The Figurative Apex Predator

A while back I was introduced to Jimmy Carr. He’s a British comedian who I thought simply liked to tell dick jokes until I actually listened to him on and off the stage — he’s a master of the one liner and crowd work. He’s very funny, very smart and very thoughtful. I say this mostly for context but also as a reminder that shallow observations rarely offer any true understanding.

Jimmy Carr once offered an insight during an interview — he mentioned that if you drop a person in the Amazon jungle you are offering up lunch but if you drop 10 people into the same jungle, you have an apex predator. He went onto say that our strength as a species is in our ability to cooperate. This makes us strong, capable, inventive, and when needed, dangerous.

This got me thinking and solidified my belief that the best versions of people don’t come in the form of an individual but rather as part of a team. I struggle to think of a situation where an individual will best a group of people — formal cooperation makes it easier over a loose affiliation to be sure but since we are a social bunch, ultimately the individual never stands for long.

As I reflect on the best teams I’ve ever been associated with, I keep coming back to a few foundational considerations — build your teams with smart, curious and diverse people, outline objectives and expectations as guiding principles, create an environment that encourages respectful and candid communication and finally, offer space for the people to collaborate and be creative.

Is this easy, particularly when the team gets larger? No it is not. Although, if you’ve developed a good team around you, it happens all the time. The recent Artemis II launch comes to mind as we get ready to return to the moon.

Thank you team earth.

iamgpe