BIG BLOG

Shark Week

BY JEFF REDMON/BREAKTHROUGH IMPACT GROUP

I’ll admit it, I am fascinated by sharks…

As a scuba diver, I have experienced over 50 shark dives over the years. To see a shark in the wild is rare, a bit unnerving, and exhilarating all at the same time. I remember the very first shark I saw, it was a 6-foot nurse shark sleeping on the sand under a coral head. For me, who was a brand new diver, there was a high pucker factor involved. I was terrified. In later years, I learned that if you hold your hand under the chin of a female nurse shark, they go into a trance. Nurse sharks represent no threat to humans. Who knew?

On a trip to Palau, I saw a neon shark and I told my wife, someday I got to have me one of those. As I was opening my office in 2001, my dad had a custom neon shark made for my office. It’s awesome. Until my latest move, it glowed continuously for years. My law firm and my coaching business both have shark themes in their logos.

Sharks get a bad rap. You are a million times more likely to die from a heart attack than a shark attack. They are amazing ancient creatures; sharks have been around for 450 million years. Sharks are the absolute epic of the food chain until man came along.  100 million sharks a year are killed by the fishing industry.  

Sharks at various times have been said to symbolize authority, curiosity, efficiency, connection, guardianship, innovation, knowledge, mystery, observation, power, perception, protection, superiority, movement, and self-defense. Which of those words would you not want your business to be described as?

While #SharkWeek brings notoriety and adds to the mystic of sharks, it always adds to my wonder and curiosity about these amazing creatures.