“I can make glass tubes”
Jim HarrisOne of my favorite television writers is Aaron Sorkin (more famous for creating The West Wing), who created the short-lived Sports Night, where William H. Macy guest-starred as an expert consultant brought in by executive management.
In a “strategy session” scene, where executives are dictating mandatory changes, Macy's character calls for a break, allowing the frustrated team to leave the room before losing their composure. He then asks executive management to take a walk with him.
Unbeknownst to them as it is happening, while he proceeds to escort them out of the building, he recites the following:
“You guys know who Philo Farnsworth was?
He invented television. I don't mean he invented television like Uncle Milty [Milton Berle].
I mean he invented the television in a little house in Provo, Utah, at a time when the idea of transmitting moving pictures through the air would be like me saying I figured out a way to beam us aboard the Starship Enterprise.
He was a visionary. He died broke and without fanfare.
The guy I really like though was his brother-in-law, Cliff Gardner.
He said, ‘Philo, I know everyone things you're crazy, but I want to be a part of this. I don't have your head for science, so I'm not going to be able to help much with the design and mechanics of the invention, but it sounds like you're going to need glass tubes.’
You see, Philo was inventing the Cathode Ray Tube [CRT], and even though Cliff didn't know what that meant or how it worked, he'd seen Philo's drawing, and he knew that he was going to need glass tubes. And since television hadn't been invented yet, it's not like you could get them at the local TV repair shop.
‘I want to be a part of this,’ Cliff said. ‘I don't have your head for science. How would it be if I were to teach myself to be a glass blower? And I could set up a little shop in the backyard. And I could make all the tubes you'll need for testing.’
There ought to be Congressional Medals for people like that.
[At this point, and quite understandably, executive management was very confused.]
I've looked over the notes you've been giving over the last year or so, and I have to say they exhibit an almost total lack of understanding of how to get the best from talented people.
You said before that for whatever reason, I seem to be able to exert some authority around here.
I assure you it's not because they like me. It's because they knew two minutes after I walked in the door, I'm someone who knows how to do something.
I can help.
I can make glass tubes.
That's what they need.”
What's my point?
Sometimes—and with the very best of intentions—when we try to help others, we have a tendency to try to get them to change everything they are currently doing. More specifically, we try to get them to do things our way.
After all, our way works great for us, surely it will work just as well for them, right?
Wrong.
Judy Garland once said, “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.”
So, if you want to help others be a first-rate version of themselves, then follow Cliff Gardner's lead.
Take a good look at the situation, realize the person you are trying to help is full of potential, and probably just needs a little help with something very minor.
Listen carefully to the person you want to help—and then—kindly let them know:
“I can make glass tubes.”
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Reader Comments (5)
Excellent story Jim, with a great message for me to burn some calories thinking about. Thanks for sharing!
Jim,
You've done it again. Totally captivating post. Real food for thought.
Thanks,
Charles
I think that you and I have the same leadership approach:
Show what you can do; offer assistance; offer suggestions; show value and success; explain your thought process; but don't force people to comply through retributive policies. What I've heard some simply call a "soft touch" approach.
I have to admit that one of my own traps is personal arrogance - I sometimes think that I'm more right than I really am. There are times when you need to tell someone that you think they're headed down the wrong path.
Suppose Philo was trying to make CRTs as a combination of a steel funnel with glass facing somehow welded on rather than a glass tube. Cliff could have said, "I can make sheets of glass" because that's what his brother-in-law was looking for; but if he saw benefit to a design with a solid glass tube over the multi-material solution he still needed to say "I can make glass tubes ... a glass tube seems like a better solution to me for these reasons ..."
My point in stretching the analogy is to demonstrate that we can also offer suggestions and design alternatives with positive karma, too. It's important to learn how to do that so you don't end up helping bad solution designs fail.
I am a huge fan of both Macy and Sports Night, a criminally underrated show. Thanks for the morning Zen.
Thanks everyone for your comments, your feedback (as always) is greatly appreciated.
@Paul I can definitely relate to the trap of personal arrogance. Anyone who has worked with me in the past can verify that whenever they explained their intended approach to solving a problem, I would always respond with:
“Well, you could do it that way.”
Which, of course, really meant:
“But, if you really want it to work - you'll need to do it my way.”
Although I definitely agree with your point that it's important to constructively criticize obvious mistakes and poor designs when you see them, I think that most of us (myself included, of course), simply proceed to assuming our way is the only way, without even reviewing what others were planning to do.
You are right - this is a difficult balance to maintain, especially in areas of our professional expertise.