The Power of Pointing

“Jay did an exceptional job of creating our week-long training program,” said Gisele Litalien as she addressed the students, staff, and parents of the Northfield Mount Hermon Upward Bound Program.  Throughout our working relationship together, Gisele – then my boss – would model for me the art of pointing.

Angelita, the leader of this initiative…
Adam had a great idea about…
Sharon devised this system that completely improved…

Mostly, when standing before crowds, Gisele remained to erase herself from the equation.  She was invisible, or rather unseen, because she spent most of her time in the limelight pointing her audience’s attention to her team members.

Unfortunately, many of us have been trained to work with a limited resource mindset.  This is the idea that there is a finite amount of awards or accolades.  This false notion of scarcity fuels competition, self-centeredness, and backstabbing among team members. 

Gisele worked with the notion that reputation resources were unlimited; that it hurt no one, and actually had a positive impact, if she sang her team members’ praises. 

“You get to a point in your career,” Gisele said to me during my first stint as a director over a decade ago, “where you realize that if you point out your team member’s success, then it bolsters you own success.”

Contrary to popular belief, there is no ceiling on the number of team members who can receive commendation.  Pointing isn’t rude, as long as you are pointing with praise.

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