Tough and Competent

This man is my hero.

For those of you who don’t recognize him by his photo, this is Eugene “Gene” Kranz. Gene was a long time Flight Director at NASA, and is perhaps best known for his work during the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 lunar missions. He was portrayed by Ed Harris in the film Apollo 13, for which Harris received an Oscar nomination. He has a great life story, and if you want to be motivated, I encourage you to read more about him.

Everything about this man impresses me. I recently read his autobiography entitled “Failure is Not an Option.” The name of the book alone was enough to motivate me, but the 394 pages that came after did even more. To put it simply, this man is the epitome of dedication and work ethic.

What impresses me most about Kranz is that he recognizes the human factor. When technology was making unbelievable advances on a daily basis, Kranz demanded that his workers’ knowledge and skills do the same. Kranz expected his flight controllers to be able to do their jobs blindfolded. Literally. He would have his flight controllers (mostly engineers) sit in the simulators blindfolded and be able to complete the same procedures that the astronauts would have to. He had his flight controllers and those working under them know every error code that could possibly arise on their equipment. Most people would call that crazy, but to Kranz, it meant being prepared. And they were prepared when an time-critical error almost demanded an abort to the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Because his workers knew the equipment and the errors, they knew the solution.

After the launchpad fire that killed Apollo 1 astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee, many were quick to blame faulty equipment. Kranz knew better, and he had the kahunas to say it. His response to the incident, known as the Kranz dictum, identified carelessness, incapacity and neglect as the true cause. But Kranz went further. He wanted to make sure that a similar event would never again occur. His legacy was left in the form of two words. Tough and competent. As Kranz put it:

Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for.

Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect.

I think that our profession can take a lot from Kranz’s words. Just like mission controllers, respiratory therapists are specialists who are responsible for an individual’s safety while they are in our care. We must take our charge seriously. Failure to do so is not an option.