Big fish Small pond

When an organization stops growing, these people may begin to look elsewhere. They are like big fish in a small pond. The pond is simply too small for them, and they become uncomfortable.

As leaders, we have two choices: let them leave, or make the pond bigger. I believe the wiser choice is the second one. And, ultimately, the responsibility for making the pond bigger belongs to the top leader.

I experienced this several times in our Institute.

In the beginning, the fish were small and the pond was small. There was no problem. Everyone was growing together.

Then, about two years later, some big fish came into our small pond. At first, there was a natural tension. But instead of asking them to remain in a small pond, we began to enlarge the pond. They helped us grow, and as they grew, the organization grew with them.

Slowly, our pond became a larger pond. Then it became more like a river. Eventually, it began to resemble an ocean.

The big fish were satisfied because they could grow with the organization. They no longer had to ask, “How long can I stay here?” They could see a future for themselves within the ministry.

But something unexpected happened in the third stage.

The small fish—the people who had been there from the beginning—could no longer survive comfortably in the big pond.

They had helped build the pond, but now the pond had become so large that they felt small. Some became less visible. Some moved behind the scenes. Some eventually left, thinking, “Perhaps I no longer belong here.”

That is a painful reality for a leader.

I cannot always keep both the big fish and the small fish in exactly the same place. The challenge is not simply to keep everyone together, but to find the right pond for each person.

A Big Pond Needs Big Fish

I have discovered something similar in Kenya.

At present, we have three different “ponds”:

• LPM Kenya
• LPM Seminary
• Melvin University

Each pond has a different purpose and a different size. Therefore, one of my responsibilities as a leader is to help people find the proper place where they can contribute, grow, and be useful.

Recently, I wrote about the inconvenience of having large fish in a small pond. That was especially true when our Institute was small and when Melvin University was just beginning.

At that stage, some highly qualified people did not want to come. They looked at the small pond and thought, “This place is too small for me. I should go somewhere else.”

But now the situation is changing.

Melvin University is becoming established, and the four-year B.A. program has begun. As the university grows, more highly qualified people are becoming interested in joining us.

Sometimes they even ask, “Can you put my name on the faculty?” Or they ask, “How much can you pay me?”

I regard this as a natural phenomenon of growth.

When an organization becomes larger, better-qualified people begin to notice it. That is not necessarily a problem. In fact, it can be a sign that the organization is developing.

But there is another problem.

The pond has grown on the outside, but the inside has not yet grown enough.

We have developed the hardware, but we are still developing the software.

People who want to join us often have three basic requests:

Airfare. Salary. Accommodation.

The airfare is understandable. If someone is coming from the United States, the United Kingdom, or Korea to teach at a university in Kenya, a round-trip ticket is a reasonable request.

Salary, however, is much more complicated.

Some professors coming from the United Kingdom have impressive academic backgrounds, sometimes connected with Oxford University through our honorary chancellor. Naturally, they think in terms of British salaries and British pounds.

But the British pound is very expensive compared with our local economy. What may seem like a normal salary to a professor from Britain can be many times the salary of a local professor. That creates a tremendous financial burden for a young university in rural Africa.

Accommodation is another issue. Providing housing for male professors may be manageable, but when female professors come, the university must also consider appropriate, safe, and comfortable accommodation.

These are not merely administrative problems. They are directly connected to our students.

Melvin University is located in poor, rural Africa. Our students know the reality of the environment in which they live. They understand that people outside Africa often imagine the continent as a place where living and working are extremely difficult.

Therefore, whenever I introduce the university to people outside Africa, I emphasize:

“Melvin University is in Africa.”

This is important because the name “Melvin University” can easily cause people to imagine a university in America, Korea, or another wealthy country. They may imagine the financial resources and facilities of an American university.

But that is not our reality.

We are trying to develop a university in a poor and rural environment.

So our present challenge is twofold:

We need to develop the school, but we must also carry the financial burden of development.

That means we need time.

Our local professors and staff have never traveled outside Africa. They are often satisfied with relatively small salaries, and they work with gratitude. Employment itself is precious here. When we select one professor or employee, there may be twenty applicants competing for that one position.

That is the reality of our environment.

So now I find myself facing a new kind of problem.

Before, I worried:

“When will the big fish come?”

Now I sometimes wonder:

“How can I accommodate the big fish when they come?”

But this is a grateful problem.

It means the pond has grown.

The challenge of the small pond was that we could not attract big fish.

The challenge of the big pond is that we must learn how to provide a place where big fish can flourish without forgetting the small fish who helped build the pond.

That is the real work of leadership.

A good leader does not simply make the pond bigger.

A good leader asks:

Who belongs in this pond?
Who needs a different pond?
How can each person grow?
And how can the pond continue to grow without losing its original life and purpose?

The pond must grow—but so must the wisdom to manage it.

When the pond becomes an ocean, the leader’s responsibility becomes an ocean as well.