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Kung fu reflexes in a project meeting
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Close to Pointe-Claire. Montreal, Canada. Circa 2011. A pen flies across the meeting room. Not metaphorically. A real pen. From the other side of the table. The guy receiving the missile activates his very sophisticated kung fu reflexes and leans to one side. Impact avoided. Silence. Everyone in the room freezes. Then he says: “Don’t get angry. If we don’t solve this now, things are going to get pretty bad for all of us. And in the blame game, nobody wins.” The meeting goes on. No more flying objects. Except for a few good ideas. A couple of solutions. And a path forward. Twenty minutes after the meeting, the two guys were having coffee together. As good friends. Because they were. Look. In the room, there are moments when performance is not optional. It is essential. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone tries to improve their position. Everyone wants the upper hand. And yes, at some point, even friends stop being friends for a while and start defending their colours. That is part of the game. An exciting game. A brutal game. A beautiful game. If you know how to play it. Nine hours before the highway opened, while one of the guys was still running the final tests, the pen thrower looked at him and said: “Good luck tomorrow.” And the highway opened on time. By hours. Problems solved. Solutions put forward. Relationships intact. Successful project. That is what people don’t understand about being in the room. It is not about being nice. It is not about being aggressive. It is not about winning every exchange. It is about keeping your head when the pen flies. Literally, sometimes. And still finding the way forward. If you want to learn how to perform in the room… Hopefully with fewer flying objects… You know where to click. ​The Room​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
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