Welcome to the Offbeat Leader Blog!

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason. Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone. Mystery fans read their exploits for the thrills, puzzles, and escapism that only a well-written page-turner can provide. But when it comes down to it, we’re all the protagonists in our own mystery stories. Consider this:

1. You’re a loner. Sure, you have buddies, business contacts, and maybe some followers on Twitter, but living your life is really all up to you. You have to get to work each day, figure out your own dinner, and pay your bills. At the end of the day it’s sink or swim, pal.

2. You’ve got a problem. You’ve got something you gotta fix. And when you fix it, you get another problem. It’s why there are sequels. No matter what your line of work, somebody’s trouble is your business.

3. You need money. Some of us need more than others but lurking in the back of everyone’s head is a financial worry. You need to find a way to afford something, pay something off, or save for something. It’s why you hang out your shingle. And when you have plenty of dough you get a new problem—making sure it ain’t lost or swiped.

4. You’ve got a nemesis. It could be a co-worker, boss, or competitor. Maybe it’s an in-law, landlord, or a ruthless ex-somebody. Without naming names, there’s an antagonist in your life you need to contend with and they might want to see you out of business—sometimes in more ways than one.

5. You’ve got a vice. Giggle juice, a honey on the side, the blackjack table. You’ve got flaws, just like every other Dame and Jasper in town. Maybe they’re manageable, maybe not. Abraham Lincoln famously said he didn’t trust a person who had no vices. But whatever it is, it’s trouble if it’s hanging over you and threatens to bring down the whole racket.

6. Somebody vexes you. You’ve got someone in your life you don’t quite understand, and who doesn’t understand you. Your interactions might not have the crackling dialogue of a Bogart-Bacall flick, but the relationship challenges are the same. You both want something.

7. You don’t know what’s coming. It’s called suspense. You can make plans, work the angles, and try and guess what’s around the next corner. But facts are facts, and just like a dime novel protag you just don’t know how your book is going to end.

Next post, Solve Your Problems Like a Sleuth.

When it comes to leaders, one need look no further than one’s mom. In this post, we salute all the moms out there who aren’t walking on the moon, or climbing Mount Everest, or fighting the elements on their way out of Antarctica…because they are engaged in an adventure that is far more difficult….raising kids!  It’s the greatest adventure of all, and here at OffbeatLeader we salute you!

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

–Washington Irving

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”

–George Washington

A guy I know told me how tough it is for him to accept that his house is worth less than what he paid for it. It hurts him to write that fat mortgage check each month. His wife just had another baby, and his future with his current employer appears dim. “I’m almost underwater,” he said. “I don’t know how long I can stay afloat.”

For starters, how about 133 days? That’s how long Chinese merchant sailor Poon Lim survived on a makeshift raft after his British-flagged vessel, the SS Ben Lomond, was torpedoed in the South Atlantic during World War II.

Poon Lim’s story is one of the first survival-adventure tales I recall reading—way back in elementary school—and it was so incredible, I’ve never forgotten it.

With his fellow sailors down in Davy Jones’s Locker, Lim clambered aboard a small raft stocked with emergency tins of biscuits and drinking water. He figured he’d have enough to hold out until he was rescued. But there would be no government bailout for Lim. A month passed with no sign of rescue, and Lim—a ship’s steward with no survival training—knew it was up to him to find a way to stay alive.

Lim used what was at hand, fashioning a crude knife from an empty rations tin and jury-rigging the canvas cover of his life vest to collect rainwater. Nails from the raft became fish hooks baited with the last of his biscuits. With patience his ally, Lim managed to pull a struggling fish from the dark blue depths. After devouring the cold, tasty flesh, Lim let the fish remains bake in the sun where they lured in seagulls eager for a free meal. Lim managed to grab and subdue the gulls and add them to the menu. (I still remember how the raw gulls were described as having an “oily taste.”)

When faced with a dire predicament the mind often dwells on dark thoughts. But Lim knew he had to keep his head occupied in a positive way with a disciplined daily plan. He maintained his raft, fashioned tools, and fished. He celebrated each little victory over the elements, and tracked the weeks at sea by tying knots on a rope.

Several times while adrift Lim sprang to his feet and thought he was saved. A ship passed by but never acknowledged his desperate cries for help. Another day a squadron of planes buzzed overhead but never spotted his tiny raft against the expanse of the Atlantic. Then there was the time when a U-boat surfaced a stones-throw away, but the crew paid him no mind. His heart sank yet again, however, Lim knew that as long as he was alive, there was hope.

Finally after over four months at sea, Lim was rescued by fishermen off the Brazilian coast. Hailed as a hero, the castaway was honored by the King of England, and eventually emigrated to the United States. Later, the Royal Navy created survival-training materials based on Lim’s tactics.

Like my friend with his housing and job woes, you can’t control a dashed career prospect or tough financial blow. But like Poon Lim, you can re-evaluate your own skills and prospects and take action to make sure you survive. As Lim knew, there’s always an opportunity somewhere on the horizon.