“Let the easy be easy and the hard be hard” (Ally Love, Peloton)

Some leaders I know think that because they are leaders (or for some other reason I don’t understand), everything they do should be easy.  They run away from anything they perceive as hard - sometimes using euphemisms to make themselves seem smart and make you seem like you didn’t really do the work, “That sounds complicated.”  The next time someone thinks your idea “sounds complicated”, ask “how so?”  Don’t let them off the hook for trying to take the easy way out.

Other people make easy things very hard. Not sure why. I would think they would be grateful for the easy since it doesn’t show up often in organizations.  Maybe some folks do it to create barriers to change they don’t want to do or be a part of, or because they want to hold on to their own power.  Take sharing information - for example -  something I have come to appreciate as an inherently power laden action.  Why? Because people who want to share information are often faced with people who don’t want the information received by others because it takes away some of their power to dictate what happens with that information if it is freely available.

How about we agree to keep the easy, easy, and the hard, hard? If it is a solid solution that solves the problem at hand and no other alternative is available that would result in better outcomes at the moment, it really doesn’t matter if it is “easy” or “hard”. Does it? How about we waste less time deconstructing the nature of things and move more quickly to just get it done.  Usually that is the most important thing we can do - especially if we are grantmakers making grants to folks who need the funds to do their work or nonprofits providing services to people who depend on them. 

Ally Love would advise we just focus on turning the pedals because we are here to ride!

Sit with it for a minute... Let me know what you think.