Bethejustin.com

No seriously hear me out for a minute and wait for it. So looking ahead to a weekend that promises to be a blow out for A Cappella in Beantown, I got to thinking about the qualities of success shared by the A Cappella groups I know and some of the FIRST Robotics teams I know.  As I started thinking about it I realized that there are, perhaps surprising perhaps not, similarities.

I started wondering in both cases what makes these groups successful year after year? I defies surface logic to some degree in both cases that groups would be successful over in many cases decades as the talent is constantly changing. Yet there are those groups and those teams that are continually successful, year after year.

Why? What carries that success forward? Well in my thinking I came up with two primary things: mentors and culture. I'll get back to mentors in a few but what about the culture of a group/team? Well you have to believe that that things that make a successful group the traditions, best practices, rituals, etc. are passed down from more senior members to those incoming. I can speak from experience on the robotics side of things as I have, literally in some cases, watched steadfast adherence to a particular scouting system translate directly into the formation of competition winning alliances. I can imagine for example on the A Cappella side of things that the groups that are a cut above the rest have their own similar kinds of adherence, rehearsal schedules, attitude, commitment, I suspect that when these things permeate the history and culture of a group it translates into great sounding albums and fun live concerts.

Mentors, I can certainly say with conviction that some of the most successful teams I know in FIRST robotics are those where alumni of the team have gone on to become mentors. I hear, and it would make sense logically, that the story is not so dissimilar in the A Cappella arena. It makes sense really, not only are these mentors the source of knowledge and experience, there for guidance as needed but they're also reminders of the history, reputation, and responsibility that active members have inherited.

Earth shattering? Not really as I think the same conclusions could easily be applied in a broader more general statement about group dynamics of any kind.  Consider just as one example the lengths and in some cases signifigant expense that corporations go through to create a positive corporate culture. Ask Google and Microsoft about the fruits that those efforts have born. For me it was fun to think about a thread that in some small way weaves two things I'm passionate about together.

Members of either camp can feel free to agree to disagree: contact [at] bethejustin.com