Who's in Charge?

Admittedly, it was pure intuition and inspiration that led me to create Rock River Cafe: A Fresh Expression of Local Cuisine. I have a masters degree in business administration and have worked for successful, struggling, growing, shrinking, reworking organizations over the years. You'd think I would know better than to listen to my gut so whole-heartedly.

No. I don't.

There's a part of my personality (that part of me that joined the U.S. Army) that will jump on a hand grenade for a really good cause.  The time, the place, the moment of me, all seemed so certain that there was nothing else but "A Fresh Expression of Local Cuisine".

And there is. There is a fresh expression growing from the earth, budding with hope, nourishing those who flock to the farm markets desiring to finally be fed... food.

And the room here is empty. I'm holding a megaphone on the back row of the bleacher, pretty much forgotten. If I've learned anything over the course of my life, at the end of the day, the individuals who led a stream of fish in one direction or another can't really matter. Because at the beginning of the day, all that mattered was that goal. There's no need for an appalling goal shift of paying the ego.
I've never been in charge of anything, anyway.

Unchecked Exuberance

Having a really, really great idea seems to fill ones energy-well till it's overflowing into the landscape. This can have the effect of infecting the surrounding population with doses of the juice that sparks more ideas and excitement. In the right circumstance, the energy of change grows quickly and lights twinkle in the wilderness-of-was like fireflies on some magic summer night reflecting the miracles of the starry sky.

But exuberance unchecked can run the well dry. This lesson left me holding my palm up for the sky to ponder and grace, or not, for what seemed like an eternity.

And the view from afar? I can only imagine, but as the dining room became emptier and emptier, and my forecasts for rain continued to overestimate the daily reality, my imagination became fairly (and fairly reasonably) paranoid.

Lesson learned? Position yourself for continued exuberance. Run in the woods if there's energy at the end of the day from the excitement of the situation. Always feel the bottom of the lake beneath your feet, knowing that unknown forces may pull you at times and you'll need the strength to return to stability.