#TalkoTuesday Fun
The Malcolm Butler Moment & The Magic of Talko
We spend a lot of time talking about Talko for teams and organizations. That’s where we’re focused as a business. Let there be no doubt, Talko is enterprise software. There are plenty of team customer case studies published on our blog. All fun reads!
But in 2015 there needn’t be a distinction between the tools we use in work and the tools we use in life. Particularly for a communications tool! So of course I use Talko to communicate with all my immediate and extended family, and all my friends.
It’s late August right now. That means it’s time to get ready for the upcoming football season. In thinking about this, I began by reflecting on the miraculous finish to last year’s NFL season.
Having grown up in New England and as a lifelong Patriots fan Super Bowl 49 is one I’ll never forget. The ending was so perplexing —
- “David Tyree, Mario Manningham, and now Jermaine Kearse?! Has it happened yet again?!?!”
- “Why isn’t Belichick calling a timeout? Call a damn timeout!!”
- “Okay, so don’t call timeout, but let them score then! Please let them score NOW so that we at least get the ball back with some time left!! Why aren’t we letting them score?!?!”
- “Um, why are the Seahawks throwing the ball from the 1-yard line?”
- “WHOA, omg, omg, omg… Are you kidding me?!?!?!?! Did that just happen? Who is that #21? Please don’t let let this be a dream, please.”
- “Belichick is a damn genius. A mere mortal would’ve called a timeout or let them score.”
One special aspect is that the game conversations with my closest friends are forever captured in a Talko call. Any of us can relive those conversations, many of which are quite comical, whenever the desire strikes.
When I thought about the upcoming season, the first thing I did was put myself back in the “Malcolm Butler Moment”. The opportunity to do so in Talko demonstrates how the ability to replay a special or important moment post-facto can be magical. This can be the case in both work and life matter.
The SB49 conversation in our Pats Chat channel is a lengthy and often intense mix of voice, text and photos. Over the course of the day — from pre-game, throughout the game, and extending into post-game — the six of us would dip into and out of this call. We were sometimes together LIVE, and other times just leaving messages.
Somewhere in the middle you see a bookmark labeled #malcolmbutler. This is the moment where he made the game-winning play that New Englanders will talk about for many years to come. If I tap the bookmark and hit Play, what you hear is the raw reaction of a couple of us mere seconds after the interception. (note: some text posts are masked so as to protect a fully transparent peak into the depths of our despair following the ridiculously unlikely/impressive catch by Jermaine Kearse)
Now, let me take a timeout here to recognize a couple things:
- A football game is a trivial thing relative to what deeply matters in this world. Yes, I do understand the ridiculousness of 40-something men screaming like schoolchildren, nearly reduced to tears by the freaking NFL. Stipulated. I’m not proud.
- I have many close friends who are Seahawks fans. There are even a few Jets fans who are otherwise pleasurable people. I know many people who simply love to hate the Patriots. To all of you: I’m certain you want to vomit right now. I get it. I’m sorry.
However, that moment is real, raw and priceless — to us.
Okay, timeout’s over.
Finally, mere seconds later, others came into the call LIVE and there was a celebratory chat. Enough time had passed at this point that some actual words could be spoken.
That’s it. This type of scenario is not a primary driver for our business. But in both work and life, there are important moments that occur when we talk. Many of these moments are deserving of being quickly found and replayed hours, days, weeks, months or even years later. The ability to do so can be pricelessly sentimental in life. In work, it can save time, money and a lot of team angst.
PS: Dear Malcolm Butler, I cannot say how sorry I am for not previously knowing who you were. I will never forget you.
