We see it in their eyes.
Excitement is a phrase for something that is real when The Exploration Group starts a new expedition. The commissioner who brings us on and has an idea is thrilled by what might be. They dream out loud and tell us about what they are seeing that no one yet understands. They talk about the value, the benefits, even how the world will be different. They are animated and motivated by the dream they are seeing that others do not see...yet.
As part of The Exploration Group's ExPLORE methodology, this is the Ex. This is the excitement. It is where all great expeditions begin. If the commissioner is not excited no one else will be. Furthermore, that excitement, that lure of the potential is necessary to go through the days, months and most likely years before the full discovery they desire is realized.
We spend time seeking to identify what the commissioner is excited about. What is the goal, what is its potential, what does it look like, what do they know, what is necessary to get there. We look to understand why this desired discovery has not been reached before and any downsides of achieving it.
In the early days, we stopped with questions on the "vision" because the discovery was the only focus. Now we probe further. Why does this commissioner think this is important? What are they willing to do toward making this happen? What is their risk tolerance and what resources to they and their team bring to the table? What is their capacity and what "mountains" have they climbed before?
Exploration is a process and it is not for the faint of heart. Over the years, the "Eureka" moment has been mythologized whether it was Alexander Graham Bell with the first call "to come quick" or Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon. To get to those moments there have been years of testing, probing, friends and colleagues wondering if you and your idea are crazy.
Rutgers University in New Jersey in cooperation with Johns Hopkins University Press is curating the papers of Thomas Edison which number in the thousands. Edison carefully tracked and kept journals, letters and communications from which it is possible to trace his ideas, their origin, their development, their commercialization and their acceptance. You see his idea, his plan, his pondering, the tests and even the contribution of various members of his team to bring the inventions alive.
Each of Edison's idea started with excitement and that excitement provided the energy for the expedition to come. Without it their is no discovery and further more, their is not perseverance to endure the ups and downs of the expedition. With it there is hope for the future, knowing what could be that is not already there and you are making it happen.
Where is your excitement? What are your thinking about that is beyond today?