Today has been one of those days, where I am more the student with a learning curve, than I am the leadership guru guy directing a meeting. Those are always the richest days!
The first lesson that I learned today is that action trumps qualifications and experience. Most of my life has been spent gaining qualifications and experience. and granted, I am good at what I do. But Jimmy and Megan taught me an important lesson today - action is superior to becoming overqualified to compensate for my occasional insecurities.
I met Jimmy last year, barely a Christian at all, freshly divorced, all at the tender age of 24! I was being called in as an emergency to head off a new disaster, he was planning to jump right into a second marriage! We had a number of good long talks and finally agreed that a slightly longer engagement than three months, (less than six months after his divorce) was a wise and prudent course of action. Of course there are a million other details here, but lets jump to the present in favor of saving some time. I met Mrs Jimmy, Megan, who is a sharp and sassy gal.
They are back in Asia, and have just signed a two year contract to teach at a school here in the heart of Asia. They would never meet the qualifications to work for my non-profit, The Leadership Development Group. Nor would they meet the basic qualification of any of the parent organizations that I have worked for in my adult life. But you know what, they just don't care. They have seen a need, and no matter how at risk they are as a couple, as Christians, as people - they have dove right in and committed themselves.
I know all the arguments, having made them myself many times, but there is something special about people of action. Action born not out of hard competencies or deep confidence or high qualifications. Action that is born out of a heart for the needy and the disadvantaged. We need more Jimmys and Megans in the world!
The second thing I learned today, is that a certain level of continuity is required to sustain significant relationships. I have written about Dunbar's number before, and that is a key factor related to HOW MANY relationships one can actually sustain. But the reality is, that if you don't keep a certain level of consistency and continuity going in a relationship, even if you haven't hit Dunbar's number yet, you still can't have a significant relationship with that person - the capacity may be present, but the effort hasn't been applied.
I had a meeting today with Adam. I like Adam. I see him 5-6 times a year. We enjoy one another. We have real potential to have a significant friendship that would benefit us both. But neither of us make the necessary effort between those times we see each other. The consequences of that failure is a stilted ineffective face to face time, where we meet more because we think we should, rather than out of any real synergy, connection or purpose. In fact Adam and I could quite possibly change this part of the world together — but we need to pay the price to make that happen.
Which brings us full circle to action again. What Adam and I need is more action together and more effort, in order to create something beautiful, innovate a high impact micro-enterprise, start a new ministry among the 20-somethings of Chiang Mai, change the world, or simply be better people because we listened to Nike in this case — just do it!
