Consultants, which are everywhere it seems, are many times a function of the principle that we just don’t believe we have good enough ideas or expertise inside of our organizations and that we must go outside of the company to get what we need. It’s the grass is greener on the other side thing. So, consultants are brought in to tell us what to do and give us their big ideas. How many times though have we sat around during or after the consultants’ presentations and say to ourselves sarcastically, “yeah, like tell me something I don’t already know!”. What is clear about this, so many times, is that the ideas and the expertise is already in the house, we just haven’t figured out how to unlock those or we have put constraints on allowing people the freedom to express their opinions or implement their ideas. But, if someone comes from the outside, they don’t carry any baggage and they don’t feel any inhibitions to bringing forward their ideas, even though those ideas may not be anything new. We as believers know an account of a man who was not listened to in his own hometown. I often think of the people who were in Nazareth who missed out on being able to be up close and personal with Jesus because they just couldn’t see past the familiarity of who he was. The same may be happening within your own company today. Are there people who have the answers and the ideas but we are looking past them because we are familiar or we don’t listen to them because we don’t like the way they say it, or we have heard it before? Today would be a great day to stop and see if you can recognize what you already have inside your organization and see if there aren’t already people within your company who aren’t yet being listened to, or need to be heard. Maybe one of the areas we are to lead is in being the person who can unlock those people and give them their voice!

Reference: Mark 6:1-6 (New Living Testament)