The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Improvise - Overcome - Adapt | FF20

Episode Date: June 4, 2021

Sharing inspiration from the Netflix show 'High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America' and how we as Project Managers need to keep our plans and planning dynamic just as African Americans did with their foods in the 1800s-1900s.

Please silence your cell phones, hold all sidebar conversations to a minimum, and we will get started with people process progress in three, two, one. Hey everyone, welcome to Foundations Friday 20, Improvise, Overcome, and Adapt. I'm sure many of you have heard this phrase before in movies and books and other guidance, and really it speaks to, you know, when you're in a situation and maybe it's not going according to the perfect plan on paper or typed up, then we need to improvise and think about what else can we do to meet this goal if we have a blocker or something like that. We need to overcome our obstacles both mentally or physically and adapt to the situation and just be dynamic in that way

because if we're too static, then we'll be stuck, right? We'll get frozen. We'll have paralysis by analysis, whatever kind of stuff. I was also inspired to use this theme for this foundation Friday from a show I watched on Netflix called high on the hog that traces African-American roots and black Americans roots to the West coast of Africa to Charleston, South Carolina, but through culinary arts. So we get some history into Charlottesville, but we get it through the lens of a black man and then the culinary arts from Africa that were then brought over here with rice and okra. And honestly, some of my favorite meals, I was sitting there super hungry the whole time. But the underlying theme is the slaves weren't given great food. They were given the worst parts of the hog. So high on the hog theme is the slaves weren't given great food.

They were given the worst parts of the hog. So high on the hog was like the good parts. And you're living high on the hog, you get the better parts of the meat. But then they made dishes with those. They made some of the most popular dishes, including macaroni and cheese, gumbo, jambalaya type stuff, and okra soup, and just really cool looking stuff. And they showed how folks living now are bringing those traditions back, bringing the food back. It's still some of the struggles that blacks, African-Americans have. But it was inspirational to see from having meager rations and given few

supplies, they made something out of it. And they really actually made some pretty delicious dishes with what they were given. So they had to improvise. They had to overcome and adapt. And they did with strong spirits. And I think it inspired me and something I try and do and I'm not always successful in. But look at a situation as a project manager and say,

okay, how do we improvise a solution to this? If, say, we lose a team member, meaning they leave and we lose a resource and how do we overcome this risk that's just popped up because the system is going down and how do we adapt if, if something goes wrong, you know, with our contingency plans. And so as we come into this Friday, June 4th, and hopefully everybody's having good weather out there and feeling good and getting outside and getting that sunshine, I think in whatever aspect of your life, whether it's your personal life or your professional life or, you know, your culture, kind of like I talked about high on the hog. Look at how you can improvise. Look at how you can overcome.

Look at how you can adapt. And I try and keep that cycle of thought forefront in my mind as well. Also, check out the show on Netflix. It's awesome. It's really, really well done and recommend it. So thank you all so much for coming back. Check out the website, pupilprocessprogress.com. Stay safe out there, wash those hands and Godspeed.