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🚢 "Pier Runners & Productivity: Why Your Team Keeps Missing the Boat"

🚢 "Pier Runners & Productivity: Why Your Team Keeps Missing the Boat"

(And How to Stop Being the Tourist Sprinting in Flip-Flops)

Jason Gwin
May 14, 2025

We’ve all seen those viral videos, sweaty tourists SPRINTING down the pier, waving frantically as their cruise ship sails off without them.

Hilarious? Yes
Embarrassing? Absolutely
A metaphor for your team’s missed deadlines? [Ding ding ding!] 🛎️

But here’s the truth: Your team has "pier runners" too.

➡️ The employee who waits until the last minute to finish a project.
➡️ The leader who doesn’t set clear deadlines, so everything’s a mad dash.
➡️ The meeting that could’ve been an email, wasting time you don’t have.

Result? Missed opportunities, blown budgets, and a team that’s always playing catch-up.

🚨 3 Reasons Your Team is Still Sprinting Like They’re in a Benny Hill Sketch

(Cue the Yakety Sax music… Now it’s playing in your head, isn’t it?)

1️⃣ “The Ship Leaves at 4” ≠ “I’ll Board at 3:58”

Cruise ships don’t care if your taxi was late or your wife had to buy one more straw hat.
Work version: “The client needs it Friday” ≠ “I’ll start at 4:30 PM Thursday.”

2️⃣ “I Packed My Passport… in the Wrong Bag” (Lack of Ownership)

Pier Runner Excuse Bingo: “The dog ate my ticket!” “My kid needed Dippin’ Dots!”
Work version: “IT didn’t fix my laptop!” “Bob didn’t send the numbers!”
Truth: The ship won’t turn around for your poor life choices.

3️⃣ “I Can Make It… If I Cannonball Off This Pier!” (Hail Mary Planning)

Newsflash: You’re not Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. That “last-minute save” will fail 9/10 times.
Work version: “We’ll just work all weekend!” → Spoiler: You won’t.

⚡ How to Be the Captain…Not the Guy Yelling “WAIT!” at a Departing Ship

The “No More Faceplanting on the Pier” Framework:

✅ Set a “Drunk Uncle Deadline” – Give a fake deadline 2 days early. (Like hiding veggies in kids’ food, they won’t notice.)
✅ Assign a “Pier Patrol” – Someone whose job is to yell “RUN!” before it’s too late. (Promote your most anxious employee.)
✅ Pack Your Go-Bag Early – Assume something will go wrong. (Because it will. Always.)

🎤 Real Talk from a (Reformed) Pier Runner

“I once missed a client deadline because I ‘got busy.’ My boss said: ‘Jason, even Carnival Cruise Lines leaves on time. Be better than Carnival.’”

⏳ Don’t Let Your Team Miss the Boat

(Unless you enjoy watching grown adults cry on a dock.)

🔹 Reply with your best pier runner fail (work or travel!). Best story gets a free “I Survived My Last Deadline” coffee mug. (Limit one per company. Mug may or may not exist.)

🔹 Forward to that coworker who’s always yelling, “WAIT, I NEED TO CHANGE THIS ONE THING!”

🔹 Book a FREE “Deadline Intervention” Call – I’ll help you stop the madness before you’re the next viral fail.[Click to Claim Your Spot Now ]

No sales pitch. No fluff. Just real solutions.

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