Who Are You?

How do you describe yourself?

Of course, it depends significantly on the context. For years when my kids were younger I often opened with “I’m Ben/Ian/Amy’s dad”. When at an event for Shalem Mental Health Network I might say “I’m one of the board members”. And in my little country church people are much more interested in which house I live in than what I do for a living.

As leaders we often have several relevant labels we can choose to reveal, or not.

Part of the challenge is that none of these descriptors capture the wholeness of our identities. None of them are totally complete or fully accurate. And as I get older I sometimes wonder how accurate even my own sense of myself really is.

There are things that used to be true descriptors of me that aren’t anymore. And there are some things that may always have been true that I didn’t recognize or understand until recently. (It’s slightly ironic that I reflected on someone else getting an ADHD diagnosis four months ago and just received the same diagnosis myself last week).

We are continually discovering ourselves.

Maybe that’s a key part of maturing; learning to better understand ourselves and each other.

As charity leaders we have some particular challenges:

Saying “I’m the Executive Director of a charity” doesn’t give much clarity. What cause are you addressing? How big is the organization? What does an Executive Director actually do??

For years I’ve often asked people, “so if I followed you around for a week at work what would I see you doing?” as a way to better understand what the title obscures.

I’ve learned that there are some things that vary wildly between leadership roles, and some things that are fairly universal. My fascination is with how the things that are most common have to be understood and applied in the unique realities of each leader and organization. That’s why I am continually developing and modifying new content and tools that explore similar themes, and then customize them for each client and season.

So, as you continue to discover yourself and others, don’t get stuck with any particular labels. Dig a little deeper to understand the particularities of each individual and situation. That’s where the true insight is often found.