Scott Summers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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xp_logs2019-04-10 08:21 am
xp_cyclops) wrote in xp_logs2019-04-10 08:21 am
Entry tags:
Log:Scott and Sooraya: Lessons in Leadership
"Mr. Summers! I don't think I have seen in here before." Sooraya moved away from the large map on the wall where she had been placing various colored pins in. "Please come in."
"I haven't really been over to this part of the mansion for years," Scott allowed, stepping away from the door to glance at the wall, "Marking up some potential projects?"
"More like potential hotspots for mutant issues. I was filtering through some information I got from a contact here and there..." Sooraya moved back to the wall and pushed in a final pin. "Now I just need to figure out what can be done... even if it's something very small."
Stepping back from the board Scott perched on the edge of Sooraya's desk, waving a hand to take in the entire picture, and all the pins included in it, "Honestly, I'm a little surprised that it's not a solid map of pins. What makes you zero in on just these hotspots?"
"Concrete information is an important one." Sooraya paused for a moment, thinking over the rest of her reply. "Urgency is another one. Finally, I do try to focus on situations where I can do something, even if it's only alerting certain NGO's to the situation or give them said concrete information."
"Well, it's a sight better than how we normally react to situations, looking for the trouble to flare up before we get involved leaves us coming off as more reactive than I'd like. How effective have you been so far?"
"I'd say it's still pretty mixed at best. I manage to get some people paying attention and I know of a case or where an NGO managed to stop the recruitment of mutant teens by armed groups. Other cases have at least been getting some attention on social media and awareness has been raised."
Scott shook his head sadly, "We've seen that before though, awareness gets raised before the next story hits social media and everyone forgets. No, I'm afraid we're probably on our own dealing with all this for now. Who knows, maybe the world will change but, I'm not holding out much hope there."
"Put enough drops of water in the bucket and at a certain point things will flow over. But that can take a long time." Sooraya countered a little sadly. "Was there something I could help you with Mr. Summers?"
"Sadly, in my experience, if you put enough drops in the bucket sooner or later someone will come along and scoop it all out, leaving the bucket empty again." And then they'd have to fill the bucket all over again, it was a dance that never seemed to end. The man let out a deep breath, forcing the thoughts from the front of his mind as he turned in his chair to face Sooraya. "A little bird tells me that you're hoping to resurrect X-Corps."
Sooraya was quiet for a long moment. "That is my final goal. But I also realize that might far away and it will take a lot more work. That is why I am starting small and just hope to improve things."
Scott took a moment to answer, pressing his lips together in thought before he replied, "Starting from the ground up might not be the worst idea idea ever. Most of the existing infrastructure of the group is gone so you'd need to rebuild that too. Who were you planning to get to help you out?"
"Alani Ryan has been helping me with the social media and Angelo has been offering a lot of guidance, but he has his legal work to deal with as well. John and Jean-Phillipe have also been helping where they can, but they have their own obligations as well." Sooraya explained.
"So, for now, it's just you then?" Scott pursued his lips thoughtfully, "That's a lot of work you're taking on to handle just by yourself Sooraya. Are you sure you're not in any danger of burning out?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Summers. I am keeping things limited for now." Sooraya was quick to reassure him. "Besides I am also still balancing this with my other work as well. So it goes out fairly well."
There was a smile on Scott's face as he shook his head at Sooraya, gentle amusement dancing in his eyes. "Make sure you take some time off to enjoy yourself with something other than work."
"I enjoy my work a lot, but I'll try to keep it in mind. Was there anything else, Mr. Summers? Someone is calling me with some potential information in about ten minutes..."
The content was different but the words, those words stayed the same no matter where you went Scott could remember being in the same position, sitting there surrounded by books as the same words winged their way back to Charles. In fact, the nostalgic smile on his mentor's face had been much the same as the smile on Scott's face now, the man could easily imagine that when he had been 20 Charles in turn had shot those words at his mentor. A cycle that seemed to link back into the depths of history. "Well, I'm really here to talk to you about the island and what happened their with your team, or what didn't happen with your team."
"You mean the wayward band of scientists?" Sooraya shook her head, a wry smile on her face. "Yeah, that was a challenge. Especially someone like Dr. Richards."
"It sounds like it," Scott fell silent for a moment, measuring his next words, "I left you in charge to run herd on them Sooraya, but from the reports I'm reading you had some issues with that, and at the end you weren't really in control anymore." The man rested his dark eyes on the woman sitting across from him, "Is that a fair reading?"
"Herding scientists around is easier said then done, but yeah, I wasn't at my best there." Sooraya easily admitted.
"You think they're bad? Try wrangling a full team into action, but that's the issue, if you can't manage the scientists I can't risk letting you take lead on a team of X-men."
"A good thing then that never has been my goal. I serve as an X-men because I want to help and do the right thing, but if I'm going to be leading any teams in a serious way it will be for this some time in the future." Sooraya gently countered as she indicated the map with the highlighted spot with her hand.
A smile pulled up the corner of Scott's lips, "And what happens when you get there," his hand gestured at the board she'd indicated, "And you have no experience running a team. We were lucky on the island, nothing really went wrong with your team, but in the middle of a war zone, things can go wrong fast and you need to be able to pull everyone together."
Sooraya paused for a moment, considering. "You do have point there, Mr. Summers. I remember the stories about the scrapes they got in there... But if I made such a mess of the mission on the island, why are you here now then?"
"Because of that, because of this," Scott waved a hand at the board Sooraya had pointed out earlier, "because I want to help you stop a situation like that happening again Sooraya. Not everyone is a natural at leading, very few people are, but anyone can learn how to do it, and I'd rather you didn't have to learn through experience, through trial and error."
"So what are you suggesting, Mr. Summers?"
That you learn through trial and error," Scott offered the young woman a smile, "You say that if you're going to be leading it'll be here, but you can't lead until you know how, until you have some experience under your belt, so come with us and spend more time with the X-men, work with us, do more missions with us. This," he waved a hand at the board, "isn't going to run away, but you'll be better equipped to handle it when you have a little more experience and time under your belt."
Sooraya was quiet for a long moment. "You want me to become a leader in the X-men? And I assume that role will involve some training?"
Scott shook his head, "No, not exactly," one hand came up to gesture at the office, "you pointed out this is your main focus and I can respect that. What I think is that you should let us help teach you the skills you'll need to lead a team, so that we can count on you if we need you but also so that any aid workers or anyone you're working with in the future have the best chance to do the most good."
"It's an interesting offer. I know how many of Elpis early missions had trouble and learning more about how to deal with that would be good." Sooraya replied after another long moment of consideration.
Scott nodded, pushing himself to his feet as one hand came down, knocking on the wood of the table as he turned towards the door. "Think about it, you don't need to answer me right away but let me know in the next few days."
"I haven't really been over to this part of the mansion for years," Scott allowed, stepping away from the door to glance at the wall, "Marking up some potential projects?"
"More like potential hotspots for mutant issues. I was filtering through some information I got from a contact here and there..." Sooraya moved back to the wall and pushed in a final pin. "Now I just need to figure out what can be done... even if it's something very small."
Stepping back from the board Scott perched on the edge of Sooraya's desk, waving a hand to take in the entire picture, and all the pins included in it, "Honestly, I'm a little surprised that it's not a solid map of pins. What makes you zero in on just these hotspots?"
"Concrete information is an important one." Sooraya paused for a moment, thinking over the rest of her reply. "Urgency is another one. Finally, I do try to focus on situations where I can do something, even if it's only alerting certain NGO's to the situation or give them said concrete information."
"Well, it's a sight better than how we normally react to situations, looking for the trouble to flare up before we get involved leaves us coming off as more reactive than I'd like. How effective have you been so far?"
"I'd say it's still pretty mixed at best. I manage to get some people paying attention and I know of a case or where an NGO managed to stop the recruitment of mutant teens by armed groups. Other cases have at least been getting some attention on social media and awareness has been raised."
Scott shook his head sadly, "We've seen that before though, awareness gets raised before the next story hits social media and everyone forgets. No, I'm afraid we're probably on our own dealing with all this for now. Who knows, maybe the world will change but, I'm not holding out much hope there."
"Put enough drops of water in the bucket and at a certain point things will flow over. But that can take a long time." Sooraya countered a little sadly. "Was there something I could help you with Mr. Summers?"
"Sadly, in my experience, if you put enough drops in the bucket sooner or later someone will come along and scoop it all out, leaving the bucket empty again." And then they'd have to fill the bucket all over again, it was a dance that never seemed to end. The man let out a deep breath, forcing the thoughts from the front of his mind as he turned in his chair to face Sooraya. "A little bird tells me that you're hoping to resurrect X-Corps."
Sooraya was quiet for a long moment. "That is my final goal. But I also realize that might far away and it will take a lot more work. That is why I am starting small and just hope to improve things."
Scott took a moment to answer, pressing his lips together in thought before he replied, "Starting from the ground up might not be the worst idea idea ever. Most of the existing infrastructure of the group is gone so you'd need to rebuild that too. Who were you planning to get to help you out?"
"Alani Ryan has been helping me with the social media and Angelo has been offering a lot of guidance, but he has his legal work to deal with as well. John and Jean-Phillipe have also been helping where they can, but they have their own obligations as well." Sooraya explained.
"So, for now, it's just you then?" Scott pursued his lips thoughtfully, "That's a lot of work you're taking on to handle just by yourself Sooraya. Are you sure you're not in any danger of burning out?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Summers. I am keeping things limited for now." Sooraya was quick to reassure him. "Besides I am also still balancing this with my other work as well. So it goes out fairly well."
There was a smile on Scott's face as he shook his head at Sooraya, gentle amusement dancing in his eyes. "Make sure you take some time off to enjoy yourself with something other than work."
"I enjoy my work a lot, but I'll try to keep it in mind. Was there anything else, Mr. Summers? Someone is calling me with some potential information in about ten minutes..."
The content was different but the words, those words stayed the same no matter where you went Scott could remember being in the same position, sitting there surrounded by books as the same words winged their way back to Charles. In fact, the nostalgic smile on his mentor's face had been much the same as the smile on Scott's face now, the man could easily imagine that when he had been 20 Charles in turn had shot those words at his mentor. A cycle that seemed to link back into the depths of history. "Well, I'm really here to talk to you about the island and what happened their with your team, or what didn't happen with your team."
"You mean the wayward band of scientists?" Sooraya shook her head, a wry smile on her face. "Yeah, that was a challenge. Especially someone like Dr. Richards."
"It sounds like it," Scott fell silent for a moment, measuring his next words, "I left you in charge to run herd on them Sooraya, but from the reports I'm reading you had some issues with that, and at the end you weren't really in control anymore." The man rested his dark eyes on the woman sitting across from him, "Is that a fair reading?"
"Herding scientists around is easier said then done, but yeah, I wasn't at my best there." Sooraya easily admitted.
"You think they're bad? Try wrangling a full team into action, but that's the issue, if you can't manage the scientists I can't risk letting you take lead on a team of X-men."
"A good thing then that never has been my goal. I serve as an X-men because I want to help and do the right thing, but if I'm going to be leading any teams in a serious way it will be for this some time in the future." Sooraya gently countered as she indicated the map with the highlighted spot with her hand.
A smile pulled up the corner of Scott's lips, "And what happens when you get there," his hand gestured at the board she'd indicated, "And you have no experience running a team. We were lucky on the island, nothing really went wrong with your team, but in the middle of a war zone, things can go wrong fast and you need to be able to pull everyone together."
Sooraya paused for a moment, considering. "You do have point there, Mr. Summers. I remember the stories about the scrapes they got in there... But if I made such a mess of the mission on the island, why are you here now then?"
"Because of that, because of this," Scott waved a hand at the board Sooraya had pointed out earlier, "because I want to help you stop a situation like that happening again Sooraya. Not everyone is a natural at leading, very few people are, but anyone can learn how to do it, and I'd rather you didn't have to learn through experience, through trial and error."
"So what are you suggesting, Mr. Summers?"
That you learn through trial and error," Scott offered the young woman a smile, "You say that if you're going to be leading it'll be here, but you can't lead until you know how, until you have some experience under your belt, so come with us and spend more time with the X-men, work with us, do more missions with us. This," he waved a hand at the board, "isn't going to run away, but you'll be better equipped to handle it when you have a little more experience and time under your belt."
Sooraya was quiet for a long moment. "You want me to become a leader in the X-men? And I assume that role will involve some training?"
Scott shook his head, "No, not exactly," one hand came up to gesture at the office, "you pointed out this is your main focus and I can respect that. What I think is that you should let us help teach you the skills you'll need to lead a team, so that we can count on you if we need you but also so that any aid workers or anyone you're working with in the future have the best chance to do the most good."
"It's an interesting offer. I know how many of Elpis early missions had trouble and learning more about how to deal with that would be good." Sooraya replied after another long moment of consideration.
Scott nodded, pushing himself to his feet as one hand came down, knocking on the wood of the table as he turned towards the door. "Think about it, you don't need to answer me right away but let me know in the next few days."