Jim Knight and I met at a poignant moment for Jubilee Housing and for me. Jubilee was finally renovating The Maycroft, purchasing four additional buildings and focusing even more diligently on helping men and women coming out of incarceration. There was, as they say, a lot going on!

I had a lot going on, too, mostly driven by my desire to return to an early iteration of my career in real estate, bringing affordable housing to people who need it most. When Jim offered me the newly-created job of Chief Operating Officer, I said yes enthusiastically.

“I should have worn my running shoes,” I thought, the day Jim took me on a Jubilee tour. He moved fast, talked fast, introduced me to dozens of people. Even after a couple of months on the job, I often felt like I had started in the 7^th inning of a game after not seeing the first six. The expectations were high. Jim is driven by vision and consistently signals “we can do this” regardless of obstacles.

One afternoon I tagged along as Jim read to Jubilee’s Early Start kids. He does this once a week, and I was moved by how he listened, encouraged, taught,  laughed. He related to them authentically, and they related to him.

I lean toward being transactional, seeing a problem and fixing it efficiently and quickly. In those early days, Jim and I had a couple of moments when my style was more “ready/aim/fire” than Jim’s. He would say “that’s not who we are,” and I would think “maybe that’s who we need to be.”

Watching him with the children that day gave me a different perspective. I might call it being more compassionate or even empathetic in my leadership approach. I can honestly say that my partnership with Jim has moved that needle within me. I don’t know everything about Jim’s 20 years at Jubilee Housing, but I see his impact every day, even in me.