Follow the Plot

The movie director Jason Reitman tells a story about his dad, the more famous director Ivan Reitman. His dad calls him one day all excited about the show 24 — the one with Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer — and invites him over to watch it. After watching three episodes together, the younger Reitman asks his father what makes 24 so good when there are so many other shows about terrorism.

“This isn’t a show about terrorism. Terrorism is a location. This is a show about a man trying to keep his family together,” his father said. “Never mistake your location for your plot.”

This rule applies to our work too. Let me explain: All organizations have their own versions of location and plot. 

Their location is the space they work in. It’s their industry or field. For example, Doctors without Borders works in healthcare. So does Johnson & Johnson and the hospital in your neighborhood. Habitat for Humanity works in housing. So does the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and whoever built the house or apartment you live in.

And all organizations have a plot. This is how they succeed — how they make an impact or how they make money. For Doctors without Borders, it’s about raising funds, recruiting doctors, and getting them into places without access to healthcare. For Habitat for Humanity, it’s about raising funds, recruiting volunteers, and deploying them to build houses for people who can’t afford them.

You see the pattern? Doctors without Borders and Habitat for Humanity work in very different spaces, but have generally the same path to success. Raise funds, recruit volunteers, and get the volunteers to where they’re needed.

Here’s why this matters: Organizations who work in different spaces rarely learn from each other. Healthcare organizations hang out with other healthcare organizations. Housing organizations spend most of their time with housing organizations. And that’s a shame because they have so much to learn about how to succeed from organizations in different spaces.

For example, how did the Sunrise Movement — with just 12 organizers — change the climate conversation in America? How did Housing First — which helped just 50 chronically homeless people — create the national model? How did St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital — with only 78 beds — develop a national profile?

There’s so much to learn from organizations who work in other spaces if we’re just willing to ask.