Outside

‘There’s nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot.’ (Scott Adams)

15 minutes before I was due to lead an online?change leadership?workshop in Germany, I stepped outside briefly for a breath of fresh air. I wanted to clear my head, focus and?pray. Then…oh no, I heard a gentle click behind me and discovered, to my alarm, that I couldn’t open the door without a key. It hung tantalisingly on the inside and I could see my mobile phone staring at me blankly from the table. Aha, I thought. I will ask my hosts to let me in. Oh, they were out. Mild feelings of panic rising, I rushed to a neighbour. Thank God they were in, could understand my Englisch-Deutsch, had the hosts’ number and could call. Now, with just 2 minutes to go, my host appeared and saved the day.

It was a timely reminder that?sudden change?can come from anywhere, unexpectedly and often from left field. It was also a helpful reminder that?leadership,?resilience?and?agency?aren’t simply inward, intra-personal qualities or strengths. Our ability to handle the impacts of?changes and transitions?often emerges from an outward-facing?resourcefulness, looking outside of ourselves openly (and, for me,?prayerfully) for people and-or other resources who can co-create and co-enable a solution with us…or – where no solution is possible –?sit with us?in the midst of discomfort, disappointment or pain. It was too, I admit, an embarrassing reminder to check the door lock?before?I step outside.