During the first winter storm this year in the Northeast, I found myself, along with hundreds of thousands of folks in the area, without power for the better part of a week. It was a long wait before the lights came on… and the heat.

Heck, they had to send the National Guard to my town, and an adjacent one, to start clearing downed trees.

The root cause of this whole mess was about a foot of snow on heavily treed land, when virtually all of the trees were still laden with their leaves. Near many trees were houses and power lines. You can guess the rest.

During the weekend leading up to the storm, the neighborhood was full of the sound of chainsaws and snow blowers. Then there was a lot of dark and cold. But we got through it.

The point here is that there is a lean lesson to learn from this experience. In fact, I think there are two related lessons.

Before the snow started flying, my youngest noted that my neighbor, Rich, was blowing the leaves and pine needles off of his driveway. Rich later shared that he wanted to avoid the messy mix of snow, leaves, and needles. At the time, I must admit, I was thinking perhaps that wasn’t a bad idea.

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