Bob Hoover And His Story, A Great Example Of Emotional Intelligence

Bob Hoover is the name of a famous test pilot and a regular air show acrobat. In one of his demonstrations with a propeller airplane, something terrible happened: the two engines of the airplane stopped in mid-flight. This left Hoover in a really difficult situation, in which his life was in serious danger.

Thanks to his enormous experience as a pilot and his skill, he managed to land without suffering anything more than a few injuries and spectacular blows. Brands that the following days would have no greater complication than to be memories of his feat attenuated by painkillers.

This story would be one of those that would appear on a page dedicated to aviation and not to reflect on the power of our The power of the mind were it not for the circumstances surrounding the feat, both before and after.

Bob Hoover, a smart man

When the intrepid Bob Hoover put his foot down and looked at the wrecked airplane, he immediately knew what had happened. Besides him, only one of the people who had contemplated the scene with amazement suspected the reason for such an outcome. This accomplice of misfortune was none other than the young man in charge of filling the tank of the base airplanes with gasoline.

When he saw the trajectory of the airplane and stopped hearing the characteristic noise of the engines, he quickly realized that

Bob Hoover also guessed it from the lack of reaction of the engines and their subsequent check of the fuel level in mid-flight, but then the situation was practically hopeless. With this thought and before everyone’s gaze, he walked with a determined step towards the hangar.

Those seconds seemed eternal, like a trip around the world with only one possibility. The pace with which Hoover walked was decided, the sentence was passed. Mentally he searched for words to justify himself, but they all seemed to give way as if they were leaves blown away by the hurricane of his enormous mistake.

They looked at each other and Hoover, with all his calm voice could be at that time, said:

What would we have done?

Probably, what most of us would have imagined while reading how Bob Hoover approached the boy is that he was going to pounce on him. However, Hoover was smarter and more skilled than most bosses, fathers, mothers, children, grandchildren, or anyone else’s manager. He used what had happened to his future benefit.

The anger would not have made any sense, in the young man’s face you could read that he was deeply sorry and that he had not done it on purpose. So why reproach an oversight? Why stick your finger in the wound of whom you are already aware?

The one who has gone down to hell and survived, because no one knows the anchors of this path like he does. The projections that you have seen happen and that in the face of the next threat can be a great support. Let’s be smart, no longer empathic, and stop making senseless condemnations, regretting a past that cannot be changed for a future that can really be different.