Yesterday I mentioned my FS Brokers-style State of the Union address planned for today. It’s an annual meeting with my entire staff and company held every February.

I didn’t watch the recent presidential State of the Union Address, but I was told there was A LOT of clapping. I also heard there was a lot of NON-clapping.

For my office State of the Union address, it is not a time to boast about what we’ve accomplished in the last year. We focus on the future. Our mission to Mars. Each year we get closer, but for it to have a chance, we need everyone’s help. We need to leverage the collective genius of our entire team.

Have you seen the movie Hidden Figures?

It’s a favorite in our household, a true story that centers around three African-American women in the NASA space program in the 1950s who were hidden heroes. America was in a race to get a man into space, but they were struggling. It wasn’t until they leveraged the collective genius of everyone in the building that they finally succeeded in their mission. Only now are these hidden heroes being publicly recognized.

In a recent interview with Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, he spoke about what he attributes to their continued growth to. Bezos talked about how the best big ideas to focus on are the ones that you know will be true 10 years from now.

He said in 10 years, he couldn’t imagine a world where customers would prefer it to take longer to receive their packages. Knowing that, they invest and innovate on their customers’ behalf to find new ways to deliver packages faster.

Seems like a sound idea.

Bezos recently told shareholders that the goal is to “experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when you see customer delight.”

Whether you love Amazon or hate them, they are a fascinating case study.

As I head into today’s meeting, I’m going to remember the value of collective genius, and I’m going to consider what I believe to be true 10 years from now for my clients, industry, and community.

Have you ever taken this approach to how you view the future?
How do you innovate inside your organization? Do you leverage the collective genius?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Cheers,

– Mike

P.S. if you are a member of IMPACT CLUB Boise, it’s time to get your nominations in for your favorite local charities. Here is the link: http://Nominate.ImpactClubBoise.com