Pass the Popcorn

PASS THE POPCORN (Intro) Before the mission. Before the deadlines. Before the platforms and the plans. A simple invitation. Tell us your superpowers. The things that come easily to you, even when they’re difficult for somebody else. And when you’re done, pass the popcorn. (Verse 1) Paola has a chef’s mind, ingredients and operations, a teacher’s heart, a systems eye, and a talent for coordination. She says resilience is her superpower, she’s learned to roll with life’s demands. She’s bringing people to the table, putting possibilities in their hands. Indrani brings a patient ear, an investigator’s point of view. She wants to know the five W’s before she tells you what to do. Her third superpower’s still emerging, she hasn’t named it yet. Some discoveries take a little longer, some are waiting to be met. (Verse 2) Joe was pushed behind a microphone and found he could command a room. He reads the people, spins a yo-yo, sixteen broken bones, and room for improvement too. He’s wandered deep into the agents, trying to learn what he doesn’t know he doesn’t know. He found the need for a probation period before you let the whole thing go. Kevin has a way with language, he knows how a question shapes the facts. An editor who hears the nuance and knows when someone’s selling crap. He can take a complicated argument and help its meaning come on through. Sometimes the most important contribution is asking, “Is that what you meant to do?” (Chorus) Pass the popcorn, pass the floor, tell us what you know and what you’re looking for. Half a world between us, but the question travels through: What could I learn to build with you? Pass the popcorn, take your turn, bring a little knowledge and a willingness to learn. There’s more than one kind of knowing, more than one kind of view. What could I learn to build with you? (Verse 3) Vicente puts the people first, a strategist who calls himself lazy. He’d rather find the smarter pathway than make the whole thing twice as crazy. He’s a technical architect with a generous streak, and a fondness for ABBA too. He’ll ask about the ethics before he tells a system what to do. Rafael’s been tinkering since childhood, taking things apart to see the gears. He’s methodical, diplomatic, and he’s been engineering all these years. He’s got six cats, though he’s allergic, he’s got an agent for his fantasy football game. He wants to make the models interchangeable, so changing tools won’t change the aim. (Verse 4) Thijs can turn a training session into something you can use on Monday morning. Two black belts, a duck behind him, and a healthy sense of warning. He’s interested in the human cost of everything we automate. What happens to our presence when our minds are running late? Max connects the distant subjects, translates the technical into the clear. He studied people and biology, then spent his working life as an engineer. Nearly four gallons given as a blood donor, he knows the value of showing up. He’s tired of corporate politicking; he wants to build and tinker and make stuff. (Chorus) Pass the popcorn, pass the floor, tell us what you know and what you’re looking for. Half a world between us, but the question travels through: What could I learn to build with you? Pass the popcorn, take your turn, bring a little knowledge and a willingness to learn. There’s more than one kind of knowing, more than one kind of view. What could I learn to build with you? (Bridge) Some are experts in the systems, some are learning from the start. Some can see the bigger picture, some can see the missing part. Some have come to find new work, some have come to build again. Some are asking bigger questions about the tools we’re putting in our hands. And some couldn’t make the meeting, there are other voices still to hear. A room can grow beyond the people who happened to be there. (Final Chorus) Pass the popcorn, pass the floor, we know a little more about each other than before. What could I learn to build with you? (Outro) And here’s an invitation Bring something you’ve made. And show us how it works too. Together we have the keys, To unlock doors to the new.