Episode 47 - Falling Iguanas

The Outliers Inn

Recorded: February 6, 2020

About the Podcast

Topic: In this episode of The Outliers Inn, we talk about the risks involved in falling iguana’s, long-flights and sore bums, speculating on government numbers, eating bats, and preparing for retirement (or semi-retirement).

Antlerboy and JP start-off by sharing their experiences on recent travels with Antlerboy going to Southeast Asia and JP going to Florida. We share some of our travel habits but the one we have in common is that neither of us can understand how a person can justify the added expense of a business-class ticket – even if we do sometimes end-up with sore bums on the long-haul flights. Really, what can the airlines possibly do to deliver on a 5x-plus premium on the cost of a ticket? Especially since neither of us are particularly large either vertically or horizontally – and our bums never get that sore.

The conversation moves to the subject or “risk”, with JP sharing a particularly novel risk he had never heard of before – that of “falling iguanas”. When he was in Florida, it was so cold (dropping into the 40F’s), that the Florida weather service issued an “iguana warning”. Apparently, when it gets that cold, the iguanas lose their grip and fall from the trees. Reportedly, they are not injured and will re-awaken when they warm – but getting hit on the head with a falling iguana, which can grow to 6ft in length and weigh 20lbs, would make for a bad day.

Our first guest to belly-up to the bar is Greg. He shares with us the risks he sees in the global supply chain where single-points of failure abound. Whether it’s an earthquake and tidal wave, or floods, or coronavirus’, it seems that companies have not learned to have redundant suppliers in case of catastrophe – or if they do, they don’t keep the secondary vendor sound enough to pick-up the slack when the unexpected happens. His particular concern is the present risks to the supply chains and the global economy from the coronavirus.

Our second guest, Don, being thrifty and bringing his own home-brewed beer, shares is real-life experience with respect to the hypothetical disruptions to the supply chain that he is having to endure and react presently – giving tangible evidence that the threats are real and not theoretical or anecdotal. He shares with us that his deliveries are being delayed weeks or longer because of the concerns and actions related to the coronavirus.

JP amends his Gastronomy Rule Nr.1 from; “No insects” to “No insects, snakes, or bats.”

Our last guest of the evening is John. He shares with us a real and heartfelt challenge; what do you do when you have spent so many years in corporate and find yourself to old to be hired, but too young to sit on the porch and yell at the kids to get off your lawn? He feels he has so much to give but doesn’t know how or even where to begin. He shares some regrets and expresses concern for what his legacy will be – the evidence that he was here at all. We talk about various ways he can pass the wisdom he has gained over the years to others – including teaching and consulting. A really interesting part of the program which should give everyone cause for pause – and reflection.

We are sure you will find the conversations as interesting as we did…

Hosts: Joseph Paris, Founder of the OpEx Society & The XONITEK Group of Companies Benjamin Taylor, Managing Partner of RedQuadrant.