Superhuman Clean-up from Katrina

Today’s USAToday has an excellent article on the successful efforts of Mississippi Power to turn power back on for the 195,000 customers, 100% of their customer base, lost because of Katrina. This small company of only 1,250 employees utilized a “Can Do” spirit, marshalling the help of another 10,000 repairmen from 24 states and Canada. I wrote about the power company system to assist each other in a time of crisis on September 25 and 26. This is the best article I’ve seen on how one utility company got power back on.

Originally, the company had estimated a four-week schedule to restore power but thru superhuman effort and coordination, the task was completed in only 12 days. Some of the key factors for this rapid recovery were the company’s culture of unquestionable trust, superior performance and total commitment.

Twenty years ago, hurricane response was a top down one with top executives looking at the system from a holistic standpoint with priorities set from headquarters. This year’s more entrepreneurial approach won the day for Mississippi Power. The company’s four inch thick hurricane response manual was useless. The most important document was a phone directory to help them find names and numbers of people who could help them get the job done.

Why is it that a public company’s workforce can use superior performance to overcome huge obstacles when the government struggled on how to organize a bus convoy out of New Orleans? Read the interesting article in today’s USAToday.