Another Bad News Day

The team had some bad news yesterday. We weren’t successful bidding competitively for a piece of work which we have been developing for three years. When I was told the news I went through the whole Kubler-Ross cycle in a matter of minutes: denial; anger; bargaining; depression and then grudging acceptance.

It was the second bid we failed to get in a week. Tough times! I know we need to pull together as a team at times like this. And I also know that we need to dig deep into our Core Values and connect with Optimism.

Two things struck me as I go through the process of accepting this news.

First, it’s really important to be clear that the end of the telescope that we look through is not the same as everyone else. To us, the news feels catastrophic. It’s a big deal! It’s so easy to generalise this and think that everyone else sees it the same way. Of course, they don’t. Outside of the team this is a tiny decision and doesn’t have the significance it has for us. We need to be clear about perspective.

Second, again this is all about perspective. As I walked to the railway station this morning I walked past a pickup truck with two newly crafted runs of stairs. They were unpainted and they were beautiful. I thought about all the times I walk on handcrafted staircases and so many other things that are made by people with immense talent. It must be amazing to craft something that is then used by countless people even long after we die.

And in that thought came the realisation that the work we are doing isn’t about a single bid or any particular moment. It’s the longer term impact we are having. It’s the stories we hear from people who tell us how our work has had a long term impact. It’s the transformations that we create.

That is why we “Do the Work”.

Also published on Medium.