September 20, 2012
“…I am starting a new project in October and I was wondering if somebody is interested in collaborating. You can see my work at www.tzvetakassabova.com...”
September 22, 2012
“…not sure how we can collaborate but I would love to see if we can. I am a system designer seeking economic or operational efficiency. You can find out more about me at https://www.ise.ufl.edu/akcali/ ”
September 23, 2012
“…thank you for getting back to me. It will be so nice to talk and to see if we want to work together and what may come out of it…”
About a week later, Tzveta, in her artfully mismatched colorful studio clothes, and I, in my carefully curated black business attire, met. I ordered a coffee drink with an extra shot of espresso, how wired and engineer of me, and she ordered a cup of green tea, how gentle and artist of her.
Eager to get started “What is your project about?” I inquired.
“I don’t know,” she said shrugging her shoulders.
She did not know what the project was about. My stomach sank. If she did not know anything about the project that she was about to start, how was I supposed to know if I could contribute or whether I wanted to be part of it. In my world this was not how a collaboration was supposed to start.
In my world, I would have known the problem I wanted to solve and recognized a missing piece in my tool set to do it. I would have identified someone who had the expertise needed and would have reached out. If that person were also excited about solving this problem, we would have started to collaborate. This was how a collaboration was supposed to start. “How are we going to collaborate?” I thought.
In an attempt to hold on to a meeting, which did not look like a meeting of the minds at the time, I remember blurting out something like “I develop mathematical models to address supply chain design and operation problems.”
“That’s nice, “ she said as she smiled “It does not have to be much. “
“What does not have to be much?” I wondered.
She went on “It could be anything related to your work?”
I was more puzzled.
“It could be a graph or chart you use or generate in your work," she added.
I remember the sinking feeling in my stomach getting deeper. I just did know what to say to her anymore and wondered what I was doing at that meeting. But my face must have said all of the things that went through my mind but I could not say.
“Let me show you one of my recent pieces,” she said and invited me to watch a brief excerpt of one of her works The Opposite of Killing.
And, in those few minutes, something happened. As I watched the excerpt, I recognized the grid that the dancers were moving along, much like a grid that can be used to represent the solution space to a discrete optimization problem. She helped me understand. As I relaxed into the conversation, she told me more about her work and I told her more about mine.
There are no scripts as to how collaborations start or ought to start. There are expectations and norms in different fields but there is no script. All it takes is a simple prompt and a willingness to respond. Reach out to someone. Respond to someone. Take a leap of faith.
And, the further you leap, the more challenging but rewarding the collaboration is likely to be. Be curious. Be open. Be willing to understand and help understand.