Bhutto and Trudeau and Houses

During my commute into the office I got wondering about Justin Trudeau. Having been busy over Christmas break I didn't read any of this until just now. Before Christmas, I picked up two biographies of Pierre Trudeau which I havn't read yet. However, I have been reading a bit more about the history of Cape Breton Island and Montreal. Earlier in December, I read John A. MacDonald's latest biography. Among many revelations, I found it interesting he started as a defence attourney whose first case was a bit bizzarre.

It seems the Benazir Bhutto story is getting more interesting (in a who shot JFK kind of way).

I'd like to see Charlie Wilson's War, and not yet sure what all that has to do with Michael Vickers or Canada's present roles in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Two books on my desk for reading today: Eric D. Beinhocker's "The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What It Means for Business and Society" and Terry Morrison & Wayne Conaway's "Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More Than 60 Countries, 2nd Edition"

There's reading about this stuff and then there's the "What happens if I end up in the middle of this stuff?" gut check. There is a certain knowledge by extension (through the looking glass perspective) that we all have. Then there is the surgically getting past the media-based vanilla-politicized agendas where we willingly place ourselves in the middle of the smelly mess nobody's sure how to clean up. The reason we end up there is to bring hope, spread the love and put our two hands to the work of helping heal the broken stuff. A healer can't manipulate anyone into being healed!

Local politicians and international dipolmats are not as much goal setters, as they are problem solvers. If the ones governing can't heal what's broken, the ones who hope to "govern" need better advisors. More advisors with PhD's may or may not be a liability. You can trust the specialists if you like. But, what about the people... Then it becomes about which people. Who do we trust? Who do we allow to speak into our agenda?

And here's the real crux of leadership. People know character when they see it. All good people gravitate to someone worth following who listens and guides and inspires and encourages. Anybody with a good heart is willing to follow and learn from someone else's lead. Nobody can lead a swarm of bad people... It's good that there are a lot of good people in the world.

If I wanted to build a house... I could just contract it out to the lowest bidder. Or, I could give a contractor work because I like the five different blueprints I can choose from. Or, I can build the house myself. And building it myself means different things as well. I could literally build it myself which may or may not be a disaster. Or, I could build it myself in a way that puts me in the midst of the entire building project from the ground up... where there are no pre-assumptions ahead of time other than "I want to build a house."

So, I want to build a house. I have an idea on what kind of land I want to build this place on. I have some ideas of what I'd like to see architecturally. I know who I want my home to bless and inspire. So what do I do next? Well, I might read architectural journals. I might introduce myself to various architects... maybe even have a few of them meet each other and we all share our ideas for what community might look like under my new roof.

If I know the potential location of my home I might introduce myself to the owner of the land.. and if it's in a municipality then I get to know the area... where the hydro and water come from, the infrastructure of the whole grid. Location is important, but knowing everything about the location is even more important.

On and on it goes with building a house. It's going to take time. It's going to take money. It's going to have a final result. If the original intent of the vision is just to have a place to put stuff and keep my family warm and dry ... then I'll end up with a box. If the original intent of the vision is to build an inspirational international destination for young global leaders coming and going from the nations of the world... If the original vision is to have a massive circular study / oratory for the whole family to learn and grow together ... If the original vision takes in the stone and light of the Cistercians and the rugged wooden beams of the high alpine mountains of Canmore, Alberta... if it's a house of prayer and study and hosting international leadership... then it will look and feel like more than just a house.

And this isn't just about building a house... Before one ever steps out to build or rebuild a business or a nation, one has to ask and answer a lot of questions. And whatever questions you can't answer better have an adequate advisor. And whatever questions you don't even know you should ask yet, better have an adequate advisor. Basically, if you are going to step out in any way to build any thing into any one... then you need more and more excellent people around you.

Guaranteed, every refugee in the history of the world asked and answered a lot of heart level questions before they ever inherited that land and started building upon their family dreams.