Last Friday I “Hot Seated” my “Impact 20 Year Celebration and Impact Factor Movie Premier” Project with my incredible group of talented and brilliant friends, The Impact Platinum Mastermind.
This launch is the most recent in a series of HUGE launches I’ve done over the last 20 years.
It’s complex and very large in scope and for an hour and a half, I spelled out my plan for the launch and got feedback, suggestions, warnings, and critiques.
The next day, my dear friend Timothy D. Craggette messaged me, “So what did you think of the mastermind yesterday?”
And I didn’t answer … until now.
I’ve done hundreds of “Hot Seats” over the last 20 years (on and off the hot seat) and the answer to Timothy’s simple question is complex.
I wanted to try to answer the question in full and share the answer with you because it might help you if you are ever in the position of “Hot Seating” your project in front of a group of remarkable and talented people like the “Impact Platinum Mastermind.”
First of all, when you present a project on a “Hot Seat” you almost always have “Mixed” feelings about the experience.
There are potential downsides every time you put a project on a Hot Seat:
It can be frustrating and discouraging.
You are trying to condense something that you’ve thought and dreamed about for many hours into a short description that in most cases even brilliant people won’t completely understand.
You may feel “People just don’t get it.”
Typically, the people who are critiquing your project feel a responsibility to criticize it.
You may feel, “Nobody likes what I do.”
The people who are critiquing your project feel a responsibility to question whether you should or can do it.
You may feel, “They don’t believe in me”
The people who are critiquing your project will give you a lot of “common sense.”
You may feel, “I already know that.” or “But, I’m not COMMON!”
So why would you ever put yourself through something like that!
There are some priceless upsides.
First of all the “collective brain” is much more comprehensive than your own personal brain ever will be and it’s “additive” in nature.
I’ve often done a test with 100 people in the room to challenge the entire room to see a particular insight given a set of data.
Consistently, 1 or 2 people out of 100 will see the insight.
That means there’s a good chance that you will never see it, but someone else will.
If you are going to do a project, you can use all of the insights you can get. And one insight can make a HUGE difference.
The same is true on the problem side.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
It’s really a problem if you don’t know what questions you should be asking in the first place.
A “Hot Seat” can help with that.
Insights can turn into massive opportunities and seeing problems and questions you should be asking can save you endless pain.
That’s a good thing.
Trying to condense something that you’ve thought and dreamed about for many hours into a short description is a great exercise.
You may feel “I know how to make people understand this project better now!”
When the people who are critiquing your project criticize it, you may feel, “That’s something I never would have noticed or even imagined!”
When people who are critiquing your project feel a responsibility to question whether you should or can do it.
You may feel, “I know exactly what to focus on now!” or maybe decide “I really want to do something else instead of this.”
When people who are critiquing your project give you a lot of “common sense,” you may feel, “I should really make a note to remember that.”
So, Timothy, the answer to your question is …
I always feel mixed reactions when I put my projects on the “Hot Seat.”
I expect that some of the things people say may frustrate me or discourage me.
I always TRY to listen instead of arguing (most times with mixed results.)
And then I WAIT at least a few days and think about what they said again.
I think the WAIT part is pretty important.
It gives you the time to get a little distance.
I always find great insights that I never would have thought of and obstacles, with potential solutions.
I always hear some great “common sense” to try to remember.
And I soak in the love and support the remarkable people in the “Impact Platinum Mastermind” always give me.
It’s an incredible group of some of my favorite people on earth.
All the best,
Ken McArthur
Best-Selling Author and Producer
KenMcArthur.com
The Impact Factor Movie
The Impact Masterminds