This is the second part of a 3 part blog post on the common traits of innovators and survivors. After my husband and I lived 7 years off the land and way off grid, we realized how much human survival is tied to innovation. We accidentally lived the evolution of civilization from hunter gatherer to more futuristic than most people live today. The mindset of great innovators and entrepreneurs is what has contributed to human evolution. Innovation is directly tied to solving problems for human survival and comfort, and we experienced this first hand during our adventure in the bush.

The Innovator Mindset and Survivor Mindset have 3 critical traits in common.

1. Awareness – highly observant and empathetic to the reality around and within you. (Part 1)

2. Adaptable – includes openness to new information and the ability to adjust to different conditions and transform to meet the situation. (Today’s post)

3. Courageous – recognize the edge, and despite uncertainty, having optimism and faith in yourself and your team, to make calculated decisions for action. (Coming Soon)

Today’s post is about Adaptability. The critical elements of being adaptable include being OPEN to hearing and seeing new information, new experiences, and new ways of thinking. Never shutting down new possibilities even if today it isn’t quite right. Secondly, being CURIOUS to explore more, ask more, discover more. Throughout evolution, it has been the explorers, inventors and pioneers that have opened new worlds, and new possibilities, and that is what is critical to great innovation today. Our future depends on this mindset, to continue to evolve and survive (for our businesses, our planet and people).

In our survival situation, living off whatever we could hunt and gather required us to be very open to what we ate. From insects to carrion, bitter roots to tough, stringy plants, we ate it all. We often had to travel days at a time, including one adventure through the wild British Columbia Coast Mountain Range, from the eastern foothills of the interior, to the Western slopes on the Pacific Ocean. We were in search of salt, seaweed and seafood.

This journey took us 15 days, from the dry, lodge pole pine forest of the interior, up to the alpine with steep cliffs and glacier crossings, to the humid coastal rain forest with moss covered old growth trees. We had many hardships on this trip, with no trails, thick bush to fight through, devils club poisonous barbs, bears, swarms of insects, and difficult steep and rugged terrain. During this journey our ability to adapt to changing conditions was constant. There was no room for error, no room for an accident, since no rescue would be coming. But our greatest challenge was the river and ‘creek’ crossings. We learned after our journey that an old timer who had lived and trapped along the ocean inlet 50 years before us, said repeatedly, “It ain’t the bears you have to worry about, it’s the creek crossings that will kill you.” The variety of river and creek crossings were endless.

We realized very quickly that the ‘creeks’ were raging ravines fed by glacier run off, and the rivers were fast, deep and wide. Every crossing could have been death. With water temperatures barely above 0°C, rocky uneven footing, boulders and debris traps to traverse, there were a number of risks. Every creek posed a challenge, which required us to think differently, explore up and down the river for hours, and problem solve the safest method to cross. We adapted to each situation as it arose. We experimented with different methods before fully committing to a crossing. Every situation was different, and we had to adapt, even when our best laid, safest plans fell apart, quickly adapting our strategy with a plan B, C, D and a ‘safety net’ back up strategy. As innovators and entrepreneurs your ability to adapt is just as critical.

One crossing Dave shimmied across a huge fallen tree hanging over a ravine. I tried, panicked and couldn’t do it! With Dave and all our gear on the far side, I crawled down the ravine wall, Dave threw me a rope from the other side, and with it tied around my waist, I jumped in and swam as hard as I could, clinging to the wall on the far side, frozen, bruised and scratched but safe.

Another crossing we built a raft. With a rope tied around Dave’s waist he swam across a 20 foot wide river, being swept 50 feet down stream. I then tied the rope to the raft with all our belongings strapped on top and he pulled the raft across, with it tipping and bouncing, but never flipping, never losing anything. Next was my turn to swim, and even with the rope around my waist and Dave pulling, I was swept a long way down river. Reaching shore exhausted, with frozen and stiffening limbs.

Loading the raft we had built at the side of a deep, fast river.

One ‘tiny’ creek that looked like one of the easiest crossings, was almost our undoing. It was no more than 15 feet across, but with a raging speed, relatively shallow except for one 3 foot section in the middle that was over my head. We dropped 3 trees and Dave crossed, rigging a rope across for a handhold. Unfortunately as I was crossing the ‘bridge’ of trees, they broke, and with Dave’s warning ringing in my ears, to ‘never let go of the rope no matter what happens’, my feet whipped out from under me, my head under water but holding the rope for my life, Dave was able to haul the rope up enough for me to breath and gain my footing. Then we made the biggest mistake of the journey. We didn’t adapt to the changed situation. We were tired, cold, but with adrenaline pumping, Dave went back across to untie the rope. We had to have it. Dave tied the rope to his waist and I wrapped the rope around a tree for leverage and reeled it in as he started to cross. The raging river took his legs out from under him and he was rapidly swept over the next drop off. With my hands being burned by the rope, it slipping in my hands, and unable to see or hear Dave, I didn’t know if my holding on was making it worse or better for his situation. Then the rope went slack in my ripped and bleeding hands, and I thought I’d lost him. But he’d crashed into some boulders below and crawled onto them enough to slacken the rope. The rope had held, my death grip paid off. He was safe. We hugged and cried, standing on shore, happy to be alive!

Unfortunately we don’t have pictures of the creek I described above in which the bridge gave way, but here is another example of a different creek crossing and the debris traps if you fall.

As innovators and entrepreneurs, this is often how it feels. Facing each new challenge with an openness to observe, learn and find the best way for each situation or problem we have to solve. Adapting to each changing circumstance with the best decisions given our VUCA world: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Learning when we fail or have a near miss, what to do the next time. Recognizing our role and responsibility in the outcome, and finding a way to be okay, to be aware, open and curious so we can adapt to the changed environment and find new and better solutions as we move forward. For intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs, adapting to changing conditions leads to the survival of your project and your company.

Innovator & Survivor Mindset, Part 2 Adaptability