“I promised myself,” he said, “to never live that nightmare again.” These were the words of CEO Patrick Kron, of Alstom Inc. in France.

You can just feel the blood of his feelings.

He declared this sentence after convincing his board of directors to accept the effort of General Electric to buy part of Alstom.

Back about ten years ago, Kron had the displeasure of being involved in the debacle of having the French government come to the rescue of Alstom. He didn't want to repeat the experience.

I found the story compelling because of my River construct (see The River at the top of this page). Kron's words point to the River. He lived through something “up river”, meaning in his past, and then faced what he thought was largely the same dynamic in the present moment. He chose to do things differently.

He went through a stretch of terribly rough water ten years ago. He perceived that the chances were all too good that the same rapids were coming again. And he moved to avoid them.

He used his history. His/story. History.