The Marathon of Innovation

When we read and listen to the relentless impact of new technologies, the urgency of digital transformation, why and what does it matters, how economy seems to keep struggling, the increasing need of creativity… I am inspired to make an analogy with a pathway of 42.5 Km. In a marathon, you are also not suppose to stop running until the end, you are in charge of your preparation, your body and its perception. You decide how fast and if you want to run or maybe walk. Even if you will not take it in a competitive fashion, you will need to set up your responsibilities with your fatigue, your strategic choices and, finally, your purpose of doing it.

In the scenario of any organizational ecosystem, regardless if it is a corporate or a startup, if you are a leader, a UI designer, a painter, a cashier, you will deal with a pathway of energy, pressure, drawbacks. You are going to deal with your limits, hopefully learn from it, probably trying to push it beyond, most likely to feel pain and trying over again, engage with it and fuel new inspiration. Most than anything else, the challenge could be to balance the breakthrough between the experience and reflection.

Even though I played basketball professionally, the idea of running for the sake of it never attracted me at all. I could see the purpose away from me far more than 42.5 km. When I got the confirmation email that I was in the race, myself was going like this: ‘dude, walk the talk now’. The challenge was on from that very moment. Six months of practice – 2/3 times a week – and trying to figure out how to manage my body and emotions, how to practice knowledge about diet and equipment for the race.

On the 16th of September 2018, in Berlin, I experienced multiple layers of emotional and physical insights that portray the muscles and nerves of innovation in organizations, and in any individual context. My approach was to compete and cooperate with myself in the same time. The competition was to finish the race in between 3 hrs 30 min and 4 hrs (goal). The cooperation happened to find connections during the race. I did not know what exactly I meant by that (uncertainty), I trusted my gut feeling to attentively observe what myself needed during the race (listening & empathy), I wanted to learn from my reluctancy to run (vision).

The night before I looked at the notes, like a script of a story to perform on the stage. When I rehearsed it in my mind, I still felt there was something missing. No idea of what. It made me uncomfortable (fear of the unknown). The morning race , as soon as I was close to the starting line, I realized it was adrenaline, too much. It invaded my veins and mind, the concern was to burn my fuel too soon. Yes, the sport watch was the timekeeper, yet I knew the plan was going to change (risk).

During the race I focused on two, three runners that kept a similar pace of mine. They were my imaginary teammates, my point of reference. They helped me to keep my motivation on, enjoy the context around it and calibrate my own strategy too. Sometimes I felt behind sometimes I felt I was ahead. It also worked for my patience (here, I guess, no need to add words!). In the last 8 km I had cramps on my calfs. Fears to cease the race were coming. I played with my limits and learn to accept the pain without forcing.

I completed the race in 3 hours, 19 minutes and 34 seconds. The achievement was not about the time and distance, it was the ownership of my mindset during hard times. Actually, I found space to think during the race. The meanings I found out made the race lasting much longer that my final time. I did enjoy it. The Berlin atmosphere was stunning.

The marathon is like a project with lessons learnt that are coded in many other contexts. Feel free to interprete as you wish. I believe the future of work is about multiple projects where we need to take our own responsibilities to make a change, to transform our team culture, our society, our community, using empathy and listening and practice creativity. Creativity is a muscle in everybody, we need to practice and this starts from our individual effort to take responsibility, ownership of an impact in our daily life in professional and private life.

This is not to suggest the marathon as the only one way to perform a change – am I gonna do it again? Probably not. You do not need to run 42.5 Km. Maybe more, you might run as long as Tarahumara.

If as organization or individuals are in your own marathon, just make sure that ‘experience’ and ‘reflection’ coexist dynamically.