Circumstances change. How do you adapt?

What can a forest fire that occurred in 1949 and 16 elite smoke jumpers who were deployed to fight it teach us about life, strategy, and success? By the way, a smoke jumper is a fire fighter who is deployed by parachute into a strategic zone of a forest in order to begin fighting a wild fire. They jump into action with about 150lbs of equipment.

On August 5, 1949, a wildfire overran 16 firefighters in Mann Gulch on the Helena National Forest in Montana. To the dismay of fire scientists, the fire behaved in a manner inconsistent with predictions and calculations. Consequently, 16 elite fire fighters, known as smoke jumpers, found themselves in the fight of their lives. As the fire surprised them and began to over run them, the fire fighters had to try to escape up a seriously steep incline….with all their gear and equipment. Bottom line, only three survived.

What happened to the others? Why were only three able to live to tell the story of survival? Those three recognized that circumstances had changed. It was no longer about fighting a fire, it was about survival. Their only hope was to get rid of all of their heavy gear and equipment and climb to safety. Obviously, this saved their lives.

While tragic, there is so much that the Mann Gulch fire can teach us about life. I think this story is so relevant to successful investing, leadership, health, practicing a faith, raising a family, or achieving anything worthwhile. Because I am a Chief Investment Officer for a family owned and operated investment management company, I love to apply the lessons from the Mann Gulch forest fire to managing portfolios. The stock market is a very unpredictable environment to operate in. The winds are constantly shifting and behaving in ways that they are not supposed to. You could fill a room with money managers, brokers, and economists and literally hear as many different ways to invest your money and play the game. Our tagline is Strategically Managing the Environment of Change. In Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood, taught his team of elite Recon Marines, that they must be willing to improvise or adapt to be successful in any situation. We believe and have the track record to show the same applies to managing investments. Market leadership changes, sectors rotate, interest rates change, and business cycles wax and wane. The most successful investors recognize this and improvise or adapt accordingly. They recognize that successful investing involves more than simply buying a stock, bond, or mutual fund. It involves incrementally bumping and moving the portfolio in order to follow market leadership. Just like life, successful investing, by necessity, is active and dynamic.