The Backup Plan

The meeting began at 7:01 AM.

Aditi 2 had called it.

Nobody was surprised.

Aditi 2: I'd like to discuss contingency planning.

Aditi 1: No.

Aditi 3: Hard no.

Aditi 2: You haven't even heard it.

Aditi 1: The words "contingency planning" are enough.

Aditi 3: Agreed.

Aditi 2: This organization lacks redundancy.

Aditi 1: What does that mean?

Aditi 2: It means if one thing goes wrong, everyone panics.

Aditi 3: That's called excitement.

Aditi 2: It's called poor planning.

Aditi opened a notebook.

At the top of the page were the words:

BACKUP PLAN

Aditi 1: This is going to be terrible.

Aditi 3: Proceed.

Aditi 2: Question one.

What is our backup plan if the candle business fails?

The room became quiet.

Aditi 3: Rude.

Aditi 2: It’s a hypothetical.

Aditi 3: Still rude.

Aditi 1: We’d build something else.

Aditi 2: Interesting.

Aditi 3: Yeah.

Aditi 2: Question two.

What if the job disappears?

Aditi 1: We’d figure it out.

Aditi 3: Agreed.

Aditi 2: Question three.

What if everything goes wrong at once?

Silence.

Aditi 1: That’s a dramatic question.

Aditi 2: Answer it.

Aditi 3: Honestly?

Aditi 2: Honestly.

Aditi 3: We’d still figure it out.

Aditi 1: Yeah.

The room became quiet.

Aditi 2 looked down at her notes.

Aditi 2: That’s not a plan.

Aditi 1: It’s worked so far.

Aditi 3: Surprisingly well.

Aditi 2: I’m serious.

Aditi 1: So are we.

Aditi 2 paused.

Then she flipped backward through the notebook.

Page after page.

Years of notes.

Goals.

Problems.

Plans.

Crises.

Deadlines.

Things that had seemed catastrophic at the time.

Things they barely remembered now.

Aditi 2: Wait.

Aditi 1: What?

Aditi 3: What?

Aditi 2: I think I’ve been asking the wrong question.

The room waited.

Aditi 2: I’ve spent years trying to create the perfect backup plan.

Aditi 1: Yeah.

Aditi 3: Definitely.

Aditi 2: But that’s not actually what got us here.

Aditi 1: What did?

Aditi 2 looked around the room.

Aditi 2: Us.

The room became quiet.

Aditi 2: Every time something fell apart...

Aditi 3: We adapted.

Aditi 1: We learned.

Aditi 2: We kept going.

Nobody spoke.

Aditi 2: The backup plan was never the spreadsheet.

Aditi 3: Ooooh.

Aditi 1: That's good.

Aditi 2: I know.

Aditi 2 closed the notebook.

Aditi 1: So what's the official backup plan?

Aditi 2 thought for a moment.

Then she wrote a single sentence.

Aditi 2: No matter what happens, we'll figure it out.

Aditi 3: That's not a plan.

Aditi 1: That's literally the opposite of a plan.

Aditi 2: I know.

Aditi 3: Then why are you smiling?

Aditi 2: Because it's the only plan that's never failed.

Narrator:
The backup plan was officially approved.

It was vague.

Unmeasurable.

Operationally irresponsible.

And somehow, everyone felt better.

End of Chapter 20.