Let it be!

Last Saturday, I was invited to a business conference in Düsseldorf. Among nine exceptional presenters – including Bill Clinton – one clearly stood out: Bertrand Piccard. He is one of the century’s last great adventurers. After failing two times, he realized the Jules Verne fantasy of flying around the world in a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3 in March 1999. His next adventure will be an attempt to circumvent the earth in a solar plane.

I am aware that it is likely that you are not preparing for a balloon trip right now. So what can you learn from his experiences? And how can you apply them to your private and professional lives? Above all, Bertrand Piccard is fascinated by the symbolic importance of the adventure. He believes that two centuries of scientific development have resulted in enormous progress, but most inventions have been aimed at controlling the forces of nature. In a balloon on the other hand, pilots have to submit to the elements and accept being swept along with the air currents. A balloon can only fly at the same speed and in the same direction as the wind. The sophisticated technology that had to be developed was aimed solely at better understanding our atmosphere in order to use nature as an ally.

Much of life’s sorrows arise from man’s basic instinct to be in control. It’s difficult to accept that life will take us in a direction that’s not of our choosing. A balloon flight forces us to recognise that our own will counts for little in the face of the wind. Some control is necessary, but it is limited to what is in our power to control. In fact, a balloonist’s freedom is restricted to changing the flight level to find alternative wind directions. It’s the same in life, where free will only means the ability to change our altitude to a higher psychological and philosophical level, and to make the best of our inner resources to adapt to the uncertainty of life.

Embrace uncertainty! Let it be. Enjoy the ride.