January 2010

There’s nothing like the start of a new year to get you reflecting on the year past, and dreaming about the one looming large in front of you. In 2009 a whole bunch of start-up things took way longer than expected (like staff recruitment and partnership contract negotiations). On the flip-side a bunch of other things fell into place quickly - almost effortlessly in some cases.

Here’s some 2009 stuff I’m particularly proud of: we built an amazing Board & staff team, we built the brand and kept refining how we can tell some of the vital stories that aren’t often heard, we took the time to plan and build the structures and systems we need as our foundation before we kick-start our programs. We were particularly open to new ideas, and almost always optimistic and creative in our thinking. We spent a heap of time recruiting the right people – even if that meant going out to the market a couple of times.

Of course there’s stuff we screwed up on. Stuff that we wished we hadn’t said out loud. Stuff we expected to do but didn’t get around to. Stuff that could have been better planned or more polished. Stuff we could have responded to faster. Stuff we wish we’d already known or learnt earlier. The kind of stuff that makes sense in hindsight but is invisible at the time.

But on the whole I’m proud of the stuff we did do and how we did it. And this coming year we’ll continue to do what we did in 2009 when we felt stuck: identify the people who most inspire us and ask them for a cuppa.