Volume XXIII, Number 20 (Issue 1129) | May 19, 2025
The Struggle to Know the Path You Should Take
Through the years I have sought guidance – often divine, sometimes worldly – on the course I should take. In the times when I was particularly lost, I prayed that God would place a conspicuous sign (a billboard to be precise) along a familiar highway to let me know in no uncertain terms what I should do. As you might expect, I never encountered a single personalized billboard. Instead, the signs that did come my way, profound as they were, were also subtle.
In fact, looking back, I now understand that the clarity I was seeking is rarely revealed in advance. Rather, clarity around a choice is most often recognized in hindsight. Even then, the message and lesson can be hard to see, let alone interpret and apply. Nonetheless I do know I have found my calling amidst the good and bad choices I have made.
I offer my own experience as preface to the current setting where there is considerable uncertainty about what the future holds. For instance, there are a host of questions about the direction of the economy, the consequences of tariffs, future tax policy, technology, education, research, the environment, etc. Under such circumstances it is hard to plan. Just this past week, the CEO of the largest retailer in the world said as much. Thus, when one does plan, having confidence in that plan can be elusive. Such a challenge notwithstanding, there are some things we can and should do.
Specifically, one must start with identifying and focusing on one’s core competency.
Many years ago, the firm I was with at that time was hired to help a non-profit organization develop a strategic plan. The organization’s stated mission was to reintegrate the city’s homeless population into the mainstream. At the point where we were brought in their approach had evolved to the stage where they were trying to be a one stop shop for that segment of the community. Thus, they offered meals, overnight accommodations, basic hygiene and healthcare services, transitional housing, job skills training, counseling, your name it. From the board’s perspective, their major challenge was fund raising as services like theirs were not seen as a particularly sexy ask. In studying the organization what we discovered is they had begun life as case managers but over the years had chosen to add more and more services in order to become that one-stop shop. Unfortunately, that expansion of complimentary and ancillary services stretched their fundraising ability beyond the breaking point.
Meanwhile, because they were located in a major metropolitan community in the south, lots of other non-profits were offering select services to the homeless community. Those entities were also competing for the same funding dollars. Armed with that insight, we advised the organization to do two things. First, return to their roots of case management and counseling. Second, partner with the other non-profits in town offering services to the homeless. Combined, implementing those two strategies enabled the client to dramatically reduce their funding requirements while making sure that through a set of strategic partnerships the array of non-profits working with the homeless were not duplicating both services and asks.
The lesson here is that in identifying and sticking with the “one that brung ya’,” the more effective you can be – provided, of course, there is sufficient ongoing demand for what you do. No one wants to suffer the fate of the buggy whip industry.
The final thought I would leave with you is seeking to be all things to all people may not be the wisest strategy. While there are a limited number of successful decathletes, there are numerous phenomenally successful athletes who specialize in a single sport.
Soli Deo Gloria
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:6-8
J. Keith Hughey
Mobile: (210)260-0955
E-mail: keith@jkeithhughey.com
Website: www.jkeithhughey.com
Transforming Potential into Unmatched Performance
Copyright 2025 by J. Keith Hughey. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for reproduction and redistribution of this essay as provided under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Recent issues of Musings may be found at www.jkeithhughey.com. Your comments are always welcome.