Wharton MBA for Executives

Today is 9/11.  I took a quick moment of silence today to remember the events that took place 7 years ago (hard to believe it’s been so long).  9/11 was one of those days that for the rest of your life you will remember and relive what you were doing on that fateful day.  Like everyone else…I have my story.

I was working as an independent consultant in Dallas, TX.  I was on a project at Compucom working on a web application to sell B2B computer hardware.  I had a corporate apartment and rental car and lived on Sonny Bryan’s Texas BBQ for almost every meal.  Since only a few of us had rental cars, I had a pickup spot where I would go to every morning to pick up other members of the team.  As a result, I usually got up early and watched TV before leaving for work.

On this morning, I was watching the Today show on NBC.  While watching they show they showed the WTC on fire.  Of course they didn’t have any footage of this event at that time so they were just saying that eyewitnesses reported what looked like a small plane had crashed into the building.  They thought it was some kind of freak accident.  The show also moved on to other topics and periodically went back to the smoke coming out of the WTC building.

But soon after, the second plane hit.  It was now obvious that this was not a freak accident.  This was also not some small plane…it was a large commercial airline jet.  Like everyone else, I expected there to be fire and smoke but they would eventually evacuate the building and we’d be done with this mess.

I then shut off the TV and left to pick up the others for work.

In the car, I asked my co-workers if they saw this on TV but no one else watched TV that morning.  I told them what happened and we still thought it was odd but didn’t think much more of it.

We got to work and actually proceeded to do what we always do…read email, respond, schedule meetings, etc.  But one guy informed us that one of the building just fell.  At this point, all work stopped and we talked about the building collapsing.  Soon after, the second building collapsed.  It was surreal.

Of course at that point, people got a bit freaked out.  How many more buildings were going to get hit and were we safe?  All major cities and high rises were being evacuated.  We weren’t evacuated so we basically just sat and worked the rest of the day but it was a surreal day.  My friend and I were saying “dude, it’s that Osama guy…”

I called my wife and we talked for a little bit as well. She recommended that I go back home but I stuck around at work anyway.

I have two other stories of friends that I spoke to on that day.

One of my best friends was in NY for training.  I couldn’t get through to him via phone but he was on aol instant messenger so we communicated via messenger.  He told me that the city is in chaos…cops and police cars everywhere and everyone running around.  His temporary apartment was in midtown.  He was getting a bit freaked out and told me to call his wife to tell her that he’s fine.  So I called her…but it was 6:30AM in California so I woke her up, gave her a quick brief, and told her that he’s ok.  She was half asleep and basically said “uh..ok.  bye.”

Later that night, I spoke to another friend of mine (attorney - not really relevant but it explains his attitude sometimes) in LA.  It turns out that he was up all night working so he was sleeping the entire day.  He got up at 3pm and went to the office.  He said it was odd that there weren’t any cars in downtown LA and the garage was gated closed.  But he used his access card to get into the garage and parked the car.  He went over to the elevators when a security guard asked him “What are you doing here?” and my friend replied “What are YOU doing here?  I work here (idiot).”  Security guard told him “Don’t you know?  The World Trade Center was attacked and the buildings collapsed?”  My friend replied “So WTF does that have to do with me? (and thought the guard was nuts)” and proceeded up to his office.

When he got in, there was no one there but the TV set in the kitchen was still turned on.  So he walked in there and saw what had happened.  He stood there for an hour as they replayed the events of the day.  He then went home to find 20 messages on his answering machine from his mom asking if he’s ok.  The first messages were “Hey, are you ok?” and towards the end they were “you idiot, are you sleeping while all this is going on in the world?”  He had slept through the entire day.

9/11 forever changed the way that the US viewed the rest of the world.  In many ways the US felt that this is the kind of stuff that happens in the middle east, not in New York City.  Our airports changed security policies, office buildings became much more secure, and everything that we do is now tied to security as a direct result of 9/11.  Whether you are a George W. Bush supporter or not, 9/11 also defined his presidency and legacy.  There has not been another attack like 9/11 and I am thankful for that every day.

I realize that this is a Wharton MBA blog but on 9/11 I simply took a short break from OPIM, Statistics, Macro, and Leadership to write this piece.

Like him or not, Howard Stern had a great broadcast on that day:

This is one of my favorite tribute videos:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3724113504869594075&ei=_QXKSMruD5fcqAPU1aDIAg&hl=en

This is my favorite 9/11 tribute song called “Have You Forgotten” by Darryl Worley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdznv9Q6o9s