Musings at Altitude

I am a non-conformist.  My behavioral surveys confirm that.  I admit that.  I struggle mightily with rules, with policies, and with schedules.  They constrain me.  They greatly restrict me.  They stifle thoughts and flows of emotion right at the time of maximum benefit to others.  And they ultimately define you through conformance.

 Admittedly, some level of conformity is important.  I use this freely available calendar from www.vertex42.com as a way of broadly planning my week.  In any given week, I have specific meetings that I must mandatorily attend.  Regardless of whether I believe those meetings generate progress or not, I have no choice in whether or not I attend.  I do however have a choice as to whether I affiliate with that organization or not.  By not attending, in affect I make that choice.

I also believe laws are important, and in fact, I believe the 10 Commandments provided in the Old Testament provide pretty clear and important laws for how we should and shouldn’t live.  Jesus, when questioned by the Pharisees about the most important of the 10 Commandments, prioritized that list to (1) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart”, and (2) “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  This is found in Matthew 22:35-40.  It seems pretty clear that all the other commandments would become almost unneeded if we did indeed love our Creator with all our hearts and then love each other as we love ourselves.

 But many rules, laws, policies and mandatory meetings are put in place to make others feel comfortable rather than to provide anything of meaning to those that must then plan their lives and adapt their behaviors to those things now mandated.  I read an interesting article last week about President Obama and how he was routinely now behind schedule for his meetings.  They compared our new President to President Clinton, who also struggled mightily to stay on schedule.  They also compared him to President Bush who focused intently on staying on schedule.  Many people will now try and define the President by his structure and his adherence to schedule. 

I was very fortunate during my years in the military to provide services to President Clinton and his staff.  I can personally testify to his “flexibility” in schedule.  But I can also testify to his compassion, his emotion, and his desire to stay and talk to people and not break off a conversation just to stay on schedule.  I sense President Obama is the same way, and that he, like President Clinton, will prioritize on the fly and decide when staying strictly to schedule is required and when it is not.

But back to conformity.  Are rules and policies and mandatory meetings “the law”?  Or instead, are they guidelines and frameworks for orderly conduct of business and vectoring of actions towards common outcomes?  You can probably guess that as a non-conformist I believe the latter.  I also believe that much of life is not black and white but necessarily grey.

A perfect week for me is when scheduled meetings and calls take up less than half of my 60+ hours of mentally focused work time.  The rest of the time then is prioritized to:

1. random response to the emotional needs of the organization or the family
2. policy variance on things that aren’t black and white
3. schedule changes that accommodate the need for focus on team members or family
4. quick response to unexpected events (either good or bad)

I experience great fulfillment when the days and weeks are least structured and yet much is accomplished.  I find great joy in responding to issues outside the schedule and in adapting the policies to meet the real needs of individuals and organizations.  I find great comfort in knowing that the two greatest commandments are framed on love.

And now I have to end this because church starts at 9:30!