Cultivating Potential: Maybe John Lennon, Seth McFarlane and Hulk Hogan succeeded in spite of us
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about cultivating potential versus feeding a system. In particular, in America’s education system and within our pace of business.
My children have had fantastic, caring teachers who have done incredible jobs with limited resources and systemic limitations they’re expecting to work within.
However, I’ve been thinking more so about the “system” in general, both in the classroom and later in life for those same kids, inside so many work environments.
I worry about what’s being encouraged and made a priority, versus what (due to time, expectations, and budget constraints) gets discouraged, overlooked, neglected and perhaps not ultimately valued as a priority. I wonder how many work cultures and classrooms have to sacrifice uniqueness, potential and breakthrough for the ‘common good.’
Both my parents, retired educators, worried about the same thing throughout their careers. Of course, there’s exceptions. As a rule, it seems that in our American educational system and so many workplaces, we’re so caught up in the tyranny of the urgent and the madness of the momentum. Keeping things on track seems to have disproportionately overshadowed and out-prioritized giving place for true potential and hidden talents to develop and flourish.
Many organizations refuse to change even though their market, customers and employees have. Many don’t have either the processes, patience, desire or capacity to recognize gifts in the people around them every day. Maybe it’s partly the inability to recognize them. Maybe they do, but just don’t have the capacity nor feel the responsibility to cultivate them.
Maybe it’s an inability to see and understand the ROI on the investment if it’s not directly task-related or mission-critical. But too often, they dismiss them because they don’t fit a title, a project, a current need, or a system. So we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re putting the same expectations on educators, and perhaps missing the real opportunities we’re supposed to be looking for, encouraging, slowing down for…the game changers, the impact seekers, the life shapers, the difference makers.
Imagine, for a minute, if these conversations actually happened. Maybe they actually did. I’m pretty sure they happen every day between parents and children, leaders and employees, teachers and students. I’m also pretty sure they happen regularly in our heads as the story we tell ourselves — to stay comfortable and not go out on the limb, where the real fruit usually is — replays over and over.
“Mr. & Mrs. Lennon, please inform your son that his 5thtardy this week means he can no longer qualify for our after-school band program. While his excuses of playing music with his 3 friends in corner pubs is admirable, they in no way take the place of a formal music education. He simply will have to choose between closing down Liverpool bars or a quality music education with us. We believe the choice is obvious. Please let us know of your decision as responsible parents concerned about his future.”
“Mr. Macfarlane, this is the 4th time we’ve caught you, during the workday in your cubicle, drawing cartoons and cutting jokes. You’re here to learn from this internship at our company, so you can one day get a job to support yourself. These distractions must stop immediately.”
“Mrs. Hogan, your son will once again be in detention after school for wrestling classmates on the playground. This is a school; we are trying to prepare him for his future. His friends are even calling him ‘Hulk’! Continuing such behavior will result in expulsion. Consider this his last opportunity to change.”
When true greatness and potential are first unveiled, it’s usually very subtle, like showing up as a baby in a manger. It occurs during the flow of “same old same old”, and usually gets overlooked or set aside as a distraction from the task at hand.
Just wondering, how many times someone in leadership was so adamant and focused on adhering to rules of a system, that they missed true passion, undiscovered genius and transformative gifts. How many times has raw talent been overlooked, unrecognized, and died on the doorstep of a project deadline to simply “get it out the door.” How many systems, requiring three bids in a vendor selection process, end up producing a pre-determined outcome based on antiquated policies for choosing partners, versus empowering a leader to choose a partner who could propel an idea forward?
So, maybe the question is, what are you willing to slow down for and make room for?
What are we willing to invest in and cultivate?
What are we willing to risk to unlock potential in others?
Outside of your employee’s job, or your student’s syllabus-fulfilling activities, what do they do nights & weekends, on lunch break, or when they get pockets of down time to be their authentic selves? You might find their real gift, and it just might turn your classroom, your company, and maybe even your own future around, if you’re willing make room for it, and be courageous enough to defend its place.