Dash of Courage: High Agency & Last Memories

"Some things do not get an encore." - Ilene Rosh

Do you have a friend who "gets you" and can "get anything done"?

In the leadership world it's called "High Agency."
There is a book coming out next year about this idea (from The Diary of a CEO publishing). In simple terms, it's the first person you think of when presented with this scenario: You are stuck in jail in a 3rd world country. You get one phone call. Who do you call? That person is "High Agency." Crafty, Slick, Creative, Caring: part Pope, part Olivia Pope. 

That person for me is Ilene Rosh.

We met at a speaking engagement. Instead of a Stanley Tumbler (the go to gift for speakers), she gave me a custom designed shirt with Amal Clooney's face (the #1 person I would love to meet in this world). How in the world did she know??

She said she heard me speak 4 years earlier on a podcast about her. Crafty.
Since then she has helped negotiate everything from wedding rings and mastermind villas to speaking contracts and car leases. Slick.
Need a Wow jacket for Japan? Or a one liner for a speech? She's got it. Creative.
But if you ever need a friend, to tell you the hard truths, be there when you're lost, or cheer you on when something goes right. She's the one. Caring.

She is part Pope, Part Olivia Pope. 

She is "High Agency." 

I always hoped I could do something in return for all she had done for me.
Maybe it was just being a friend and being myself.
Earlier this week she sent me a short note with a link to a post she had written.
It said: "Thanks to watching you all these years, I have started to pull out lessons from unexpected places."

This was the Instagram post she made. It brought tears to my eyes.

From Ilene Rosh (@ilene.rosh)

I saw Oasis live this summer.
The brothers had not performed together in 16 years.
They famously do not get along. But they made it work.
Probably for the fans, probably for the money, probably both.

Either way, they showed up.
The crowd lost it.
Some people actually cried. 

Same thing happened when Ozzy Osbourne took the stage a few weeks ago.
Only that one hits different.

Ozzy did not push through.
He stopped taking his Parkinson's meds because they made him too stiff to sing. So he chose pain over comfort just to give his fans one final show. They built him a throne so he would not have to be wheeled on stage. And when he came out, the crowd was in tears.
His voice cracked as he thanked them. 
He was emotional.
So were they.

Today he is gone. 

And I keep thinking about this: "Live performance is glue." 
Between artists and fans. Between now and then.
Between who we were and who we are becoming. 

Oasis showed up. Pearl Jam's drummer Matt Cameron just wrapped their world tour and stepped down after 27 years. No scandal. Just grace and timing.
Ozzy gave up his comfort and part of his health for one last memory.

Dash of Courage:
Show up.
Do it before you cannot.
For your people.
For the story.
For the version of you who still cares.

Some things do not get an encore.

Courage over Comfort,
Garrett