On Transitions

June 18, 2012 Leave a comment

For those of you who follow our blog or know IISC, you know that our founding Executive Director, Marianne Hughes, will soon transition out of her role. Today is our last staff meeting together with Marianne. We will mark the moment with ritual, celebration and a meal. We will invite our whole selves into the experience, just as we have been invited to bring our whole selves to IISC’s community and work over the years.

I’m stunned that I’ve spent almost 19 years of watching Marianne work and learning from her. After our first summer working together on Boston Freedom Summer I was determined to learn to work like her. What I recognized then was her capacity to bring clarity out of confusion and agreement out of disparate thinking and strong disagreement. I saw her bring joy, hopefulness and an unflappable conviction that people could make progress together. I witnessed humility, faith and hustle unequalled by people I had known in executive leadership roles. (I also had a startling realization that first summer that if she was still working that hard, there was no end in sight for me, almost 20 years her junior! Turns out to have been true!)

Over the years, I have been blessed with the opportunity to continue watching, and listening, learning and practicing.

A Proverb in the Bible reads “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17.

I’m grateful to have been sharpened by this remarkable woman!

 

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