Where Is Your Throttle Set?

Sigh.

As I walked the halls of Imagine!’s offices on Monday, I saw a lot of downcast faces. Located in sunny Lafayette, CO, we have a strong contingency of Denver Broncos fans, and Denver’s blowout loss in Sunday’s Super Bowl seemed to leave many in a sour mood. While I am not originally from around here, and still hold my loyalty to another team (which I won’t mention), I have lived in Colorado long enough to have developed an affinity for the Broncos, so I could relate to feelings of discomfort.

That won’t stop me, of course, from making some observations about things I heard both before and after the game, and connect them to the work we do at Imagine!.

Taking advantage of significant snowfall in the mountains, I went up skiing Sunday morning to get in a few fresh powder runs before heading back home to Boulder to watch the game. On the way home, I listened to the pre-game show on the local radio station. The show featured interviews with Broncos players, coaches, and management. All of them, when asked about the mood of the team leading up to the big game, said something about how relaxed the team was, and how they were treating and preparing for this game like any other game.

I think the final results would indicate that perhaps this wasn’t a good strategy. Now, I know that you can’t put too much value on what sports figures say in interviews with the media. For the most part, they are trained to not say much of anything publicly, lest they somehow give their opponent extra motivation. But the “relax, this game is no different from any other” refrain came up enough for me to think there was some truth to it. I can often be heard using the term “throttled back” when speaking of my personal relaxation. Makes a person wonder about the position of the Broncos throttle on game day.

Unfortunately, not all games are created equal. The Super Bowl isn’t like any other game, and the Seahawks’ throttle was forward as they recognized that this game was more important than most.

I see parallels in our field. Not every day or every task at Imagine! is equal. Sometimes we have to prepare a little extra, or we have to focus a little sharper. A day spent getting caught up on paperwork is not the same as a day spent meeting with a family who just learned that their infant child has a developmental delay and will need services. We need to prepare for those two days in different ways. And if we aren’t able to see the difference, we can put ourselves at risk of not being up to the task at hand.

Now for the second Super Bowl related parallel to the work we do at Imagine!. In a post-game interview, Peyton Manning was asked if he felt the loss was embarrassing. He replied, “It’s not embarrassing at all. I would never use that word. There’s a lot of professional football players in that locker room, who put a lot of hard work and effort into being here and into playing in that game. The word ‘embarrassing’ is an insulting word to me, in truth.”

Now, I get that he was probably disappointed, and being interviewed after a painful loss on the biggest stage in football can’t be a pleasant experience. So I don’t fault him for his response. But I must vehemently disagree with Mr. Manning. Failure can be embarrassing, and there is nothing wrong in admitting it. Heck, simply stumbling while walking up a set of stairs is embarrassing. I know this has been said many times before, but failure and embarrassment can be significant learning experiences. If we shut off the possibility that we can be embarrassed, we potentially shut off the opportunity to learn from the experience and apply those lessons in our subsequent actions. There have been moments (more than I should probably admit) where my actions at Imagine! have led to failure and embarrassment. We work in an environment where the unexpected is common, and anyone who positions themselves above embarrassment, or who says they have never made a mistake in our field is either untruthful or so uncreative in their work that they shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. As an organization and as individuals, we need to have the strength to admit shortcomings and embarrassment and move forward, hopefully better for the experience.

Then again, what do I know?