Conquering your Mission Impossible
I wish you could have been there to see what I’ve just seen.
When we gathered those advisers, and they all learned how to soar
Above the problems they were facing, and the questions they all had.
When they learned to face “Impossible!” in a way they couldn’t before.
Imagine fourteen of you meeting, p’raps you’ve never met ‘til now.
Imagine all of you are blindfolded (“Now don’t cheat!” and we all laughed).
In each hand is placed an object, as you’re seated, wondering “What?”
For you thought you were intelligent. But now you’re feeling rather daft!
What’s about to start will test you to the limits of your skills.
This game will face you with uncertainty, and will give you so few clues.
It will mimic what you’ll wrestle with as life’s changes hit you hard
In the future you’re now facing. Some will triumph. Some will lose.
If this sounds like just what’s happening in the business that you’re in,
Well, it’s meant to! For this game you’re in is not there just for fun.
It’s designed to test how folks behave when stakes are awfully high.
Read on, and I will share with you how this business game was won.
“The answer you’re to seek will seem to make the quest more hard:
Two pieces, they are missing. Which ones? And then, please understand,
That the magic’s in the second clue: listen hard to what I say.
You can ask me just one question: “What’s The Colour in My Hand?”
“When you speak it must be full out loud. No whispering to your mates.
For you’re all in this together. And that’s the point of why we’re here:
To wake you to the fact that you are not the only one
With genius in your makeup. You’re a team: let’s get that clear!”
It took them 40 minutes to complete this daunting task.
Their brows were nit. Their breathing tight. So careful what they said.
But, together, they did solve what at first seemed far too tough.
Four truths they learned, to navigate the unknown world that lay ahead.
Truth One: they had to listen hard to each person in the room.
If just one voice was omitted, then they’d never reach their goal!
(Yet I see too many meetings where the leaders hog the time
And fail to draw from everyone the genius in each soul!)
Truth Two: they learned the power isn’t in what you’ve to say.
For each of us says far too much! And there the process stalls.
The power lies within the type of question that we ask.
Too few of us build up that skill. On that, success can rise or fall.
The Third Truth that emerged? It did surprise me as I watched.And that’s how leadership shows up, when dire problems call.
The leader in each moment was the one who thought most clear.
And their titles and positions held no meaning there at all!
Truth Four: each person present tried so hard to understand
What the others were explaining as each voice was carefully heard.
Too often we demand that others understand us first.
“That your view, it is true as mine? Well, surely that’s absurd!”
The world we’re working in is full of frightening uncertainty.
And, by ourselves, we’re ill equipped to navigate each need.
The way we’ll take “Impossible” within our grasp will be
When we learn the Truths these fourteen learned. Wiser will we be indeed!
When we learn the Truths these fourteen learned. Wiser will we be indeed!
