From Value Pricing to Pricing Value

CHAPTER 4

C#2 Comprehend Value

In 1949, 13 (out of a highly skilled team of 16 men) died battling a relatively small blaze that turned deadly in Mann Gulch, Montana. Upon investigating the circumstances of why 13 of the men died while only three lived, Norman Maclean wrote a book entitled Young Men and Fire, which is a true account of that fateful expedition of the “smoke jumpers”—firefighters who parachute into the back country to fight fires.

For those of you not familiar with the area, Mann Gulch is surrounded by steep canyon walls with the northern slope at a 75 percent incline. When the wind turned suddenly on the smoke jumpers that fateful day, they found themselves in a race for their lives up those steep walls in complete darkness ...