We were in the last 20 minutes of the full day workshop. We were energised, and exhausted both at the same time.
For 8 hours we had pushed on idea generation, innovation and pitch work in small teams.
As we sat around the table at the end, I noticed we had a bit of time left over.
Rather than head out early, I opened up the space to anyone who wanted to stand up and share their idea in front of the whole group.
There was some silence, some banter, some smiles. This was a different format to the groups of three we had been working in.
Eventually one man stood up at the front.
He paused for a long while – we could tell that this wasn’t something he did often.
Then, he began. As part of his pitch, he shared the most moving story we had heard all day.
The thing was, there were a handful of others who were ready to jump up there and go first.
But deep down they knew that this was a platform for someone else to really level up. The could see that this was an opportunity for someone to stand up and say something that they normally might not say.
Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is speak up. And at other times, the most powerful things we can do is create the platform or space for someone else go first.
