When the Mapmaker Gets Lost

Every company seeks clarity.

They want smoother projects, cleaner communication,

fewer fires to put out.

So they call for a map.

A system that will help them see the terrain

to understand where they are,

where they're going,

and how to get there.

But a map, no matter how detailed, is useless

if the mapmaker is lost inside it.

I was once brought in to help a company create such a system,

a framework to guide their projects from preconstruction to completion.

They assigned the task to their head of preconstruction,

a man of great skill and experience.

It made perfect sense.

Except no one had ever shown him how to be that role.

He had been promoted for what he could do,

not for how well he could lead.

And so,

despite our efforts,

he remained pulled into the noise, managing bids, fielding questions,

and solving problems that those below him should have solved.

Each time he tried to rise above the work,

the gravity of habit pulled him back down.

In Zen, this is referred to as attachment to form.

The same actions that once brought mastery

can become the very things that trap us.

A carpenter who cannot put down his tools

will never build the house of his own freedom.

Leadership,

like craftsmanship,

requires space and time.

The space to see the whole.

The courage to trust others to carry the weight.

The humility to stop doing and start guiding.

The map was never the problem.

The mapmaker just needed to remember where he stood.

Field Note:

You cannot direct the flow of work while standing in the current.

Step onto the bank, and the whole river becomes clear.