Don't Save Innovation for Hard Times

By Daniel A. Carr

Larry Walters, a 33-year-old truck driver, used to spend Saturday afternoons in his backyard, sitting in his favorite lawn chair, and sipping—no, guzzling—his favorite beverage. But on July 2, 1982, Larry decided to fulfill his dream of 20 years: he had always wanted to fly. It wasn't such a unique dream, but most people would have considered flying lessors, or maybe hang gliding or even parachuting. Not Larry. All the conventional methods took too much time and money, so he decided to take the road less traveled.

He started by buying 42 weather balloons from a local army surplus store and attaching them to his lawn chair. He then filled them with helium. For ballast, he attached several gallon jugs of water to the chair. He completed his preparations by strapping on a parachute and a life vest. Finally, he carried a CB radio and a BB gun to shoot the balloons when he was ready to come down. While onlookers shook their heads at what Larry was about to attempt, his friends held the chair down by tethers that he had rigged.

The strategy was fairly simple: his friends would let the tethers unwind until he reached about 100 feet, and then he would decide if he wanted to continue. If he chose to continue, his plan was to fly from his departure point of Long Beach, California, to the Mojave Desert where the space shuttle was scheduled to land the next day. He thought he would land gently in the desert, sit back in his lawn chair, and watch the shuttle land.

Everything was going as planned until one by one the tethers broke. Larry had underestimated the upward pull of so many balloons. Instead of gracefully floating skyward, Walters shot up like a rocket to an elevation of 16,000 feet! That's right—three miles high into busy commercial air space, with large and small airplanes passing in bewilderment. Instead of using his radio or his BB gun, Larry was using every ounce of energy "white knuckling" his lawn chair.

Eventually though when his toes became numb, he knew he had to do something. He negotiated the BB gun into position and was able to shoot roughly ten of the balloons when he encountered his next problem—he dropped the gun! (Hey, Larry, did you ever think to tie the gun to the chair?" Luckily, he had popped enough of the balloons so that his chair began a gradual descent. As he neared the earth, his balloons became entangled in a power line and he and his chair were left dangling over the ground. From there, he was able to crawl down into the arms of the many authorities who wanted to "have a word" with him.

There are many things I could say about this story. I might make comparisons to our own lives, or talk about encouraging people to chase their dreams, and so on. None of these ideas intrigued me. What spoke to me were Larry's words when he landed. As the police were leading Larry away, a reporter approached him. "What were you trying to prove?" asked the reporter, to which Larry, slightly dazed, replied, "Hey, you can't just sit there."

Those are fairly profound words from someone whose intelligence would definitely come into question after such a stunt.

It is so easy to become complacent with where we are today vs. where we would like to be or where we had once dreamed of being. Nowhere is this truer than with our careers and businesses, and at no time has this been truer than today.

The U.S. recently has enjoyed several of the most robust years, economically speaking, that this country has seen. Most companies are performing well and most people are feeling the results of this prosperity. Unfortunately, this is the perfect time to become overconfident. In times of prosperity, we can easily lose sight of the vision and drive that were required to get to this point. It is inevitable that times will change, the economy will soften, and we once again will have to face the harsh reality that nothing lasts forever.

Now is the time, when business is booming, to accumulate profits and reserves to make the next "big" move in a company's life. Vision, foresight, and innovation should not be saved for times of desperation or decline, but exploited fully while the resources are available.

So while I can't exactly advocate Larry Walters' methods, I can agree with the philosophy that got him to 16,000 feet and a few minutes of fame. It is sound advice for us all: "Hey, you can't just sit there."

Daniel A. Carr is president and CEO of Computer Decision International Inc. CDI specializes in software and hardware integration for midsize manufacturers. With nearly 400 installed sites and a staff of more than 50 professionals, CDI is one of Michigan's largest suppliers of business computer systems and integrated solutions and a leading reseller of Made2Manage, a fully integrated enterprise-wide software from Made2Manage Systems Inc (Indianapolis, IN). Made2Manage Systems is a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. Its software is designed specifically for use on the Microsoft NT and BackOffice platform. It is aimed at the small-to-medium sized companies with annual revenues between $5 million to $100 million.

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