What Are The Most Interesting But Little Known Historical Events?
Many of you would remember this picture (North & South Towers of the World Trade Center, September 11 attacks, 2001).
This interesting and absolutely amazing story is about a person who saved thousands of lives on that day. The man anticipated 9/11 attacks long before the attacks actually took place.
The story was shared with us by a faculty member during one of our recent training programs on safety practices.
Bob Scott, the president & COO of Morgan Stanley, while speaking at Harvard Business School, once said the 9/11 attacks were a milestone more than any other for them. (Leadership on 9/11: Morgan Stanley’s Challenge).
So here is the fact, Morgan Stanley was the largest tenant in the World Trade Center Towers at that time with approximately 2700 employees but they lost just six employees that very day. The person to be thanked for this, was Rick Rescorla.
Rick Rescorla was a former Vietnam War veteran and a retired U.S. Army officer. He was also a private security specialist who eventually became Director of Security at Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Towers.
Due to some reasons, Rick always felt that the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) were highly prone to terrorist attacks.
One of his friends, Daniel Hill, was trained in counter terrorism. In 1990, he invited his friend Hill to visit the World Trade Center to get an assessment of its security.
When Rescorla asked Hill how he would attack the building if he were a terrorist, Hill said that he would drive a truck full of explosives in the basement, walk out, and light it off (Rick Rescorla — Wikipedia ).
They both submitted reports about it to the authorities but they were ignored. And in 1993 in similar fashion, a truck filled with explosives detonated below the North Tower.
After this incident, Rescorla gained more credibility and authority. He wanted the company out of that building because he continued to feel, as did Hill, that the World Trade Center was still prone to terrorist attacks, and that the next attack could involve a plane crashing into one of the towers due to their height.
However, the company could not move out of the towers as they had lease agreements, hence Rescorla used to make all employees, including senior executives, practice emergency evacuation drills every three months.
Rescorla’s strict approach to these drills also put him into conflict with some high-powered executives and employees, but still he kept on insisting for regular drills.
After all that, the day came on 11 September 2001 when the World Trade Center was under attack.
And it’s a fact, when any emergency occurs then our mind doesn’t work instead our habits help us. In an emergency, we do what we have been doing regularly.
So when the attacks arrived, Morgan Stanley employees were already prepared for evacuation at once as they had been trained for such scenario over the years. Within no time, Rescorla managed to evacuate most employees.
After most Morgan Stanley employees were successfully evacuated, someone told him that he too had to evacuate the building;
to that he replied that he would evacuate himself out as soon as he makes sure that everyone else was out (Rick Rescorla — Wikipedia). Shortly the South Tower (he was in the South Tower) collapsed, and his remains were never found. He was declared dead after three weeks. Such a HERO!
He saved 2700 lives on 11th September 2001 during the attacks. This story underlines the importance of such disaster contingency drills/plans but ironically, in India we don’t take such drills seriously.
Moral: “If you wait for a crisis to begin to lead, it’s too late.”
~ Bob Scott.
Key Message: The late Rick Rescorla was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by U.S. President Donald Trump for his extraordinary sacrifice.
Credits: Rick Rescorla — Wikipedia (some text taken from Wikipedia)
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