I have a new co-worker. In my department, there are two people with the same position, me and one other. Ideally, we'd be interchangable as far as the rest of the department is concerned. I never quite learned to dance with the guy who used to hold the other position, but he recently left for another department. The new person in the position is someone I've known for years, have worked with in anther capacity way back when I started at the company, and someone I consider a close friend. When I recommended him for the opening, I had a gut feeling that he'd be great, but now I'm convinced he's going to be the yin to my yang, exactly the right fit to be my "other half." Here's how I know.
R. keeps a Rubic's Cube at his desk. I asked him about it a while back, and he said he keeps it because it helps him to think. He's solved it so many times that it is no longer hard, though it does still take some concentration. When he's stuck on a problem, he solves the Cube, and by the time he's done, the solution to the problem has usually shaken loose. When he told me this, I laughed, and told him I'd never learned to solve the things, and I used to just take them apart and put them back together. Cheating, or brute force, depending on your perspective.
A few days ago, I stopped by his office and he was really distressed, because one piece of the Cube had popped out when he dropped it, and he wasn't sure which way to put it back. It was a side edge piece, two colors, and I pointed out that he had a 50/50 chance of getting it right, and if he wasn't able to solve the puzzle, he'd know it was wrong and could just turn that piece around. He didn't look convinced, but he did pop the piece back into place. A couple of days later, he arrived in my office, Cube in hand, and held it out to me. "Will you solve this?"
"But," I faltered, "I don't know how. What do you mean?"
"Solve it your way. Take it apart. I've tried that piece both ways, and I can't get it." He'd lost his Cube mojo. Because he didn't truly believe there was a solution to the problem, he hadn't been able to find it. But he knew I had another way. And he was willing to try my way, even though it was vastly different from his, and he didn't quite have the courage to do it himself.
He left it with me, because he couldn't watch. So I popped it all apart, put it back together solved, and walked it back to his office later in the afternoon. I was met with a joyful and grateful grin. There's more than one solution to any problem. Sometimes the solution is graceful, sometimes it requires brute force. But as long as we both respect each other's approach, and request help when our own way isn't cutting it, we're going to be an amazing team.
