The penguin story … or: How to feel in your element. A reflection on innovative mindsets, innovation culture and own possibilities.
This story actually happened to me. I was engaged as a presenter on a cruise ship. It makes everyone think, “Gee, great! Luxury!” I thought so too.
Until I was on the ship. As far as the audience was concerned, I was barking up the wrong tree. The guests on board certainly had a sense of humor, I just didn’t find it during the two weeks. And even worse, seasickness has no respect for licensure. In short, I was cruise miserable.
Finally! After three days at sea, solid ground. “This is true luxury!” I went to a Norwegian zoo. And there I saw a penguin standing on his rock. I felt sorry for him: “Do you have to wear a tuxedo, too? Where is your waist, by the way? And above all, has God forgotten about your knees? My verdict was clear: faulty design.
Then I looked through a glass pane into the penguins’ pool once again. And there “my” penguin jumped into the water, swimming close to my face. If you’ve ever seen penguins underwater, you can’t think of anything else. He was in his element! A penguin is ten times more streamlined than a Porsche. With one liter of fuel, it would travel the equivalent of over 2,500 kilometers. Penguins are excellent swimmers, hunters, water dancers. And I had thought, “Faulty design!”
This encounter taught me two things. First, how quickly I often judge, and how I can be completely wrong. And secondly, how important the environment is, whether what you are good at comes into play at all.
We all have our strengths, have our weaknesses. Many take forever to iron out quirks. If you improve your weaknesses, you become mediocre at most. If you strengthen your strengths, you become unique. And if you are not like the others, take heart: there are already enough others!
People keep asking me why I swapped the hospital for the stage. My strength and my quirk is creativity. That means not doing everything according to plan, improvising, putting things together unexpectedly again and again. This is inconvenient in the hospital. And I love to formulate freely, to write poetry, to play with language. This is also inconvenient for doctor’s letters and prescriptions. On stage I use much more of what I am, know, can do and have to give. I have more fun, and others have more fun with me. Live I am in my element, in the flow.
People rarely change completely and fundamentally. If you were born a penguin, seven years of psychotherapy won’t make you a giraffe. So don’t ponder for long: Don’t stay in the steppe as a penguin. Take small steps and find your water. And then: Jump! And swim!
And you’ll know what it’s like to be in your element.