The Name

Cultivate

I would suggest that we do not find a purpose: A purpose finds us.
-- Robert Quinn

The story behind the name is a personal one. Sitting at lunch with the Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota, a dear friend, some years ago, I wondered out loud to him, “Why was it that my career was so eclectic?” By that point I had expanded New York City’s largest feeding program, re-launched a gay & lesbian advocacy organization, led an urban church through a re-building project, and guided a multi-program social services agency through a tough but necessary reorganization. Was I suffering from a short attention span? Or, could I just not figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up?

The bishop sat back and looked a little puzzled himself. “Do you really not see the pattern?” he asked. “Tell me what you see,” I replied, interested in his insight. I had come to experience my friend as a perceptive man in matters of vocation.

“All your work has been at the organizational level,” he stated matter-of-factly. “And the organizations have shared two characteristics. They have all been dealing with some sort of major challenge and, in a sense, needed to be turned around – sometimes 180 degrees. And they all reflect your ideals about making justice and serving the common good.”

He was right. Often, it takes a friend to help us understand the truth about our lives, whether individually or collectively. And in that lunch, a seed thought was planted. It was a thought that took root and eventually grew into the reality of OD180.

That is OD180: a consultancy dedicated to serving agencies serving the common good…and which will benefit from someone sitting with them and telling them the truth about what he sees so that they might be as effective as they can be at doing the good they do.