🎶 Where I’m From by Digable Planets
…you can’t think new thoughts in old words.Ted Nelson*
Teamwork is old like that brand of perfume you only smell on people over seventy. Ideas have to be reexplained, free from the baggage they carry from the past. When I hear “teamwork,” I hear paternalistic and nostalgic gym class teachers preaching the sham importance of a trust fall.
We landed a project at Holloway recently. As I looked it over, more than two years in the making, I was hit with a brand new emotion, one I’m still struggling to find words for. It was a sort of dumbstruck pride blended up with the gut-twisting debt that comes with gratitude. Disbelief that I could have been part of creating this thing, knowing there’s no way I could have created this thing without our team, knowing I didn’t create this thing any more than a symphony conductor creates music.
Who you work with can be the difference between labor, irksome and unavoidable, and doing your best work, encouraging and supportive. While you may not be surrounded by the latter, you can start small. Think of the people who you could see yourself working with for ten years. Invite them for a coffee, meal, or a beer. Tell them you respect them—you don’t have to know what you’d work on yet. There’s no telling what you’ll learn, but plenty of upside to what you will.
We’ll get back to our series on different functions of a business next week. Today I just wanted to say thanks to my team.
That’s Good Work for this week. Looking forward to what’s next.
Andy and the Holloway Team