In the Presence of Greatness

Have you ever been in the zone so much, or just in a groove where you are energized about an idea that you even lose sleep? If you’ve been there, you know it’s usually a short amount of time like a few weeks or even a few months, if you are lucky. It seems like all your energy goes into this idea and you can’t stop connecting everything around you to this idea.

I played music for a long-time, and in our group we used to refer to this as “writing mode.” It didn’t last long, but we all knew when one of us musicians got that, we could write 3-4 songs in that window, and that’s where our real creativity came. Nothing seemed forced, it just came so easy.

This is a really cool state to be in, and so impactful that we even have books dedicated to this; however, most of our literature and even ideas about this are presented from the perspective of the one that’s in the zone. What about the others involved with this? What if you aren’t the leader of a group, but you are in the presence of greatness as your colleague gets in the zone? What do you do when you are in the presence of greatness?

I had never given consideration to this question until recently, when I was working alongside of a colleague, Chad Ervin, that was in the zone. I would come into the brainstorming room and just watch him work. This wasn’t a difference in passion, as I was also excited, engaged, and passionate about what we were doing, but my connections to ideas were only happening at about 55 mph, and his were somewhere along the speed of 105 mph! Chad was developing a model for looking at relationships based on fear and engagement, and I think he had to have created twenty-some-odd models before settling on something that was easy to understand, and easy to present. He even went into statistical analysis, which happens to be my specialty… only while in the zone, he was doing circles around me!

My initial thought was to slow him down so I could catch up… in fact, we even read this in literature and hear this from leaders as advice to those who are in the zone. “Pause, slow down and don’t leave your team behind.” I get the response, and can appreciate where that comes from. But I started thinking… when do I want them to pause and slow down? I know the value of being in “the zone” and that it is short lived… I don’t want to jeopardize that for me to catch up.

When in the presence of greatness, what if my role was to recognize the difference in speed while they are in the zone, and figure out how best I can serve them, challenge them, and keep their energy levels high so that they can complete their ideas? Looking at this scenario from working alongside of greatness, I can play a crucial role in the success of the innovation if I look at how best to serve the project and the person in the zone. Once the project is complete, I can have them bring me up to their level.

I used my scenario as a “test space” to figure out how or even if this would work. I was shocked at how well it made me more of a “team” player. I found myself stepping back and truly admiring the work rather than getting caught up with the fact that I couldn’t keep up. I continued to engage and learn as much as I could, but my focus on the team had shifted from trying to be just as much of an expert to making his work seamless. He truly had a great idea, and I needed him to finish this project so the leaders in the organization could benefit along with the front-line staff.

It wasn’t about me anymore, rather it was about serving my teammate in their moment of greatness. What do you do when in the presence of greatness?