What if everybody’s job is to do repair?

“What if everybody’s job is to do repair?” comes from Jessica Norwood, founder and CEO of Runway. Runway is a Black and Brown women-led financial innovation firm focusing on building Black community wealth through early-stage business funding, support and partnerships.

Norwood is a successful entrepreneur and a gifted communicator and story teller. I wanted to share the memorable story she told which leads to the wonderful question that is the headline of this post.

We live in broken times. So much new damage being layered on top of still unrepaired historical damage. It’s easy to freak out. But we can also find strength, and progress, by recognizing the abundance of resources that community connection and community work bring.

That all jumped out at me the past two weeks. One friend started a new group on Signal to share local advocacy, protest and support opportunities. It’s buzzing. Another connection is working to use her career coaching skills to help laid-off Federal employees. 100-plus people showed up to a neighborhood (not city-wide) forum where candidates for Evanston mayor and the neighborhood’s open council seat shared their perspectives. It was a highly engaged audience.

A lot of people are doing a lot of things. Some big. Some small. But each offers an opportunity to explore: How might I contribute to your effort?

Which brings me back to Jessica Norwood. I first heard about her work on the podcast Whiskey Fridays, hosted by Kate Tyson, who runs a consulting firm for small businesses that desire to create a more just world. Tyson also publishes on Substack. Those of you who know me well can see why I am attracted to her work. Yes, let’s use small businesses to create the reality we want. And oh – chatting about innovative small business practices and social impact over a glass of whiskey? Bring it.

In the episode with Norwood, Norwood shares a story about finding her purpose. It involves a recurring dream, a humorous scene in which she finds and then revisits her professional purpose. In Heaven.

She first has this dream as a young girl when she is trying to find the right job. She’s in Heaven and finds herself walking through the clouds toward an angel sitting behind a table. Norwood calls this angel “middle management angel.” His role is to hand out jobs. He gives Norwood one. He tells her “you’re going to do repair work.” She’s going to repair the places and ways that people have been hurt or harmed. Norwood decides that this is going to be her life work.

Fast forward years later. It’s during the Pandemic and the dream recurs. She’s now a successful leader of an organization tied tightly to her purpose but is under a lot of stress due to the chaos caused by the Pandemic and trying to run a small foundation. “I’m thinking, maybe I need to go back and get another job,” she says, laughing. But this time in the Heaven dream she is in line with others waiting to see middle management angel. She is listening in on the talk around her. She’s trying to see what job the people in front of her might be getting, because “I might need that job,” she says. She was listening and listening.

Then she wakes up. And realizes that everyone got the exact same job.

To do repair work.

“Now imagine,” she says “that everybody’s job is to do repair.” It means I might be able to do something for you, now. But if not, someone else is on the job for you. And you are on the job for someone else. The work can be something small; a kind word at the right moment can repair. The point is: Repair needs are met by the collective.

“That’s that abundance that I’m talking about, that community and collective work really brings,” Norwood says.

I love this dream story (we remember stories!) and the lesson of repair work and abundance. It creates power.

Where it helps me is in finding balance between where I want to contribute over the long term (community listening) and where, through my community relationships, I can right now find new moments and ways to contribute as part of the repair work collective.

I’m now looking for those little moments and opportunities. How might I contribute to the effort of others?

---

Note to subscribers: I am breaking my own rule about only sending out newsletter emails once every month-ish (I sent one out last week). Several new folks have subscribed and I wanted to share my routine. I post weekly, on Sundays. Every month-ish I will send out a summary newsletter to cover themes and reflect on what went on during the month. The next one will be at the end of March or early April. For the in-between weekly posts, come back here, go to the Blog menu (above) and look for new posts.

Note 2: The photographs which accompany these posts are taken by me, and show different settings and views of Evanston (where I live). It is a visual reminder that this is the most important setting for belonging and contributing to community; my neighborhood, my city.