technology meets creativity in a disaster-prone world. confident enough to try; humble enough to learn.
It’s that date again. I’ll attempt to offer something that if you didn’t know, you should: the story of a man named Rick Rescorla. Rescorla was VP of security at Morgan Stanley’s office in the World Trade center. Even *before* the 1993 bombing, he was convinced the towers were a prime target for terrorism, and even went so far as to urge the company to relocate. Leadership refused. So he created a detailed evacuation plan for the company’s twenty-two floors of offices, and conducted repeated drills – making a royal pain in the ass of himself. After the first plane hit, he called his friend & security consultant Dan Hill: ————- Rescorla came back on the phone. “Pack a bag and get up here,” he said. “You can be my consultant again.” He added that the Port Authority was telling him not to evacuate and to order people to stay at their desks. “What’d you say?” Hill asked. “I said, ‘Piss off, you son of a bitch,’ ” Rescorla replied. “Everything above where that plane hit is going to collapse, and it’s going to take the whole building with it. I’m getting my people the fuck out of here.” Then he said, “I got to go. Get your shit in one basket and get ready to come up.” ————- Rescorla was last seen on the tenth floor of the south tower, heading upwards, searching for anyone still left behind. Including Rescorla, thirteen Morgan Stanley employees were killed that day. Because of Rescorla, two thousand six hundred and eighty-seven Morgan Stanley employees (2,687) made it out safely.
The Real Heroes Are Dead – The New Yorker via http://ift.tt/1J2D8mh