(upbeat music) - We're now joined by Sylvester Lukasiewicz, who is editor, SPL Films.

Good to see you, Sylvester.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Hi Mary.

By way of background, Sylvester not only has his own, his entire operation and you can check out his website, but he has been the editor of our Lessons and Leadership series from day one.

The theme in many ways of this segment, and one of the biggest reasons we wanted have you on, is teamwork.

It's so many cliches, Sylvester, around, oh, teamwork, we're a great team.

All for one, one for all.

The reality is that's who and what this team is.

Talk about it.

- Yes, I think going back to day one when we started working together, first of all, episode number 14 was my first one, but first one that went over Zoom remotely.

And so it's a very interesting study for me Corporate and cable communications, communications over distance, something that is not tangible but effective.

And so the ability to produce something for almost four years, three months short of four years without meeting someone, I'm talking about team Lessons and Leadership, it has been really something groundbreaking for me.

It really is this sort of connection that you develop over time, whether in school or in the playground or in church or wherever it is you are.

You carry that with you and at one point all these roads merge and say, hey, this is the time, this is the place where we need to create something, and then (imitates fusion) fusion.

And I think that's what happened with Lessons and Leadership.

And I think we've had many projects with Elvin and Scarlyn.

You know, we work during the day in the same place.

It doesn't change.

It's the same kind of connectivity and sort of checks and balances where I know that Elvin has my back and Mary has my back, and if she says, "Hey Syl, can you look for this or change that or double check?"

I got her back as well.

And so it's almost like reigniting all the time, and it's never going pale or stale or boring.

So I think that's what teamwork is about, is always going back and forth, listening to each other and observing.

I mean, the fact that we were able to meet in person back in January, it was so solidifying for me because a handshake or a drink with someone or you know, hugging Steve, hugging Mary, it was so visceral.

So, you know, the first time, you meet someone for the first time, it's like your first date and you automatically, - I never saw it that way, Sylvester.

- we had our, you know.

- But that's fine.

- I did 'cause we got, we went to the great, the High Lawn, right?

We went to the High Lawn.

- Props to the High Lawn, to our friends up there.

Go ahead, Mary.

- Exactly, and Sylvester was there before me, and he was standing at the bar.

I don't even know if he had an alcoholic beverage or not.

It looked like seltzer.

- No, he did not.

- Or maybe there was vodka in it.

He was driving - And then I was there and I was like, "Sylvester?"

(Mary and Steve laughing) Because we were the first two.

- Four years!

- Four years and the funny thing is when people meet me, they're always like, "You're taller than you look in Zoom," right?

Because I am.

I'm pretty tall.

I'm almost 5'8".

So that's usually the first thing that I get.

Or I get some people don't even recognize me in person.

'Cause you do, you look different, you carry yourself different.

So, but yes, categorizing it like a first date was definitely true.

- But you know what's interesting about what Mary just said and what you said, Sylvester, and again, I think about this a lot, I think about chemistry, I think about this thing people, you know, culture or chemistry, I don't wanna play word games with this, but people say it's virtually impossible.

And I use the word virtually on purpose.

It's virtually impossible in a virtual world to have chemistry and a culture and teamwork and collaboration.

But Sylvester, that's not really true because there are people who work together side by side in offices in person, and they have absolutely terrible chemistry, and the culture is not collaborative, is not trusting, as you just said.

It is not all for one, one for all.

As you said, you have each other's backs.

Talk about that, that the remote world doesn't stop us, and not just us.

This isn't about us.

It's about people who choose to be collaborative, respectful, and trusting, please.

- Yes, you're right, and I think the solution to that is, and I think Zoom, what the whole culture of working remotely woke a lot of people up, not just from being on camera and sitting up and you know, making sure the background is, you know, clear or whatever.

It's about listening.

It's about ability to give someone something to say and not just one way and everyone forgot about it, something that will be picked up and carried on with whatever the project we're working on.

Is it just a staff meeting or production meeting or is it just a one-on-one conversation with your doctor?

I mean it's sort of the communication doesn't change.

The chain can be broken by so many things.

I mean it could be, you know, technical issues.

It could be the timing or it does take not maybe practice, but sort of getting used to talking to no one, right?

Because I'm literally talking to you on my phone right now, but I know that there's Mary, there's Steve, there's Elvin and probably three or four other people.

- You don't see?

Hold on a second, sorry for interrupting while you're talking about listening.

So Sylvester, you don't see us right now?

- I see you in the periphery of my vision because I have my camera that I'm looking at.

But I can see your emotions, I can see if you pick up your book or your prop, I can see it, but it's not where I'm looking into the eyes of my listener.

So I think going back to leadership and sort of communication, you have to understand that your message is still continuing even though you're not seeing the people you're speaking to.

- What it takes, Mary, we had a guest earlier, we were taping a long day and let's just say this guest had important things to say and it was powerful except he was challenged by the experience.

I know he was challenged by the experience.

And let's just say Mary, he didn't come across in the way that I'm pretty sure he wanted to.

And a lot of it's about what Sylvester's talking about.

- Totally.

- Practicing this.

We didn't make the rules.

These are the rules.

Go ahead, Mary.

We got a minute left with Sylvester.

- Yeah, definitely, and one other thing that I wanna talk about with Sylvester, and it's something that I have coached my boys who are literally, by the time this airs, they're gonna be 19 and 22 years old and they thank me for this, is literally building trust with people and actually caring about what you're doing for those people, with those people as a team.

And Sylvester, just talk a little bit about that.

As Steve said, we have about a minute left together, but talk about your level of caring.

I mean, from the first time we, and I'm gonna use air quotes, interviewed you, and I do that because we technically didn't.

You came to us from Elvin.

We were like, this guy's it.

He's gonna be great.

But we could tell.

- Elvin Badger, our director - Yes, Elvin our director.

But sure, we could tell that you cared, that you really, you know, did.

So talk a little bit about caring and why that's important in a relationship.

- Absolutely, I think again, like you said when we first spoke with Steve and you on the phone, I automatically right away started picking up on things that I can be an asset, I can contribute with, or if there's something that I need to pick up and learn on because you guys have a particular format of the program or the way you have your deliverables and things like that.

You quickly right away adjust to what you can do, how quickly you can do it.

And that's the kind of arsenal if you, you know, pardon the pun, it is something that you can always jump in with and say, "Hey, I got your back and I care for what we're doing."

And with these things I'll be able to achieve if you miss something or something came in late or whatever the issue might be.

So I think always that sort of safety net first, Murphy's law that everything will go wrong.

So, but in the long run it's caring.

It's about the end product and that everything comes together at the end.

And like Steve says, all the graphics and all the visuals and you say mural, photos, music, sound, all that stuff, it all comes in at the end every week, week after week without taking a break.

So that's sort of, that's how I care in the long run for four years now, that the show continues, the message continues.

Lessons and Leadership don't take summer vacations.

There's no summer school.

(Mary and Sylvester laughing) - No.

- Right?

So I think that's what it is.

It's really just caring about what you do, what you're hired to do, but also feel passionate about, because I do feel passionate about this.

- You know, some folks may wonder why are we taking a segment like this and airing it on our sister series One on One.

Here's the reason, because teamwork.

It isn't just teamwork on our sister series Lessons and Leadership.

It's for all of you who are part of a team.

I'm not gonna get on my soapbox about leadership and teamwork, but we're all on a team.

You may see yourself working in a silo or I'm in my lane.

We don't have that luxury.

So this collaboration was really, is really an effort at us to say, look, there are mistakes, problems happen all the time, but when they do, this team tries to come together as quickly as possible and figure out, hey, how do we deal with it?

How do we fix it?

And what do we learn from it?

And so to our longtime editor from day one on Lessons and Leadership, Sylvester, I wanna say thank you and also thank you to our director once again, Elvin Badger, who brought us together, make our team better.

Thanks Sylvester.

Appreciate it.

He'll be editing this, his own segment, in just a couple weeks.

Thanks, Sylvester.

- Thank you.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Hackensack Meridian Health.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Valley Bank.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

Seton Hall University.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

And by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by NJBIZ.

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