Handling Plutonium

Plutonium: Handle with Care. It has taken me over two years to realize that my work involves handling plutonium. You think that would have been important to know, maybe something in the job description. In fairness, I am not sure others knew either. I remember when it was first suggested, about nine months ago, even though at the time I gave it no real attention, “…be careful, this is plutonium.” It was said in a way that felt like it was almost in passing, a friendly reminder as you go about your normal business. I now know that it was intended as advice, perhaps sensing I did not realize the weight of what I was carrying. Maybe I was too close, or had a different sense of normal, but I thought it was typical everyday daily work. After all, I had done this for over 10 years prior and never really encountered it before. I suppose, however, there were clues along the way; confidential meetings, layers of bureaucratic approvals, heightened levels of anxiety for those that would get too close. As time went on, concern for the control over handling and distribution became higher than its actual use and application. When working with volatile material you cannot make mistakes, and I made a few, but now I understand that I am officially a plutonium handler and it has changed the way I think about the work.  

Maybe it was the metaphor choice itself that made this one stick - handling plutonium. I suppose if the words were different it might have gone unnoticed. But it caught my attention and added a layer of empathy and sensitivity for those who come into direct contact and sometimes, more importantly, those who don’t. Instead of a radioactive chemical element, I work with something different; aspiration, change, money, and possibility. When mixed and wrapped around a compelling narrative that resonates and captures an aligned future, everything gets supercharged. For some time, I have considered that to be an essential job description; to help give shape to new futures. Galvanize alignment around collective ambition done in a way that connects and integrates. When done well, it can create a perpetual collective energy that carries ideas and drives projects forward. But the very thing that defines success can also create the conditions that stop it. Powerful projects have a way of being inadvertently released into the wild and can take on a life of their own. This type of plutonium can be a problem when getting too close, but an even bigger problem when too far, and left uncontrolled. Proximity and release need to be just right. 

Teams I’ve worked with have joked that every time I picked up a pen it cost $10,000 - I used to use a pen a lot. I’ve since put my pen away. Now I help bridge the gap between notion and action, potential and realization, ideas and projects. The work is never done alone and during the process of working in the future together we create, shape, and share, which makes us all plutonium handlers whether we know it or not.