Setting fire to the rain

Along with 30,000 other people, I was in the rain at Adele’s final concert.We were treated to something quite special. Of course she is a fabulous performer, an amazing voice, and it was possibly the last time anyone will see her on tour. But there was something else that struck me as I watched her deal with the only concert she’s done in the rain (and it was a big rain). From the start, she embraced the challenge wholeheartedly, as if she had worked out she was going to get wet so she might as well get it out of the way. She lost her way a couple of times in the first song because she was laughing at the rain. For all those who believe that you can’t choose what happens but you can choose your attitude, she was an exemplar. She didn’t stop going out on to the round, she didn’t stop engaging with the crowd, she didn’t dial down her infectious personality for a minute, she didn’t worry about looking bedraggled (as shown in my photo above). She was the best she could be despite her eyelash glue leaking into her eye.The relevance to us as business owners and managers is what she demonstrated was true professionalism. A professional is someone who turns up and does their best no matter what else is going on and no matter how they’re feeling.We’ve all had days when we had the equivalent of pouring rain in our worlds, and we’ve still had do the business. We have choices:

• Phone it in
• Resort to the script and do it by rote
• Work on getting this done in the shortest possible time and with least effort
• Be present, engaged and give it all we’ve got

It’s easy enough to be present when you’re feeling good. The challenge is to step up to the plate when you’d rather be doing something else. That’s when you (and the world) sees what you’re made of.