When you hear something that resonates, it’s a disservice to keep it to yourself! This isn’t specifically PR related, but it’s important and it’s my plea for more encouragement, more wisdom and more sharing the good stuff. The hard things won’t stop being hard, but after a few difficult years, celebrating the good is more important than ever before. For you, for your brand, for your organization and for your community.
A good friend of ours, Stan Zimmerman, harps on the art of “yes, and,” often. And, after hearing it a few times, it finally hit home. I’ve heard him say it before, but this past week I talked to him about a project and it stuck. In fact, I keep running the phrase through my mind.
Stan, from what I believe, was referring to opening doors and then opening them further. Exploring beyond the opportunity, solution, the event, the concept, the intention, to something even bigger, better or possibly even more fulfilling.
When someone says, “could you?” why not let your reply be, “yes, and” to see what comes of it. For us, it’s allowed our team to grow client initiatives, to champion new ideas, to work on bigger projects as a branch of a much larger team, to launch a festival and lately—to teach at the university level and enlighten a class with successful professionals in dozens of communications industries. In turn, it’s allowed me to speak to some of my idols, people I never thought I’d have a chance to meet, much less interview at the front of my class.
My recent “yes, and” comes down to this, I’ve always wanted to teach. And, I could have done it anywhere, but when the position at the University of Hawaii opened up, I thought, “yes, I can do that, AND because we work virtually it’ll allow our family to live part of the year in our favorite place.” Once I got the curriculum put into motion, I thought, “yes, I can teach this material, AND I can bring in interesting speakers." The speakers have not only brought a dimension to the classroom that I could’t have fulfilled, they’ve also encouraged me in many ways. I could share story after story, situation after situation, where a little nudge turned into something marvelous.
It’s funny how the “yes, and,” concept applies to relationships, client work, passion projects and social lives. But, in the midst of a pandemic I know many people were forced to do the bare minimum. Now that we’re learning how to live with COVID swirling the globe, I hope we can all say a few more “yeses” and follow them up with “and’s”.
I’m not sure what you’re working on right now, but I would encourage you to apply Stan’s, “yes, and,” concept too. When it bears fruit, I hope you’ll share it with us.