Resourceful Enough: Leadership in Scarcity

Or, how to be resourceful when resources are in short

supply

Shantung CompoundDecember 1944

• 1450 Prisoners

• 200 Americans

• 1550 Red Cross Parcels

How to allocate scarce resources?

• 1 box to each prisoner, with an extra half box to each American?

• 7.5 boxes to each American?

• Nothing?

The outcome

• Blessing or curse?

• 1 box per prisoner, including the Americans

• The rest are sent to another camp

“For even saintly folk will act like sinners

Unless they have their customary dinners.”

--Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

Challenges of Scarcity

1. The received heritage is ambiguous. 2. External expectations are

frustrating.3. Limitations are real. They keep us

from carrying out many good ideas.4. The pace of change is different.5. Scarcity impacts staff.

Challenges of Scarcity

6. Urgent tasks force leaders to “work down.”7. Multiple, overwhelming needs demand

incredible, sustained focus--triage. Two competing meanings:

• Attend to those with the gravest need first?

• Or, attend to those with the best chance to survive, leaving those with gravest need to die?

Challenges of Scarcity

8. Cultural perceptions of success--mixed with a dose of healthy questioning—erode our sense that we are doing good work.

9. Learning from our mistakes can be risky.

10. These things lead to early morning panics.

Gifts of Scarcity

1. Crisis can be clarifying.2. Scarcity makes it harder to live in

denial.3. Scarcity forces us from sloppiness

and laziness.4. The demands are many and varied,

and they call upon us to use our gifts more fully.

Gifts of Scarcity

5. The triage we are forced to practice is a form of discernment. Discernment is a way to wisdom.

6. Scarcity brings us closer to the front lines of being human.

7. Vulnerability is closer to our real situation before God. We aren’t going to save the world—so do what you can.

Leading In Scarcity

1. In situations of scarcity, the most precious communal resource is trust. Trust is the currency of leadership. How is trust built?

• Competence: meeting expectations • Honesty• Love• = Integrity

Leading In Scarcity

2. Creativity is free!

• Experiment, evaluate, experiment again• Build your sense of humor

3. Celebrate the victories, no matter how small—they may be all you’ll get.

Leading In Scarcity

4. Keep your balance.

5. Persist.

6. Leave if you are dying.