Every Thursday we go to the recording studio to create
elements of the audio book, website, or blog project. The routine serves as a
continuing deadline to advance our work
and provides fellowship opportunities
among the team members who often work alone, aided by the various technology
tools that characterize contemporary small business. Linda, the Institute's
creative director, provides overall direction to product creation and always
makes sure we are all well fed.Her mantra, always feed the crew, has become an
important cultural touchstone in the developing personality of the institute.
We hold creative sessions over morning coffee and post-production meetings over
lunch. While that sounds simple and normal enough, the expression "always
feed the crew" holds deeper meaning for our young organization. The
genesis of the expression traces back through her 20 years of media work and
the importance of creating rhythm, synergy, and rapport among the various
creative disciplines collaborating in a film production. Often, the crew would
be on location and nature might provide a five minute window of just the right
light during a 24 hour day. To catch that moment, a collection of artists and
crafts people had to be present, ready, and in tune with each other. The
presence of food and refreshment served both to bond and nourish a collection
of individuals into collaborative creative community.
Every small
venture has their shared truth. Those small expressions that both simply
explain and express deep connection. The shared language and shared meaning creates
the "us" that is much greater than the sum of the individuals. The expression
simultaneously explains a simple truth and creates a bond of collaborative
excellence. It expresses the necessary magic of intuitive knowing that all high
performing ventures utilize.
Pay
attention to the every day language of your enterprise. Note the short form
communication that permits high performance and economy of effort. Listen carefully
to the knowing expressions of continuing problems or challenges, they almost
always contain the sign posts to important innovations. Last, appreciate the
rhythm and synergy of your enterprise. It is a very real artifact of your
venture and was breathed into life during the formative era of your business.
In the case of the Ridgefield Institute, the expression, always feed the crew,
means what it literally says but it also signals to each of us to give our best
craft to each other, to trust one another, and to strive to create distinctive
work in service to you.
Be joyous! Let now be beautiful.
Blessings, Thomas.
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