Tuk R Bust - A Dispatch from the Arctic Ocean

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that I was heading out on a little road trip.

The destination is Tuktoyaktuk - “Tuk” - about 7,000 km from my home in Ottawa and, quite literally, the end of the road. It sits on the Arctic Ocean at the end of Canada’s northernmost public road.

And just to make things interesting, I decided to drive there in my 1968 MGB.

As I write this - actually, dictate it from the car - I’m about an hour from Tuk.

I’m sure Tuk will be interesting. I’m sure we’ll take the obligatory pictures. And I’m told I may be coerced into an Arctic plunge.

But strangely, with the destination almost in sight, Tuk doesn’t seem quite as important as it did 7,000 kilometres ago.

The trip does.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have my three boys along for the expedition, each driving their own vehicle.

We’ve met wonderful people.

We’ve seen scenery that is almost impossible to describe.

And we’ve driven some of the toughest roads I’ve ever experienced — potholes, washboard, mud, flooded sections and sheer drops that make you question the wisdom of bringing a 58-year-old British sports car to the Arctic.

Somewhere along the way, “Tuk or Bust” became the name of our expedition.

But now I realize Tuk was never really the point.

It simply gave us a direction.

And I think there’s a business lesson in that.

We spend an enormous amount of time talking about destinations.

Revenue targets. Growth rates. Market share. An acquisition. A new geography. A five-year plan.

We need them. They set the compass.

But the really successful businesses I work with don’t just care about arriving at the destination. They care about the trip.

They enjoy discovering things along the way. They get satisfaction from overcoming obstacles. They enjoy working with the people beside them. And, occasionally, they even enjoy the muddy, flooded, pothole-filled bits.

Because if the only satisfaction comes from finally reaching the destination, an awful lot of your working life becomes something you simply have to endure to get there.

If I’d spent the last 11 days stuck in the back of a bus waiting to arrive in Tuk, this trip would have been hell.

Instead, I got to experience every kilometre of it.

And it has been fantastic.

So yes, we are going to make it to Tuk.

And when people ask where we went, Tuktoyaktuk will be the answer.

But Tuk was really just the compass setting that gave us an excuse to have the adventure.

Maybe your business objectives should work the same way.

Set a destination worth heading toward.

Then make sure you’re enjoying the trip. 

See you next time,

Andrew 

P.S. If you want to see what happens when you take a 1968 MGB to the Arctic, look up Andrew Penny Ottawa on Facebook. I’ve been posting daily videos from the road.