Flying without a net. . .

One of the real "upside" factors of my work is the board of directors serving and providing governance to our organization.

These wonderful men and women give so freely and sacrificially of their time, talent, money, ideas, commitment and encouragement.  I recognize how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to work alongside such an amazing group of people.

At virtually every meeting of our board something encouraging, insightful, surprising and challenging comes up or is said.  Most of the really exceptional stuff just arises out of the context of our work and our conversation.

Last night at our regular quarterly meeting the discussion turned intense as we laid out challenges, amazing opportunities and a sense of progress and momentum.

Craig Spaulding, an incredibly accomplished senior housing developer, fly fisherman and financial genius, spoke up to say, "Larry, it must be hard flying without a net for so many years."  

Never before had I thought of my work in quite those terms.  However, as I pondered his comment, made in the midst of his explanation of a very creative idea to provide relief for ongoing cash flow issues, I saw his point and had to agree.

We do fly without a net a good bit of the time around here!

As our meeting went on, I couldn't stop thinking about his metaphor.

Then, it hit me:  "We fly without a net around here whenever we have to because the people we love so much live without nets almost all of the time."  

The intermingling of ideas, values, helpful engagement and passionate concern for and connection with "our people" never ceases to amaze me.

In fact, this is the essence of CitySquare.