and then went back in to help others. He never made it back out again.

Other’s served afterwards in this same spirit of service unto others. I interviewed a Dad and husband who worked at Morgan Stanley also. Like Rescorla, nobody prompted him to show initiative, but this man acted in such a way that created a help onto others at a time when confusion and emotional exhaustion was on everyone’s face. To protect his privacy and that of his family, his name has been omitted. Here is the interview:

1. During and after the tragedy of '911' you were working in Manhattan, and subsequently were identified at work as a source of stability for others. How did the company you were working for identify you as such at that time? What kind of new duties were you directly or indirectly asked to take on?

Immediately following the terrorist attacks, I walked from the World Trade Center to the offices of a financial printer that I worked with.  Once there, I started making calls to (my wife) and to work colleagues in other offices to let people know that I was safe and to see about others. After

connecting with (my wife), I was reunited with one of my co-workers who was sitting in a different office at the same financial printer.  I then walked back to my apartment on West 57th street.  (My wife) was already there.  I began to call out to my co-workers.  I had a phone list from our Y2K preparedness the year before.  Over the next several hours, I was able to connect with others and I began to compile a list of who survived and who they saw.  I heard many harrowing stories.  For many people, I was the first contact that they had from Morgan Stanley and I was the bearer of good news about the safety of our friends.

I connected with my boss and reported the information that I compiled.  He asked me to continue and to locate as many people as I could.  In the following days, as the continuity of business plans were prepared, I reached out to many of my co-workers to ask them to report to work in Jersey City.  I stressed that it would not be a formal work day, just an opportunity to see friends and co-workers to begin to recover.  I was among the first back to work (my wife had to force me), but once at work, I helped lead the effort to get our business running again.

2. First responders are thought of as paramedics, fire fighters, police officers and medical professionals, like doctors and nurses, yet it seems that you did a special work of service requiring you to role-model a special kind of leadership that was comforting and calming for those around you in the aftermath of '911.' How do you view your contribution in creating an atmosphere of calm and emotional stability for those around you?

My contribution was in providing a familiar voice and being a sure of information for my friends from work who did not know who lived or who died.  Fortunately, we only lost one person from our floor.  I was determined to attend his funeral in New Jersey and others came because I told them that I was going.

I also took the responsibility to get our business functioning again.  Living on the west side of Manhattan, I had the most simple commute to and from Jersey City, so I tried to be the last person in my group in the office every day, so others could get home.  There were may stressful days with frequent bomb scares, anthrax, and an airplane crashing near Kennedy airport.  I stayed.  It helped me to be at work and most people benefited by the distraction of a return to some normalcy.

3. Be it the commander of a brigade, a company or organization of professionals, a clear understanding of who is/ are the managers in charge is key to the operation and success of the group. Even so, the need for a peculiar kind of leader was seen as needful for people returning to work to Manhattan office buildings after the tragic loss of so much life. The usual leadership of the company saw it fitting in responding to the emotional strain and depletion rampant at the time, right after the horrific attack. Can you share an example of how you helped someone in need? Why do you think management found you to be a kind of 'first responder' for the company's workforce? Were there others like you?

I was fortunate.  I arrived at the World Trade Center after the first airplane hit Tower 1.  I never went into the building.  Many of my colleagues were at their desks or in meetings as the first airplane hit.  Many were evacuating or clearing the floors as the airplane hit our buildings.  I heard many stories of friends who kept each other calm and helped strangers as they evacuated the buildings.  People who ran for their lives as the buildings collapsed.  I helped by reaching out and connecting with my co-workers.  

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Coach Bill’s note: 

To be a hero, you don’t have to look like Superman, or carry a fellow injured soldier through combat. You just have to care enough to step outside of your comfort zone in a way that places you in the service of others at a time when no one else has come forth. This turns you from an ordinary person into a person moving and being extraordinary to the benefit of others. In adding value to ourselves then, only we profit, yet in practicing the notion that all are valuable, in our service to each other we add value to one another.