I’ve adopted a new mantra:
“Welcome to the team.”
Not the most original phrase, but one of the clearest.
This tide of cancer has both taken and returned something essential to me: the truth that I work best on a team. It’s not that I’m not self-driven (clearly, survival itself proves otherwise). But the work that has brought me the most meaning and the most fun has always been work I’ve done with others.
Maybe that’s why I’ve built such a vast and loving network. When I partner on a project, I feel a deep sense of connection — and a sharp awareness of how I add value. Subconsciously, I think that’s also why I started Cancer Sharks.
Because I didn’t want to be “treated.” I didn’t want anyone working for me. What I wanted, and still want, is to be part of a team.
Everywhere I’ve worked — whether leading 14 direct reports at Little Sprouts or collaborating with colleagues at The Life is Good Playmaker Project or GBH — I never thought of it as my team. It was always “ours.” Sometimes it was just “theirs.”
Now I see that I approach cancer the same way. It’s a team project. Yes, it was thrust upon us without choice, but it caught all of us: my family, colleagues, neighbors, friends, and an entire medical community of surgeons, nurses, staff, and fellow patients. And without the team, the outlook is always worse.
That’s why I’m grateful to be on Team Cancer Shark — and even more grateful to invite others into this shiver (that’s what you call a group of sharks).
And here’s where the mantra comes full circle: If you’re someone who has room for a shark on your work team, I’d love to talk. I bring the same grit, creativity, and collaboration to professional projects that I bring to this movement. So if you’re ready to say it, I’m ready to hear it:
“Welcome to the team.”
Fins up.
