On July 14, NASA’s New Horizons space probe flew 7,800 miles above Pluto mapping its surface, studying its atmosphere and sending never-before-seen images back to earth.
How does one begin to contemplate, plan and execute a 9 billion mile mission across our solar system?
Moreover, what can we learn from the New Horizons mission and apply to our daily work?
Competition Beats Death by Committee Every Time
You must have an “open ideas” mindset and a competitive environment to tweak, edit and advance those ideas.
Hurling a mini Cooper out of the earth’s orbit at 36,000 mph isn’t something you pull off if everyone’s holed up in silos “doing their thing.”
As Alan Stern, lead scientist for the mission, said in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, “Competition rocks. When the private sector started putting communications satellites in earth orbit, there was one company, and now there’s literally like 30 and it’s a $50 billion year market.”
Top-down equals dumb and slow. Bottom-up, coupled with an open, competitive environment, means better solutions for you and your organization.
Openness and competition creates an unstoppable force multiplier for your team.
If you don’t have it, you’ll find yourself sitting in a conference room fussing over paperclips and spreadsheets while another team is out making history.
Transparency
If you’ve seen even one NCIS, you know it takes a whole team to solve the crime.
LL Cool J (or, as Mom calls him, JJ Cool) and Chris O’Donnell don’t run around L.A. trying to crack the case on their own. They work in concert with an entire team. Excellent teamwork requires transparency.
The detectives work with crime scene analysts who work with evidence technicians who work with forensic pathologists and so on and so on until the case is cracked.
Transparency is a first cousin to having an open ideas mindset–similar, but different.
An open ideas mindset is a macro-level dynamic. It’s an ego-free climate nurtured by wise and mature leaders (H/t Heddy). True openness aids and abets your organization’s next great idea.
Transparency is more of a micro-level dynamic. It’s the play-by-play, one-on-one understanding that no one is operating with hidden agendas or schemes to manipulate. Transparency is “I trust you now, in this moment, just like you’ll trust me, one hour from now.”
Consider the thoughtful transparency needed on the New Horizons team. No kidding…Quite a lot!
This real human-to-human transparency frees the mind to do its best work.
A Purpose and Mission Bigger Than Yourself
Your company may not be exploring the outer reaches of the solar system, but have your people really connected with your reasons for existing in the first place?
The importance of working towards a higher purpose can’t be overstated.
It unifies individual players and makes the sum greater than the parts. It’s a daily reminder of what’s most important–not who’s right or wrong, not one style or another, not turf battles or personal agendas.
Imagine a team who enjoys their paychecks, but isn’t engaged in their work. Unfortunately, that includes the vast majority of U.S. workers (and global workers as well).
Now, compare a disengaged team with the zeal, passion and commitment shown by Stern’s New Horizons crew:
“People on this project, a lot of them were crying the other night. And when I looked at my social media, all these people were telling me that they were crying. I was a little boy when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and it was like that. People were crying all around the country. There were tons of stories about people having these emotional reactions.”
Stern continued, “We did it. Just three words: We did it.”
So, ask yourself: Does your mission–personal or organizational–inspire you to just do it?
If having a mission bigger than yourself is required to get to Pluto, how are you expecting to meet your company’s goals without aiming for a higher purpose?
There’s a better, smarter way. Just ask the New Horizons team.
By the way, in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, Stern answers the question we all really want to know.
Is Pluto a planet? Absolutely.
Have faith and stay strong fellow “MVEMJSUNP” space fans. Our favorite grade school mnemonic, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas,” remains intact.
Doug Wilks is the Lead Director at StrengthsLauncher. For more thoughts on discovering, developing and focusing your natural talent, please bookmark StrengthsLauncher/blog.com
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