Keeping it in the Bag
A company came in to give us a presentation on their business.
One of them brought with them a small brown Starbucks bag. At one point he left it at the end of the table. I thought he left it there by accident so I picked it up and put it near him. “Oh, you can have some. It’s treats and cookies and stuff,” he said, and just let it sit there. I wasn’t going to dig through it. That’s not my responsibility. If he placed the items on the table then I’d feel free to grab some, but until then they were stuck on the table in the bag not at all fulfilling their intended and purchased potential. It wasn’t my role to empty its contents.
We all have something to offer. As much as you may doubt your creativity and a unique perspective you have both to offer; though you may have left them in the nice paper bag you brought with you. You’ve brought it to the meeting, but you haven’t invested in the hard work of laying it out. Hidden in the bag, not many will go in and pull it out of you. That’s risky. But when you do the business of pulling it out of yourself and lay it out, odds are your unique insight and creative ability may just be used to help change the course of that project or idea.
That’s where meaningful work begins. But you have to empty the bag first.
