1. Resourceful Enough:
Leadership in Scarcity
Or, how to be resourceful when
resources are in short supply

4. Shantung Compound
December 1944
• 1450 Prisoners
• 200 Americans
• 1550 Red Cross Parcels

5. How to allocate scarce
resources?
• 1 box to each prisoner, with an extra half
box to each American?
• 7.5 boxes to each American?
• Nothing?

6. The outcome
• Blessing or curse?
• 1 box per prisoner, including the
Americans
• The rest are sent to another camp

7. “For even saintly folk will act like sinners
Unless they have their customary dinners.”
--Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

9. Challenges of Scarcity
1. The received heritage is ambiguous.
2. External expectations are frustrating.
3. Limitations are real. They keep us from
carrying out many good ideas.
4. The pace of change is different.
5. Scarcity impacts staff.

10. Challenges of Scarcity
6. Urgent tasks force leaders to “work down.”
7. Multiple, overwhelming needs demand
incredible, sustained focus--triage. Two
competing meanings:
• Attend to those with the gravest need first?
• Or, attend to those with the best chance to
survive, leaving those with gravest need to
die?

12. Challenges of Scarcity
8. Cultural perceptions of success--mixed
with a dose of healthy questioning—erode
our sense that we are doing good work.
9. Learning from our mistakes can be risky.
10. These things lead to early morning
panics.

13. Gifts of Scarcity
1. Crisis can be clarifying.
2. Scarcity makes it harder to live in denial.
3. Scarcity forces us from sloppiness and
laziness.
4. The demands are many and varied, and
they call upon us to use our gifts more
fully.

14. Gifts of Scarcity
5. The triage we are forced to practice is a
form of discernment. Discernment is a
way to wisdom.
6. Scarcity brings us closer to the front lines
of being human.
7. Vulnerability is closer to our real situation
before God. We aren’t going to save the
world—so do what you can.

15. Leading In Scarcity
1. In situations of scarcity, the most precious
communal resource is trust. Trust is the
currency of leadership. How is trust built?
• Competence: meeting expectations
• Honesty
• Love
• = Integrity

16. Leading In Scarcity
2. Creativity is free!
• Experiment, evaluate, experiment again
• Build your sense of humor
3. Celebrate the victories, no matter how
small—they may be all you’ll get.

17. Leading In Scarcity
4. Keep your balance.
5. Persist.
6. Leave if you are dying.