So I'm sitting in a board meeting for the Just For Laughs Festival and the agenda item is the company's insurance.
This is far from a quick, "check the box and move on" resolution. Given the fact that the organization deals with hundreds of performers and millions of spectators per year, in theaters, clubs and densely-populated outdoor shows, there are countless things that could go wrong and land the company in legal lava. Ensuring the proper insurance coverage is board governance at the upper echelon of its responsibility.
Uh oh. Within three lines of the multiple-paged document, my eyes start to glaze over.
"Oh please let someone be more in-tune to this than me," I begged silently to myself.
Luckily, there was someone. I won't mention him by name, but this citizen of the world is the Canadian President of one of the globe's largest consumer cosmetic companies. He cleared his throat and blurted:
"I don't know about you but my eyes glaze over every time I have to read one of these things."
Oh my God! A kindred spirit! I'm not the only one who goes comatose while the clauses are still in single digits. Hallelujah!
"That may be the case," replied the board's chair, "but we have to make sure we're protected."
"Here's what I do back at my company," the cosmetic exec explained.
"I call the insurance company and instead of asking to list all the things that are covered in the policy, I ask them to list what's NOT covered.
"Then I make a decision on whether I can live with this additional risk, or whether I will increase my coverage."
Brilliant! Not only does this help make the best decision, it actually gets someone else to do the heavy lifting and dirty work. Given the cost of insurance premiums these days, there's no shame in asking the broker or underwriter to earn their keep.
That said, what exactly did I learn this week?
Well, sometimes, what ain't there is more important than what is. Great music isn't just about the notes; the space between them is equally as vital to the end product. Or as I touched upon here about two years ago, sometimes it ain't what you are, it's what you ain't.
So the next time you're faced with a problem, don't immediately knee-jerk look for the answer.
Instead, look for what's missing from the problem.