There once was an squadron that had among its people a very wise Chief. The people of the squadron trusted this Chief to provide them answers to their questions and concerns.
One day, a flight leader from the squadron went to the wise Chief and said in a frantic tone, "Wise Chief, help me. A horrible thing has happened. My most valuable and experienced shop chief has just received a short notice assignment and started processing out. I have no one to fill his shoes and lead this most important section! Isn’t this the worst thing that could have happened?" The wise Chief replied, "Maybe so, maybe not." The leader hurried back to his shop and reported to his associates that the wise Chief has gone mad. Surely this was the worst thing that could have happened. Why couldn’t he see this?
The very next day, however, a sharp young MSgt was seen near the squadron hovering around the program’s section. Although this MSgt has not worked in a flight for a long time, (since he was a TSgt). And because the leader had lost his most experienced shop chief he had the brilliant idea to test this young MSgt out and have him re-assigned to run his shop—and he did. How happy the flight leader was. In the beginning, the MSgt was running the shop effortlessly. He went back to the wise Chief to apologize. "You were right, wise Chief. Losing my most valuable and experienced shop chief wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. It was a blessing in disguise! I never would have selected that young MSgt and given him a chance had that not happened. You must agree that this is the best thing that could have happened." The wise Chief replied once again, "Maybe so, maybe not? Not again, thought the flight leader. Surely the wise Chief had gone mad now.
But, once again, the flight leader did not know what was to happen. A few days later the flight chief's crew rallied against the young MSgt and his seemingly innovative ways. No training was being accomplished. The young, inexperienced, MSgt requested immediate transfer out of the shop. Oh no, thought the flight leader. Now our stats and training will surely go down the tubes and we will end up with more "Outside Help" than we can possibly stand. Once again, the flight leader went to the wise Chief. This time he said, "How did you know that re-assigning that young MSgt was not a good thing? You were right again. My crew revolted, the MSgt sought immediate transfer out of my flight and I have a crew struggling very hard to ensure quality production within my flight. This time I’m sure that this is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. You must agree this time." But, just as he had done before, the wise Chief calmly looked at the flight leader and in a compassionate tone replied once again, "Maybe so, maybe not." Enraged that the wise Chief could be so ignorant, the flight leader stormed back to his shop.
The next day email traffic was routed throughout the group. HOT. All leaves were canceled; every flight was to relinquish every able-bodied person to support a scheduled MARE with the local community. In addition, all were tasked to prepare the wing for a no-notice combined Phase I/II Joint sister service exercise and beautify the entire base top to bottom prior to the 4 Star arriving to meet the Senator and local dignitaries to view base and discuss pending BRAC decision. If that was not the worst of it, the Middle East situation was heating up and standby for real-world deployment was eminent. These "tasks" were sure to take the better part of a month and he had to ensure his flight was experienced for deployment. The flight leader’s shop was the only section on base spared. He did not have to fully support any "unnecessary" tasks and was to train his flight…he was able to put increase emphasis on OJT working night and day--continuously training on all aspects. Emerging leaders were born; stats were on the rise and the experience level of his flight jumped ten-fold…his flight was ready for any real-world contingency.
The moral of this story provides a lesson. The truth is, we don’t know what’s going to happen—we just think we do. Often we make a big deal out of something. We blow up scenarios in our minds about the terrible things that are going to happen. Most of the time we are wrong. If we keep our cool and stay open to possibilities, we can be reasonably certain that, eventually, all will be well. Remember: Maybe so, maybe not.