Saving Space Monkey

How do you lead when you’re not sure what’s going to happen?

That's a question I’m hearing from business owners, and I feel that frustration: not knowing what to do when people are counting on you. We may not know how the story ends, but we still have to tell it. It's terrifying, but it's what humans have been doing since the beginning.

Let’s talk about someone we’ll call Space Monkey who was in the Afghan Special Forces. These are elite units. US Special Operations partnered with and trained these forces. We built deep relationships and fought beside them.

I observed how fierce Space Monkey was in combat. That's where he earned his nickname. It’s like he was from another planet. He would run to the sound of gunfire before most could even react.

As things started to spiral in Afghanistan, he was getting serious death threats from the Taliban. Using some old friends of his, he managed to escape to Kabul.

The US started withdrawing, rapidly leaving major bases. Almost overnight, the Afghan National Army had no air support or artillery. The Taliban mounted a letter campaign to police chiefs and army commanders with pictures of their children saying, "When the Americans leave, you'll receive her head in the mail." The fix was in. Before the first shot was fired, the Taliban were exactly where they wanted to be.

Space Monkey is watching this and talking to a reporter friend and me. The reporter said, "I'm worried. If they get into Kabul, he's not going to make it. What are we going to do?”

The State Department announces that they are accelerating visa support, and Space Monkey gets a call saying, "We're verifying your employment." We're excited because that's the last step before the approval comes in. But he was trapped, and we were unsure how to get him out. Then the embassy falls, and the Taliban enter the city. The president of Afghanistan took off and the Afghan army and police surrender, leaving their weapons and equipment.

Space Monkey was hiding in his uncle's apartment. His uncle is worried that Space Monkey is going to get his family compromised, and Space Monkey has nowhere else to go.

The Kabul International Airport is the only airport left with a US presence. The only way that SIV applicants can get out is this airfield, but they have to get there on their own.

The reporter and I were trying to figure out how to help Space Monkey. I said, "I know people who know Space Monkey. If we can get a group together, maybe we can figure this out.”

We have to move him through the city, with multiple Taliban checkpoints, then he has to go through a Taliban perimeter around the airfield. Then, he has to get past Marines who are seeing these Afghans as potential threats. If he gets through, how is he going to show documents? If the Taliban see the documents for his visa, they're going to kill him. Plus, he's not manifested on any aircraft. Even if he gets through, they may kick him out and he's going to get executed. 

I needed people who could help with a range of activities, the State Department for the visa, the military to let him through, and somebody to move him through the city. I don't have the answers, but I have relationships. I got on this app, Signal, and started talking with people.

First, how do we move him? He’s an Uzbek. If he gets spotted by a Pashtun Taliban, he's done. I called my old cultural advisor and told him what I was doing. He had a Pashtun friend who drives a taxi and could get him through the checkpoints. 

How do we get him on the other side.? I reached out to a Green Beret buddy who knew Space Monkey and is really connected. He starts talking through secure networks. Then, another buddy that fought with Space Monkey now works interagency. He starts working with us.

Now, I need someone with political horsepower. I know a former Green Beret who is a congressman. I let him know what was happening. Within minutes, I had his staffers in the Signal room. They brought in connections from USAID and the State Department.

The driver shows up and Space Monkey has to go dark. Hours later, he's at the gate and says, "The guards won't talk to me. They keep saying ‘get back.’ My phone battery is low.” If he loses battery power, it's over. We tell him to shut his phone down, and only power up periodically.

We didn't know anybody at the airport, but we started reaching out to everyone we knew. Finally, the reporter found someone. This person told the reporter, "Use the call sign, ‘Pineapple.’"

When Space Monkey powered up his phone, he yelled “Pineapple!”, and they got him in. The elation inside that Signal room was indescribable. We did it.

So, how do you lead when you don't know what's going to happen next?

All we can do, as leaders, is commit ourselves to the task at hand, surround ourselves with people who can help us, stay with them, and let them know that we're with them. 

We don't always know the outcome, but we can tell the story about where we've been and where we are. With Space Monkey, rather than saying what we needed to do, I posed questions to the group, stepped back, they found the answers, then we formalized it into an approach. If it worked in that situation, I believe it can work for any industry.

We won’t always have the answers, but we know where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. Our people need to know we're not going to leave them, we're with them, and their input is valuable and essential. Our ability to listen, ask thoughtful, open-ended questions, guide discussions. and apply structure is key.