Seth wrote about orchestras today.
. . . if the performers wait for a leader in their section to go first,
every entrance and every attack will be muddled.
You need to go when it’s time to go,
not wait to follow closely behind.
I wrote about them a while back. They really do have lessons for proposal teams (as do most areas of joint human endeavour).
P.S. Just remember that the individual members of the orchestra and the proposal team aren’t deciding the timing on their own: They both look to the person serving as the conductor. Well, that’s the way it’s designed to work.
To amend Ecclesiastes and Pete Seeger, “there is a time to lead, and a time to not lead.” I remember hiking with daughter Sharon and three other friends. Miserable day, with constant rain. Sharon got to a beaver pond and sat down under an umbrella. The rest of us wanted to go on to the next lake. Dave got way out in front. I tried to catch up to him, to tell him the rest of us were heading home. I couldn’t catch up to him. When I finally did and upbraided him for not waiting, he said, “Well, every time I looked back, you were still following me, so I knew I should keep going.”
Jim – 🙂 When kayaking, we’re supposed to wear a whistle on our life jacket. The (apparently invariant) distress code is three blasts. I’ve never had to use it, but it’s nice to think that someone might hear and understand and come. I expect you could modify that for hiking in groups, but “staying in yelling/whistling contact” would have to be an agree protocol.