My team rocks
Normally, I post things I find interesting or educational. For today, I want to brag and reflect on how awesome our creative team at work really is.
We are inches away from shipping our latest project, a mixed book of case studies and a short story. Just this morning, I hear from a very important supplier of ours. His email subject said, "sorry, I need to throw in the towel on this one." We commissioned him to help us with some pretty detailed stuff and with only hours before we were scheduled to go to press, he admitted he wasn't going to be able to pull through. While this was pretty uncharacteristic, considering all of the crazy life events he's faced recently, I wasn't surprised.
The feeling I had when I scanned through his note this morning was horrific, though. My stomach turned and I thought to myself, "how in the hell are we gonna pull this off?" This guy has spent the past 30 years perfecting the craft of the visual practitioner. These are incredibly skilled drawers and conversationalists. They help people see what they say. The drawings are usually pretty raw, containing just enough detail to convey the thought. With all his experience, he can pull off in two days what I figured would take us two months to do. After reading his email, I felt awful for him and terrified about what we were gonna do.
I came in early before everyone else today. I wanted to check out the proof and make a few comments before everyone showed up (I was in St. Louis teaching people about storytelling so I missed the big reveal). Instead of making a few finishing touches, I spent the first hour of the working day in shock, wondering what I could do. As people shuffled in and we got to our creative space, I let them know what was happening. And one by one, people just got to work. We started to break up what was left and just went after it. We made more progress today than I ever could've imagined.
People did admit they were trying things they had never done. There was plenty of self-doubt, fear and anxiety about the situation. And in the middle of the day, I had a wonderful reminder of why I also love the work I do; it's because of the bravery I get to witness every day. We are in a constant state of trying new things and "hoping for the best." We have no idea which of our creations will make the impact we expect. However, that's not what we get paid for.
We are paid to keep coming up with new ideas, to try new things and to not get discouraged when things don't work. We get paid to ship. That's it. No excuses. No explanations. Every day is a battle, usually with the problems we make up for ourselves. I had a moment where I was getting defeated, then I saw the courage our team brought to their work today.
What a beautifully horrifying day! I should be so lucky to do this next week.