In a team meeting on Friday, I asked each and every Synapse team member to say what the role of Synapse or the Florida innovation community means to them during a time of crisis. The answers ranged from connection and community, to challenges and critical thinking, to sanity and excitement, to hope and opportunity. I couldn’t help but to sit back and smile for a second, the first time in a while. Then I caught myself wondering why I was smiling.
To say that times are very hard right now would be one of the greatest understatements of the year, and wow have there been a lot of those so far. There are a lot of people out of work, getting ill, putting themselves in harms way to protect others and struggling for a multitude of reasons. It makes me sick to my stomach just to think about it. There are a lot of unknowns in the universe and even scarier is the fact that there are a lot of unknown-unknowns. The twists, turns, horror and agony of a global pandemic paired with a collapsing economy are all the setup of what could be a blockbuster movie in the future. The challenge is right in front of us.
In the Synapse team conversation, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The Tampa Bay innovation community is the guide to the unknown future. The Tampa Bay innovation community is are here as a support mechanism. Through many recessions and down economies, there are problems to be solved and as an innovation community, we are here to help try to solve them. As a collective, the Tampa Bay innovation community can help to create a brighter future. We are the scrappy ones who think differently with an attempt to solve a greater purpose.
Today’s greater purpose is reconstructing the world as we once knew it. Each and every member of this great community is going to be there for people when networking events restart and we aren’t sure how to shake hands. Each and every member of this community is going to be there for people when teams, offices, or even families are reunited. Each and every member of this community is going to be there for people when someone has a new brilliant idea that can support regrowth. Each and every member of this community is going to be there for people who are looking for a new job, new career, or a new path to success. The Tampa Bay innovation community is going to be a rock for those who are down on their times and help show them the options for growth.
Every great film has that guide to help the protagonist see the obstacle and achieve greatness. One strong advantage of Tampa Bay is the fact that we have a very open and authentic innovation community. We want to help others. We must continue that. The guide in this movie is the entire community. It cannot be a single individual or group.
This must be one true community effort.
By being the guides of this effort, we truly can help this region rebound faster and stronger than ever before. There are going to be many people out there who need us. It is time for us to band together that much better, that much stronger, that much tighter. Whenever and however this saga ends, there will be many protagonists and heroes and we want to make sure they can succeed. All as one. We can all together provide connection, community, challenges, opportunities for critical thinking, sanity, excitement, hope, and opportunity as we shape our own futures as better than the present around us.
Roll credits.
