The Porter

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”

–     Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer knows about bucking trends.  He was ultimately executed in 1945 for participating in a plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler.

In our work to make a difference, we often encounter folks sprinting along the corridor in the opposite direction of the train they’ve boarded.  Sometimes, a quick glance in the mirror as we sprint by will confirm that we’ve fallen in to that trap, as well.

What if we’re not in a position to set the train’s course?  What if our role is in place after the routes are set and the trains our pointed on their tracks?  What then, does our job become?

Often, we are not the engineer, or the conductor.  Few of us have earned or are gifted the role or responsibility of setting “global” or “enterprise” direction, yet we are tasked with making sure that our part of the system is in synch.  If we try to be the engineer or conductor on a train already in motion, with the steam engine chugging, and the guidance controls fixed on “forward,” we can’t help those who are running the right direction on the wrong train.

Instead, the difference maker’s job is to be the porter.

We need to meet people on the platform and check their ticket, confirming their destination.  We need to show them to the right train and guide them to the steps.  We need to lift their bags up off the platform and give them a hand aboard.

Let’s make sure we’re not so focused on the destination that we leave the passengers on the platform back at the station, or worse, that we allow them to get on, or stay on, the wrong train.

Let’s make a difference by being the porter.