Conduit

One definition of conduit includes the electrical context:

“A tube or trough for protecting electric wiring”

Swinging back to leadership, another definition:

“A person or organization that acts as a channel for the transmission of something.”

One of my best friends in the world is a conduit. A few years ago, he volunteered at a local arts initiative where the walls in our city were painted by famous street artists from around the world.

From what I remember, his official role was to keep the paint, supplies (and food!) up to the artists while they worked. But the unique value he added was as a conduit. He’s utterly amazing with people, and from a place of empathy, was able to understand the needs of the event organiser, artists, crowds and onlookers, local council (where he had existing connections he could lean on) and local businesses whose walls were being painted.

He’s a conduit, and he did way more than supply paint. Without him, there would have been way more friction, so he got invited back again and again.

I want to be that kind of conduit as a leader at Forever Projects… the kind that is a channel for the transmission of hope. Hope both on the ground in Tanzania, and hope here that we can use our time, talent and money in a way that leads us toward much more meaning, purpose and connection in our lives.

The best way I, and we at FP, know to do that is tell stories of those we see doing it already.

So i’m going to pivot this blog for the next couple of weeks, and point it toward telling some of the stories that I have the privilege of playing a part in transmitting. We believe that by shining a light on those stories, we create an invitational culture for us all to play ever greater roles in our collective journey.