First a Leader - (originally published on LinkedIn on August 1, 2024)
POOF! There it was. A moment of clarity and confidence.
A young woman asked me in a LinkedIn chat conversation what I thought was driving efforts in various cities toward stopping the wasteful practice of disposing of buildings.
This is the stuff I work on all the time.
I might have in another moment answered with something about momentum gains in deconstruction training or organizations getting grants from the EPA or policy or some other external factor.
Nope. Not then. I did not even hesitate to type: People.
“People.
People willing to do something and not just talk.
That speaks to leadership. Leadership is influence. Leadership is taking initiative, moving first before knowing what's ahead. All one's ducks do not need to be in a row to lead.
In each of these places and cases, I can point to someone who was willing to initiate action. That action may have waned, but then that often happens in government (a lot).
Leadership also calls for persistence in the face of adversity. This is where the real leaders surface. They persist. That takes courage.
Courage is a muscle that can be strengthened through exercise. Aristotle said, ‘Courage is the mother of all virtues because without it, you cannot consistently perform the others.’
There will always need to come forth a champion, a leader to make progress in anything.”
That’s it in a nutshell: people exercising courage and persistence over the time it takes to complete a project.
Waste reduction is not sexy (so I am told).
Waste is a big problem.
Construction & Demolition Waste is THE biggest category of waste. Twice as big as #2. (2018 EPA)
Our “Take Make Waste” habits of society are deeply ingrained.
Waste is hidden by design. It goes out the back door. It gets picked up in the early morning. It gets hauled away to somewhere we don’t have to see it or smell it. But these practices do not really make it go away.
Fixing a huge problem is hard. Really hard.
“Do the hard things.” – Dan Goldin, 9th Chief of NASA.
Finding the leaders, the champions of the cause, who are going to take the mantle of responsibility for the entire journey is a good place to begin.
Ask. Ask who might like to lead such a project. Give them clarity on the challenges ahead. Then give them the backing and resources they need.
Champions are not all found at the top. Champions are built through the struggle. They may not have the right job title. They may not look like champions. They are champions on the inside until it shows up on the outside.
Who’s willing to be the lead dog on the sled? Who’s got the eye of the tiger? Do you?
Larry