I’m writing this post while sitting at my gate in the Phoenix airport on a layover on my back to Oklahoma City. It’s loud and quite the polar opposite of sleepy Malibu with people stressing of making it to their plane in time to board. It’s an abrupt reminder that the airport is not one focused on the process but the product. Why did they design airports to be so utilitarian? Can we apply some of the concepts learned in Cadre Camp’s design to the airport? Do we need loud intercom systems going at all times? Does security have to feel so procedural? Does anyone feel more comfortable after going through that? Why can’t it be like a theme park? What if the airport had a complimentary hotel connected to the airport so that you could check your bags and get screened early and not feel rushed for those 6am flights where you rush out of the house in a haze? What if they had a complimentary wake up call service that let you know if your plane had arrived and would be arriving shortly?
So apparently this is what a post-Cadre Camp world is like. One where, like your action research, you put a critical lens to the world you exist in and consider how you would fix it had you the power to do so. Whether that is a blessing or curse has yet to been determined.
As I reflect on the week as a whole, I wanted to pull out a few big themes I took away this week:
This program is about the process. This week’s process was the people.
From the group projects to simply sharing a living space together, I was able to form incredible bonds with people quicker than I could have ever imagined. I heard several Cadre members comment on how welcoming the group was and how much everyone seemed to really enjoy everyone. People consistently were inviting others to join the lunch table or offering assistance with a project. I don’t take for granted the fact that I have tangible memories with these people to take with me. It would be interesting to study how effective this program would be had the Cadre Camp been 100% digital or—even further—digital and sans video. Yes, relationships can definitely be formed in the context of the classroom and its curriculum but they are strengthened in the fringe. I learned how to work with someone on the project, but I got to know them at the campfire.
I am part of a tribe called “the world’s noticers.”
One notion of myself that was solidified more in this week was that I am comfortable watching. We were cautioned against defaulted to this, but it’s difficult to completely remove yourself from how you are hardwired. It would be hard for many to notice, but I chose multiple times to go against my normal state-of-mind and take the opportunity to stay out later with the full group. I actually shut myself down from answering work emails or working on other projects that I knew would be due shortly after I got back. By the way, you live in a weird world when you are proud of yourself for merely putting off email.
But my goal for the program is to allow other to benefit from my observations and skills instead of defaulting to humility. I felt my talents would trickle out slowly throughout the week and people would catch on. I noticed myself feeling a little guilty today that people were noticing traits about me—a knack for creativity, storytelling, or my half sleeve tattoo—in the very last hours of the camp. I asked myself why I am one to stay reserved about my gifts and so far I’ve got two reasons:
- My faith is based around humility and I come from a culture where it is frowned upon to boast. You will meet few proud people in Oklahoma. As a people, we are fairly modest in nature.
- I strive to be one who doesn’t merely talk about my talents, but rather one to show them. Therefore, I want to be judged based off the body of work rather than empty promises. The more I get to know this program, the more I am convinced that this will be the area in which I will grow exceedingly throughout our tenure.
So I’ll continue to dance with the idea of the benefits and weaknesses of spending too much time in my own head processing and evaluating the environment around me. I think it’s worth noting that part of Tina Seelig’s book that resonated with me was that of observation:
Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur, provides a great example. He has been n the founding team of eight different companies, and many people have praised Steve for his creativity and fearlessness. He chuckles and says, “I’m not brave. I’m just incredibly observant.” Steve has discovered that the more you observe, the more data you collect, the more patterns you see, and the more boldly you can act.
Scientists and artists of all types are the world’s “noticers.” They are trained to pay attention and to communicate what they see and experience to the rest of us.
My hope is to focus on making sure I’m effective on the second part: communicating what I notice for the benefit of the cohort.
That said, I really thrived in pair and small group environments.
I tremendously enjoyed being put in a position to work in a group or pair. I loved getting to see people’s perspectives and getting to know them better. Even socially, my favorite moment outside the classroom was walking around main campus with only a couple cadres the last night. The environment drew out conversations where I felt comfortable sharing more intimate passions such as family. The “why” for this one isn’t so certain yet, but I will continue to evaluate the reason for this is such a differentiator. Tina Seelig mentions one theory in her book called the “two pizza theory.” Essentially, you should consider breaking up groups if they get larger than one that needs more than two pizzas to be fed. Brainstorming can less effective with too many cooks in the kitchen.
I also really enjoyed working on the group video. I felt myself really taking ownership of the task to tell our teams story as well as the collect story of the entire cadre. Although I did a fairly large amount of video edits in the past, I haven’t had the opportunity to make a video like that in nearly a decade. It was fun to get to use my camera on video mode for once and better understand some of the newer features of iMovie. If you hadn’t had the chance to play with iMovie recently, it’s really surprised how far that product has come over the last few years. It’s capable of some serious editing now it has a robust timeline option rather than just a storyboard editing mode.
On the way to the airport, I told Stephanie that I noticed myself working on the video not as a much assignment that we had to complete by a specific deadline for a grade, but rather a gift to share with the team as well as the cadre. There was real sincerity in that script which says, “This is a story about four people. But it’s a story about more. It’s about 16 cadres who spent more than 60 hours together one week on Pepperdine’s campus.”
This is merely the end of the beginning.
There’s this term in church youth groups, which is the “church camp high.” Students are removed from their normal environment for a week and find themselves being stretched in ways never before. This can sometimes be confused with a 100% complete life change, but the students often find themselves reverting back to old lifestyles shortly after returning back to civilian life. It turned out that acknowledging change is fairly easily to do, but implementing it and adjusting your environment accordingly is much tougher. I’m genuinely looking forward to submersing into the program as a lifestyle rather than a mere week retreat. I have a feeling that things are about to really get good and that this week was just the appetizer.
Learn More:
– Amazon: Tina Seeing. “inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity”
– Fast Company: “Inside the Mind of Jeff Bezos: Pizza Teams and Terabytes”