Seth Kahan on Leadership // Monday Morning Mojo
Lost and Found
I was sitting in a plane on the way to Chicago and - horrors! - I put my iPad in the seat pocket in front of me for a moment. Next time I thought of it I was on my way into the city in the back of a cab.

Traffic was horrendous. It would take me two hours to get into town (because of my client, who was holding an expo that was drawing tens of thousands into the city - but, that's another story).  We were crawling along the highway and I knew I wasn't going back to the airport.  So, I googled what to do with that particular airlines.

The first thing the instructions said was, "Don't EVER put your belongings in the seat pocket in front of you." Late, but helpful nonetheless. I was feeling the sting of my mistake and that anchored the lesson for future plane rides.

screen saverNext was a link to the airlines online lost and found. The independent advice said it was the only resource, and then, "Good luck!" because there's nothing else you can do. So I filled out the form.

When I got to my hotel room I took out my laptop and used Find my iPad to see if the iPad took off with my plane. Nope. There it was in the airline garage. I could zoom in on Google maps and see exactly which building it was in.

I had my name and phone on the screen saver. I sent out a signal to make it beep. Then I let it go.

Twenty minutes later my cell rang. It was the airlines supervisor in the warehouse. "We got your iPad. Come and pick it up anytime. By the way, do you know that we have over 1,000 iPads here, with no way to find the owner!" Over 1,000 iPads. Thats about $500,000 of Apple product sitting in a warehouse of Lost & Found for just one airlines. On my return home I picked up my iPad. 

Make it easy for the things you treasure to return should they go missing (due to all-too-human error!).

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
- Henry David Thoreau
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