Group Flow and the Miracles Therein

“There goes your winning streak.” That’s what the fan said to our Director of Baseball Operations in the restroom between innings. The NCAA baseball game was a conference match up amidst what was a ridiculous winning streak. The only problem was we were down nine runs in the fifth inning. 

The context here is that no team won more games in a season in the school’s history (and no one has won more games since). We were on fire. But, this fan chirped our director with what seemed like an insurmountable lead that would ultimately break our win streak. What happened next? 

The next inning we scored nine runs. 

The way I can describe group flow is simple. No one needs to know how things are going to turn out great, they just do. And, it is easy and sometimes miraculous. 

When groups of people are engaging in their best, edgeworthy work with supreme trust winning feels inevitable. The feeling of being down nine runs and not having a worry in the world is something I hope everyone can experience in a group in their lifetime. 

My suggestion? Get after the most meaningful, hardest work you can imagine and do it with people you’d take a bullet for. You can’t lose!