Some years ago, during a work-based version of Would You Rather, my colleague Christy and I compared whether it was better to be considered inspiring or competent. Without much hesitation, she chose inspiring, and I chose competent. I remember her disbelief that anyone would settle for competent when you could be inspiring. For my part, I reasoned that being competent was a sort of baseline for being inspiring. As I've thought about it since then, I tend to agree with Christy.
Recently, this came to me again when I was part of a small cohort to complete a lengthy training together. The material was heady, and people dove into it wholeheartedly with a personal or professional take. I delved into it as deeply as my time would allow. At the end of it, one of my fellow cohort members wrote descriptors of each person using words like empathetic, leader, compassionate, and, yes, inspiring. Strangely, for me, she just put "Swiss army knife."
I have no idea the meaning behind her perspective. Maybe she saw me as simple and useful, but mostly not to be considered very deeply other than when camping. Or perhaps I am both handy to have around and nimble to meet the need of the moment. Maybe I could even say I am reliable and will be there when you need me most. The simple design of this legendary knife certainly is inspiring, if not its everyday use. Whatever her reasoning, I believe every person can be competent AND inspiring in some way. In my life, I will be pondering for a while what it means to be the Swiss army knife someone else might need.
