A few weeks ago, I was walking on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and noticed a sign from a bygone era…a Fallout Shelter. Built deep in cement basements, the idea was when the big one dropped you would head down, and siloed away with these rations and large containers of drinkable water, you would wait for radiation to pass and maybe emerge ready to start civilization again.
While thankfully they were never used, the signs, and occasionally these large green, now empty barrels, still exist in cities around the country.
I was reminded of these “nuclear silos” this week when talking to my big thinking friend David Siroty. We were talking about how deep entrenched businesses, in sport, in college, have built such thick walls that the silo can be almost impenetrable, and not in a good way, with the creative process.
That spurred a new conversation about the siloes we are figuratively in, and if they are the nuclear kind, or the traditional kind we think of…ones maybe on farms, which have a discernable top and bottom, and can actually be filled with items like grain, when brought out, produce such positive results.
Now in business, we often get put in a box, or a silo, as we move up the ladder. However, even if the internal material can be fruitful, it only works, and grows, when the siloes open and that great stuff is combined with other elements to literally bear fruit. That’s the best way to grow personally and professionally. Move the internal part of the silo out into the sunshine, use our curiosity and our drive to mix with other ideas, and see where it goes.
That mixing involves risk taking, being uncomfortable at times, and challenges that can lead to failure, but often times those open siloes bring the best ideas, and the best people together.
Then we have the “nuclear silo.” Thick, almost impenetrable walls, the contents locked deep away, often stored I outdated and one-dimensional ideas. The nuclear silo does allow mixing of any kind, and keeps us isolated, and maybe safe…too safe. It is protection against ultimate disaster.
However, what happened with the nuclear silo? Even the best parts dried up and went unused, and often times, the purpose of what that heavily fortified silo was meant for has been forgotten, outdated and lost to history.
Cement siloes don’t move…even those made of wood, or aluminum, let in some light and can even bend with the changing temperatures.
So, as we progress into the fall, always think of what’s inside the silo that can grow when you let the light in. The fallout from those cement shelters is pretty rancid
