Only two weeks after a pilot was killed during a test flight of a prototype vehicle that should one day allow paying passengers to travel briefly into space, it was fascinating to see that scientists had successfully landed a probe on a comet some 300 million miles away from Earth.
The history of space travel is marked with tragedies and illuminated by spectacular achievements.
The first manned flight into space by Yuri Gagarin in 1961, the Apollo 8 crew who first saw the dark side of the moon in 1968, and probably one of the highest points in human history when Neil Armstrong was first to set foot on the moon on 21 July 1969 just to name a few.
I remember being wakened by my mum in the middle of the night to watch the grainy black and white pictures. Armstrong’s words as he stepped from the ladder of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, “One small step for man – one giant leap for mankind” are epic.
But for me, the lines that set the project underway seven years previously were even better.
US president John F. Kennedy spoke at Rice University in September 1962 and told of the ambition to put a man on the moon and return him home safely by the end of the decade.
The words were written by his speechwriter Ted Sorenson, who had a great turn of phrase, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
The rhythm is superb and based on sets of three. After the challenge about not being easy, there are three responses starting with “because.” This followed by three descriptions of the challenge starting with “one.” It’s very elegant.
But even beyond the use of language, the context, meaning and timing of the message is stunning. Politically, it was very courageous to set out such a huge ambition so clearly.
History shows that the ambition was achieved. It is impossible to say what part the initial declaration of intent contributed to the overall success, but I suspect it helped to galvanise and motivate vast numbers towards delivery of the goal.
When Dave Brailsford took over the Team Sky cycling team, he declared the ambition to have the first ever U.K. winner of the Tour de France within five years. The media scoffed at his arrogance, but three years later, it happened!
I tell my staff that our ambition is to be world class, as judged by our customers. This statement runs the risk of sounding ridiculous and unachievable, but others have shown that audacious goals can catalyse organisations to deliver spectacular results – why shouldn’t the same apply to us?
Bob Keiller is an industry leader and the chief executive of Wood Group. To read more from him go here.
Recommended for you
