If you had the chance to get tutored by Albert Einstein in math and physics would you take it? The actual answer to this question says much about how people think and act about opportunity.
Often, we’re so fixated on what we think an opportunity should look like, that we miss the opportunities all around us. To be tutored by the famous Albert Einstein who revolutionized physics would have been a tremendous opportunity. Almost anyone would jump at the chance. To be tutored by an obscure physicist as he waits for a position to open up in a patent office probably doesn’t seem like much to get excited about. Consequently, back in 1902 only one person responded to an ad Albert Einstein ran offering his knowledge. That man was Maurice Solovine. Most people, probably even those interested in physics, didn’t see Einstein’s offer for what it was; it didn’t fit into their preconceived notions of what an opportunity should look like.
As it happens, Einstein and Solovine hit it off immediately and formed a study group. They were later joined by one other — Conrad Habicht — and they jokingly referred to themselves as the Olympia Academy. They studied the works of such Enlightenment thinkers as Ernst Mach, Immanuel Kant, Baruch Spinoza, and David Hume. Meeting several times a week, this learning collaboration helped Einstein herald in the greatest scientific revolution since Isaac Newton, made him internationally famous, and made his name synonymous with genius. At the time he wrote the papers in his “miracle year” though, he was merely a patent clerk who collaborated with his newfound friends to improve their minds.
Imagine what this opportunity looked like in 1902 without the benefit of hindsight. Think of what the opportunity looked like from Maurice Solovine’s perspective. It simply looked like a chance to collaborate with a smart man about subjects that interested him. It was an opportunity to learn.
With that in mind consider what is going on at the Bright Center in Winchester. The Bright Center is a collaborative workspace that is attracting an interesting group of coworkers. Most of the coworkers run successful businesses from different disciplines. Thinking like Maurice Solovine, I’ve decided to join them once a week. During working hours, we get our work done in a great environment. We also bring topics to a round table lunch, discuss the projects we’re working on and receive feedback as well as share and discuss books and blogs we’re reading.
Now I’m not saying that the coworkers at the Bright Center will revolutionize anything. I can’t say we won’t. What I am saying is that THIS is what opportunity looks like.
Stop by if you can.