“Nobody grows up in Florida, unless they’re an orange.”
I saw a movie again a couple weeks ago – Music and Lyrics, one of those romantic comedy ones. This line jumped out at me and was humorous to me. Hugh Grant says it to the love interest as she is stating that she needs to grow up and stop chasing dreams so she’s going to go to Florida to work and grow up.This was funny to me because I was about to go to Florida, site of my organization’s headquarters, for a week of meetings as some organizational restructuring was getting rolled out. If applied in this context as the center of my ministry’s organizational life, the one-liner taps into that typical suspicion people get amidst organizational change.Leading organizational change is hard stuff man. There has to be some serious conceptual work, solid organizational thought, strategic AND authentic communication, compassion and sympathy for those experiencing change, and ultimately a strong resolve and security to handle the backlash.From what I can tell the process wasn’t perfect and the roll out wasn’t either, but I’m encouraged by where we’re going. The bottom line is that there were some overdue structural changes that aim to make a significant effort to empower previously marginalized groups and make it easier to partner with those needed to get the job done. So props to them. There is growing up that happens in Florida outside of oranges 
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