Picture Credit: CBS — The Big Bang Theory (Twitter)

A few weekends back, I watched Sheldon Cooper give his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in the final episode of The Big Bang Theory. The prize was an eventuality that had to happen, but his acceptance speech was unexpected. The usually self-obsessed Sheldon went on acknowledging the roles and contributions of all his quirky friends. The episode ended with the all too familiar setting with the motley gang eating in Apartment 4A with the theme song playing in the background. I couldn’t help but notice that right in the middle of the group seated next to Sheldon and merrily chirping away was Penny. The community college drop- out, failed actress and waitress at the Cheesecake factory who had found her homing ground right in the middle of skewed scientists from Caltech. Over 12 seasons, Penny with her social aptitude had guided them through awkward situations and ensured that they survived the judgements of the “normal” world.

In a group where an engineer from MIT is not good enough, Penny bore the brunt of frequent but innocuous barbs for her lack of college education. She was likened to the Hulk, a Rabid Wolverine and even a Killer Robot. All of which were obvious references to her being a bully during her school days in Omaha, Nebraska. She was often the object of experimentation by the group, including being fed chocolates as a reward by Sheldon in one of his experiments to induce “correct behavior”, just like the Pavlovian dogs.

Despite all the disparagement, Penny stuck with the group, held them together, protected them from ostracism and even assuaged their feelings when the repercussions of their social non-conformity hurt them. She specifically was very protective of Sheldon, the quirkiest of the lot, often consoling him with his favorite lullaby “Soft Kitty”, just like his mother would. Everyone to her always was a “sweetie”.

Penny also competed with herself in her own way. She had numerous attempts at pursuing her dream of becoming an actress, enrolled in a local community college and finally found her place as a successful salesperson in a pharmaceutical company. All through these struggles, she retained her identity, self-esteem and independence.

In the fast-evolving world, organizations continue their quest to be competitive and are continuously Seeking Sheldon. But most struggle to deal with them as they consider people like Sheldon as outliers. Companies then spend a lot of time in “normalizing” them so that others can be comfortable, which results in blunting the extraordinary. This intolerance results in the race for mediocrity prevailing over the quest for excellence. Thus, there is a need to seek and nurture someone like Penny, who creates safe environments for Sheldons to exercise their autonomy and thrive. People like Penny act as two-way shields guarding on either side. To do this, they play the lab-rat, marauding bully, team coach, doting parent or protective sibling. They are remarkably mindful of situations and switch contexts with panache. They go with the flow but always have their target in mind. No wonder, people like Sheldon approach them for advice regularly. Most importantly, they do not compete with the existence of Sheldon but augment it by ensuring enough space created for people like Sheldon to glide.

And when things go wrong, and you are about to lose a gem, you turn over to Penny who will say:

“Come on, Sheldon, you can’t leave. Don’t you need to stay here so the mothership can find you when it returns?”

So, if you are wanting to create a winning team, make sure that you have a “Penny in your thoughts!”

About the author: K.S. Prashant is the Managing Director at IDeaS Revenue Solutions. You can find more about him here.

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