When Life Hands You Lemons, Grab a Notepad and a Bottle of Vodka

I read somewhere that in ancient Persia, when a problem would arise, the lawmakers would get together and talk about it over drinks.  Maybe some opium too, I don’t remember exactly. Anyhow, they would get intoxicated and come up with ideas for managing a problem. Some ancient version of a designated driver would take notes throughout the meeting.  Then, when everyone was sober, the group would get together to go over the notes and see which ideas they agreed with. Those ideas that made sense both intoxicated and sober would become a law or a resolution. The point of the two meetings was an effort to look at problems from different perspectives and bond over the experience.

The approach of looking at problems from different perspectives while bonding with a possible enemy is intriguing.

Years ago, one of the projects that I was working on was struggling.  It didn’t make sense for me or my partners and it was a source of tension.  We tried everything we could think of to save the project and it still didn’t work.  Sleepless nights? Yes. Arguing over the numbers? Yes. Bringing in consultants? Yup, that too.  Prayers and patience? Both were applied and still no improvement. In fact, the more we played with it, the worse it got.  It was like picking on a pimple that eventually got big and infected.

One night, after a 14-hour work day, I treated my partner to dinner and drinks…well, mostly drinks were ingested.  Given that we never had time to eat throughout the day, our tolerance for a drink was minimal. Before dinner arrived at the table, both of our phones started blowing up with calls and emergency texts.  Our project reached a new level of disaster and we completely lost our appetites – the adrenaline surge was epic. Frankly, given our exhaustion, that night I wondered if it would have been better if it burned to the ground.  In hindsight, I’m glad that it didn’t.

Between the inebriation and the adrenaline, we knew that it was going to be a long night.  Setting physical exhaustion aside, I suggested trying what seemed to have helped ancient Persians build their empire.  The experiment: finish our drinks, try to eat dinner, and come up with as many ideas as possible to fix the problem. Then, the list would be reviewed over breakfast the following morning.  It seemed logical.

Over the course of three hours of laughing, almost crying, going off on tangents, yelling, and laughing until we turned red, the list was done.  We went to bed patting ourselves on our backs for trying to be productive in a time of weakness.

The next morning, we got started an hour earlier than usual.  The first part of the experiment was done, and it was time for part two.  The sober meeting to address the list. With eyes wide open and giant mugs of coffee in hand, we looked at the list.  Going through the bullet points, some were funny, some were completely irrational, and there were a couple decent ideas in there too.  Then, as we reached the bottom of the list, we found the answer to our problem. It was stunning.

If I were to have predicted where the answer would be found, if there was even going to be an answer, I would have bet on the middle of the list.  The scientist in me couldn’t believe it and insisted that we go through the list again. Maybe we liked the idea because it was slightly more rational than the others; this time we went slowly and discussed each option.  When we reached the same favorite from the first time, we started thinking of implementation.

The wheels were turning and gaining momentum.

Before breakfast ended, we had homework assignments to research the idea and run numbers.  It was getting real and the new solution was gaining speed. We realized around lunch time that we needed more hands on deck to help with research.  The look on our team’s face was priceless as it seemed like we lost our minds and asked for what appeared to be random information. There was clearly panic in the air as everyone pulled together their assignments at a frenzied pace.

In efforts of helping office morale, we called it a day an hour earlier than usual for an office ice cream party.  I firmly believe that ice cream is a God send for pulling people together in good and bad times. Once the sugar rush set in and there were smiles all around, we announced that the difficult project was going to take a full change in course.  We asked everyone on the team who had any background in the new direction to make themselves known privately and if they knew anyone who could be helpful to please let us know as well. Before the week ended, our once failing project had a new team with a new mission.

It has now been a couple years since the night of the ancient Persian experiment.  The project idea that we came up with is one of my favorites, it has created dozens of jobs, helped hundreds of people, and made a positive impact in the community.

As a student, I always wondered why I had to take history lessons when I knew that I wanted to be in healthcare.  Maybe the point of learning about the past is to help create our future.