Connecting good people or organizations together is often the most rewarding part of my day. Creating lasting partnerships between others is one of the most important contributions a leader of any type can make. Not only does it build good will between all the parties involved (including you) but it also adds real value to the work of others.
Today I put my old boss and friend, Betty Mould Iddrisu, who is now Ghana’s Minister of Justice and Attorney
Betty Mould-Iddrisu's Birthday Party Pic!
General, in touch with Robin Sully at the Canadian Bar Association (CBA). Betty is trying to find an organization to train Ghana’s new State Attorneys. The CBA is highly experienced in this type of work and wants to expand their operations. With the direct backing of Ghana’s Minister of Justice, the CBA shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding funding to make this a reality.
So, without much effort on my end, I was able to put a series of events in motion that will eventually improve Ghana’s justice system. I feel great. And I threw in a request that the program be named after my old friend and former Ghanaian State Attorney Everest Selby, who passed away a few years ago at too young of an age.
I believe that this connection will last because there is what I’m calling a ‘restricted mutual need’. The first part of this
My Friend Everest Selby
is a basic matching of mutual needs: Betty needs the CBA to train her people, and the CBA needs Betty to do the training. But not all ‘mutual needs’ are born equal. For instance, I might need to hire someone, and your college roommate might need a job. But a lot of other people need jobs as well, so the connection is not overly ‘restricted’ and odds are it won’t work.
Instead, a ‘restricted mutual need’ means there are a limited number of people or organizations that can fill each others need. In this case there are only a handful of NGO’s that can train lawyers at the level of professionalism required. Likewise, there are but a few Justice Ministers in Africa that will support the training of their state attorneys. An economist might say that this ’sticky’ relationship between the potential partners.
There are, of course, a whole host of other factors that will determine if this relationship works in the long run. But by finding connections with ‘restricted mutual needs’ the odds they last are dramatically improved.
