Getting to Mexico yesterday was easy. Getting out of the San Jose del Cabo airport was a real-time study in crisis leadership.

A local protest blocked the highways in and out of the airport starting almost exactly as our flight touched down.

As we waited under the shade structure for our shuttle to arrive, it became increasingly evident that no one was going anywhere for a while. No shuttles, taxis, or buses were coming in, and the ones trying to leave had backed up and were not moving.

Kudos to the staff and local leaders of Transcabo, the shuttle company I’ve used every time I’ve visited Cabo San Lucas.

Responding to the situation

Carlos worked hard to keep us informed. He also went off and found a chair (possibly pilfered from a shop in the airport) for the elderly woman who was near us. There is no seating in the waiting area, as they normally move people through in 10-20 minutes.

After about an hour, the local supervisor called all his staff together for a quick meeting. I couldn’t hear them, but it was evident he had his entire team in problem-solving mode. The discussion was robust but measured, and the supervisor’s calm presence led to some quick solutioning.

A few minutes later, they gave us all a choice. Stay and wait for the protest to resolve and traffic to flow again, or walk a little less than half a mile to a place their vehicles would be waiting.

Quick solutions

Kudos to the staff, who spread out along the walking route and led hundreds of people, all toting luggage, some carrying little kids, to a dusty dirt parking lot just off the airport.

Kudos to the hundreds of travelers, who by and large remained civil, polite, and even jovial during this unexpected adventure.

I don’t want to downplay the chaos of the moment. It was a mess. Dusty, dry, no bathrooms, hundreds of strangers who did not know each other all trying to get to dozens of different destinations. A dirt parking lot full of cars, clogged with vans trying to get in and out.

And through it all, the hardworking staff stayed focused on trying to help people get to where they wanted to go.

Gratitude for good leadership

I’m grateful for a lot of things. I’m grateful I wasn’t in charge of exhausted children, or elders with mobility problems. I’m grateful it was a gorgeous day and I would be okay no matter what happened.

But mostly I’m grateful for the can-do problem solving leadership of the supervisor and the dedication of the staff. It took an hour or more, but I’m sure they moved close to 500 (maybe more) people through this makeshift, ad hoc, figure-it-out situation.

On top of it, I only heard one traveler complain about the disruption the protest had caused him. His words, overheard early in the delay, were something to the effect of, “I understand why they need to bring attention to something, but when you start affecting other people…”

I had to roll my eyes and hold my tongue. Disruption is the point of protest, and if you’re mad at the protesters for disruption then perhaps you need to rethink where your anger should be placed. People don’t protest because they like disrupting things. People protest because a change is needed, and without disruption the people in power will not make that change.

Leadership on display

All that said, here are the leadership qualities I saw on display yesterday:

• No panic
  When the protest started, no one overreacted. I’ve known plenty of leaders who react to a small disruption by pouring gasoline on it and lighting matches. There’s no need to turn a problem into a catastrophe.
• Clear, relevant communication
  The staff didn’t over-communicate. They focused on relevant information, delivered face-to-face with tact and matter-of-fact truth. They threw in apologies for good measure, which built sympathy because we all knew they were not to blame. And they didn’t feel like they had to look like they knew the answers. They transacted in what was really happening.
• Collaborative problem-solving
  The supervisor brought his team together when it became clear that other solutions might be needed. He sought input. He heard ideas. He led his team to a consensus which resulted in everyone knowing their part and being able to go do it immediately.
• Offering options in uncertainty
  They offered their customers a choice: stay here and wait it out, or walk a bit and go sooner. There were unknowns in both, but they empowered each customer to choose for themselves. Leadership isn’t always about knowing the right direction. Sometimes it’s about offering alternatives.
• Confident presence
  Perhaps most important, the supervisor and his staff maintained an attitude of confidence that everyone would get where they needed to go, safely and without doubt. This was critical because it kept the crowd in a calmer, more positive mindset. Even as vans filled and rode away, and even as we all wondered if perhaps we missed a shuttle going to our destination, no one ever seemed to worry they wouldn’t be taken care of in the end.

As far as I know, none of the staff got paid extra for this extra effort. They could have just thrown up their hands and said, “It’s not our fault. No shuttles are moving. No taxis are moving. We just have to wait.”

They didn’t do that, and in a world where the news is filled with people being especially awful to each other, the leadership they exhibited, and the generosity of spirit of the hundreds of people around me, raise my hopes for us all.

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