I have this theory that we have loads of different jobs in our lives and at one time we’re one thing and another we’re another and sometimes we’re trying to balance the priorities of different jobs at the same time.
I like to watch people who lead things and run things from non-profit charitable, tiny organisations where my children learnt to swim or teach swimming to major corporations or large businesses when I get the opportunity to meet or watch people as they do this.
I think what becomes clear about the people who are good at it is that they understand what hat they’re wearing at any given time.
And so, in my life sometimes I’m a chair of governors at an alternative provision school (a relatively new undertaking on my part) and at that stage and with the decisions and the meetings and the calls that I do for that, I’m a custodian of that school and my job is to make the best decisions possible for that school at the time, with the information that I have.
At other times I’m a governor at my children’s school which is a much more highly privileged, outstanding, and high-flying institution but at that school I’m on the board of directors for the school and I’m not there to represent my children, I’m actually there to represent everybody’s children but also the interest of the school.
In other parts of my life, I’m a clinician who see’s patients one at a time.
And that hour when I meet a patient for the first time, my responsibility is to them and really to nobody else.
And then, at other parts of my life I’m a clinical director, speaking to clinicians in the practice and there I’m a custodian of the practice for the next 100 years and to pass it onto someone in a much better condition than that which I found it, if it’s possible for me to do it.
Etc, etc, etc (for a considerable part of the time I’m a Dad or a Husband).
Many of these roles have conflicting priorities and that’s a difficult thing to balance at times but the most important thing in the moment is to understand which hat you’re wearing and to represent the people as best you can at that time with what you have (ideally without compromising any of the other roles).
In a world where the noise is extraordinary and seemingly increasing exponentially each day, clarity and the ability to achieve a sense of clarity becomes more and more valuable.
Blog Post Number - 3050
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