VECKTA recently supported Team Rob (our Marketing Lead) on his Uberman journey – one of the toughest ultra endurance races in the world. There are many reasons for this, but what resonated most for VECKTA was the synergy between VECKTA’s values and those needed to complete such a race.
Adapt Purposefully
Adapt purposefully is our first core value. At VECKTA we believe that there is a stark difference between reactive, unplanned scrambles vs. proactively—and in a planned manner—adapting to a situation. Whether it be COVID-19, climate change, running a business or competing in an event like Uberman, the best results are achieved when:
- a team is led by context and a mission
- there is a collaborative nature
- problem solving and challenging the status quo is embraced
- delivery is supplemented with tools and structures rather than being controlled by them
- the big picture is understood, reflected on, prioritized, and executed
- there is an ecosystem and culture to constantly test and learn
The nature of our world is that it is highly complex: we live in a complex system with a high degree of uncertainty. If we try to control this we will be exhausted, make little progress and become increasingly frustrated and reactive.
In the case of Uberman, Rob had a mission (to finish the race by whatever means possible and raise money in the fight against people trafficking), planned for years, surrounded himself with a collaborative and supporting network, and created the understanding and mindset that regardless of all the planning, the race would be largely out of his control. Even with all the mitigative measures in place, it would likely not all go to plan and he would have to adapt. This was tested within the first 24 hours of the week long race.
Rob faced a 20-mile swim from Catalina Island to L.A. Rob had a healthy fear of swimming in open water, was starting in the pitch dark night (when in theory the conditions should have been calmest), and was taking on the longest swim of his racing career.
The plan was for it to take 10-15 hours, but after 12 hours of swimming through the night in horrific swells, Rob had made it less than half way. Catalina Island still seemed to be in touching distance and L.A. a distant blur. Completely demoralizing!
Rob met with his team, assessed the situation and agreed to keep going, test the conditions and learn as he went. This continued for over 20 hours until the Captain of the support vessel let us know that he had essentially made no progress in 3 hours. Between the tides and the swells no matter how hard Rob swam he was not able to make progress.
With 4 miles to go, Rob and the team adapted with purpose, looking at the big picture. The decision was made to have the boat take Rob in and set him up to take on the 400-mile bike and 150-mile run.
To cut a longer story short (but follow the next few blogs to get more details), Rob smashed out both the bike and the run but continually reflected on the swim “failure.” With a mission to finish the race, and in agreement with the race director, Rob arranged to go back out to the point of the swim where he was stuck. He finished the swim in its entirety to become only the 7th Uberman in the world!!
Today we are seeing firsthand the complex systems within which we live, whether it be the impacts of COVID-19 or the increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. Recently seen all around the world, but the most recent being the energy hub of the world (Texas) being left without power and water at significant scales due to colder than expected conditions, impacting centralized and aging infrastructure not designed for such conditions. The impacts are significant socially and economically.
Much of what we observe in such situations is a reactionary and isolated response to individual events and short term thinking. At VECKTA, we understand the big picture and the consequences of not adapting with purpose. We need to disrupt the status quo and build energy solutions of the future that are greener, more reliable, safe and affordable.
At VECKTA, our mission is to Empower a Distributed, Profitable and Sustainable Future. We have built The Energy Transition Market Platform, to empower businesses and communities to adapt with purpose, taking a need from inception to a deployed and optimized energy solution, customized to your specific set of needs. Our approach is not about solving a situation with a binary sense of certainty. We are creating a collaborative community and ecosystem, industry leading evidence based technologies and combining them with the best tools, processes, workflows and industry partners to contribute to meaningful change. We believe that only those assets that can generate a positive return on investment and create value over their asset life should be deployed.
We are committed to working in partnership with you to adapt together and create profitable and sustainable outcomes.
Written By Gareth Evans
