I began a series of essays on leadership a few years ago with an intention of writing the essays as the thoughts occurred to me and then selecting the best of them to publish as essays on leadership. Along the way a detour occurred. A publisher was attracted by a panel I put together for the International Studies Association asked me to put together a book on 21st century challenges in international politics, based on ideas raised at that panel in Toronto in 2014.
It wound up being a major project with diverse authors, some American, some from other countries, and a major effort. Adding more authors and topics, plus a total re-write of the original essays, ensued. Even with an incomparable co-editor, my friend Vidya Nadkarni, with whom I had put together another book a few years ago, the amount of work was incredible. It took over my life.
The deadline was this month. I had to drop out of two activities (seminars) to work on this since they were morning activities and morning is my best time for writing and editing. Some complications with my eye surgery (done last year) reinforced the fact that I could edit only in the earlier part of the day..
At last the project is completed, and I am ready to send off the manuscript. The project is not finished, of course, since we have proofing later and the creation of the index, assuming that nothing else goes wrong. But, there will be a respite and hopefully I can go back to my leadership essays.
Essays on leadership require insight and inspiration. That does not happen when one is thorough engaged in other projects.
All of this is a metaphor for the detours that confront us in life. Whether a good detour (like mine) or a bad detour (some catastrophe in our lives or family), we are often sidetracked from our goals. We have to work around those detours.
Putting a project on the backburner is a process we have to accept. Retrieving it when circumstances permit is a normal part of our development as leaders and actors in daily life.
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