How Community And Constraints Combine To Create Breakthrough Ideas

Greetings from Nashville!

Read Time: 3 minute 58 seconds

I’m not gonna lie. I had 80% of this week’s MGMT Playbook drafted before we touched down in Nashville Monday night.

But then Music City decided to show off, and I can’t help but start over.

We’re here for 72 hours:

• We attended a partner event Tuesday

• We’re leading a workshop with 40 leaders today

• We magically scored bucket-list Eric Church tickets for last night

And everywhere we’ve turned on this trip, I keep seeing the same two things:

• Community

• Constraints

People fueling one another to unexpected heights despite limitations that would derail most people.

Is this the magic formula in a town is oozing with creativity?

And if so, how can we apply these lessons to leading our teams?

Limitation vs Self-Limiting Beliefs

The most striking moment for me on this trip was a talk by artist Phil Hansen.

He started his career as a pointillist but got so obsessed with making dots that he developed a tremor in his hand. One that wouldn’t go away.

Depressed, he gave up art. But something the doctor who gave him the diagnosis of permanent nerve damage said in passing stuck with him, “Why not embrace the shake?”

So he started experimenting:

What he realized from this process is that he was confusing his limitation (his shaking hand) with his self-limiting belief (that meant he couldn’t be an artist).

In his words, “What-If had become What-Is.” 

Once he removed the belief, the constraint actually opened up new, creative paths. He now actively seeks out limitations as a path to creativity.

Tip: How would your approach to a problem change if you added a limitation?

Nothing Teaches Like Repetition

We’ve gotten to see a lot of killer songwriters down here. Even cooler, we’ve gotten to hear their stories. Inspiration for their songs. Breaks they got. Others they missed.

And what’s striking about story after story is this: