Most companies come with bureaucracy. It is as if they cannot help themselves. For good reasons, individuals are hired and organizations are created. Naturally, rules and process follow. With time, the outcome is an embedded culture and bureaucracy. While threads of purpose remain, the balance goes against the company’s aspirations for growth.
I was brought in as a force to push through the tradition. My mission is to be pragmatic and to realize results. As I begin to size up how difficult this will be, I find myself reflecting on how others have approach planning, decisions, and process. In one case, a wisdom father “decided to bypass Ephesus so that he wouldn’t be held up in Asia province. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost, if at all possible.” (Acts 20.16) In other situations, blunt (brutally candid) conversation was the tool of choice. The strange contrast lies in how the same individual also chooses to avoid conflict in order to reach his goal.
Even as I understand that life is more art than science, there are some lessons I am taking with me.
Planning and pragmatism can improve the possibility of reaching one’s goal. However, possibilities are rarely automatic. You may fall short.
Candid assessments, done with humor, are powerful truths. They require courage. They demand thoughtfulness. They are dangerous.
Losing the conversation with another reduces the possibilities. One can be right but not effective. One can be honest without being helpful. One can be critical and add little value.
In each moment, you and I hold the opportunity to exercise our freedom. In the midst of meeting new colleagues, the moments are clear. The problems of yesterday are opportunities that can be seized. The window is here. The willingness is present. The question is one of courage. It is easy to make notes, yet paralysis lurks just beneath the surface. What comes next will reflect how much I have let Hope into my life. It is a choice that will sit, waiting for a fresh embrace.
