So, I’m a big geek.
And, one of the geeky things I do is watch Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD. Now, Star Wars Rebels fits in a bit before Rogue One in the Star Wars timeline, and the series does a phenomenal job of connecting the episodes and characters to each other. Seriously, it is well done.
So, as I was watching the episodes form this past week, a commercial came on, and it had a whole bunch of coins falling on what looked like letters held horizontally. The coins had little duck symbols, and they kept falling at a faster rate.
You know when you see something, and your brain starts making connections to things that have happened in the past? Well, that feeling of nostalgia was coming on strong as I continued to watch this short fifteen second bit.
At the end, the letters go vertical, and the title “Ducktales” appears on the screen along with the iconic theme. A “Coming in 2017” accompanies it.
I was seven in 1987 when Ducktales first came out. And, being super into cartoons and Disney at the time, I was really into the story, as well as the spin-offs, like Darkwing Duck.
So, I tapped my wife on the shoulder as she was falling asleep, and like a little kid, said, “Look, look.” She probably won’t admit it, but she was pretty excited too.
Nostalgia is a great feeling, and it is even greater when that feeling of nostalgia morphs into the real; the here and now. As leaders and learners, we have to recognize the feelings people have for the past, and must welcome the joy and sadness that the past brings.
While many will say (and rightly so, most of the time) that we can’t dwell on the past, we should welcome how the past informs our practice in the present, and how it can help us better prepare for the future.
While Ducktales likely won’t help me be a better leader (there’s probably another post in there somewhere), it will bring back positive emotions whenever I watch it, and I can now experience it with my own kids. I’m looking forward to seeing how a cartoon that had an impact on me growing up has an impact on my kids.
So too in our professional lives. We should always welcome the opportunity to bring what happened forward, as a way to strengthen relationships and continue to grow with others.