THE POWER OF THREE

Norman Drummond has had a varied and distinguished career as a headteacher, chaplain, coach, speaker and social entrepreneur. His charity columba1400, founded in 1997, has done tremendous leadership work with young people from tough realities. Here he brings together the strands of his experience to offer a blueprint for how to reconcile the competing personal and professional demands and balance the needs of body, mind and spirit. These issues have become all the more focused since the credit crunch. The structure of the book offers three wisdoms, three principles and three qualities to apply as a means of living from the inside out and finding a compass in one's life. The key questions he invites us to ask are:

What and who matters most to me? Where does the deepest satisfaction in life lie? How do I want to live my life? Where am I going, and what might I yet become? Is it time to step off the treadmill and find a new direction? And if so, to whom and what shall I turn?

Part of the answer comes from Norman's own Christian faith and the radical teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth. 'What good would it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?' This is an invitation to re-examine our fundamental principles and leads into the first part of the book – the three wisdoms of serenity, purpose and service. Serenity centres us in ourselves, brings inner peace and opens up the possibility of listening to others and indeed to our own inner guidance. Purpose is associated with our sense of direction in life and may not be aligned with our current activities. Service reminds us of our link to other people and the joy we derive from caring for and helping people. St Francis de Sales is quoted as saying that one should not lose one's peace for anything, but I also like his advice that half an hour's meditation day is essential except when one is very busy, then a full hour is necessary. Good advice that few people will feel able to take since they will already feel overworked - it is at this point that one needs to stand back and reconsider one's perspective and commitments. Norman gives many practical examples of such situations throughout the book, weaving them into insights from the New Testament.

In the chapter on purpose, Norman relates an occasion that took place at a conference when the speaker asked the audience to discuss four questions: What you stand for? What do you hope for? How would you like to be remembered? What would you do with your life if you had no chance of failing?

These are all good coaching questions which can help us orient our lives, and at the end of each chapter Norman provides some reflective exercises to help the reader put things into practice at the same time as reminding us of the importance of certain qualities like enthusiasm and perseverance.

The three principles in the second section are people before process, wisdom before knowledge of and integrity before politics. These can be applied when we face tough decisions and are a timely reminder at a time when it is easy to take the line of least resistance. Our bureaucratic and security systems place increasing demands on us in terms of time-consuming forms and procedures, when it is people and their development that matter most. One professor of leadership development like and organisations to engines and oil to the people - rather a mechanistic analogy - reflecting that what people call the soft stuff is in fact the hard stuff. And in another example, Norman quotes a letter attributed to Abraham Lincoln written to the head of his son's new secondary school asking that he be taught such things as having faith in his own ideas, listening to everyone, being gentle with the gentle and tough with the tough.

We all face situations when our integrity is at stake and it is easy to compromise; just because everyone is doing something does not mean one should join in. Integrity requires one to have the courage of one's convictions and to stand up for what matters, to take action on initiatives close to one's heart, to find one's passion and pursue it.

The three qualities of faith, hope and love bring us back to the biblical tradition. For Norman, faith is what sustains our spirit and enables us to hold on and keep on, a quality 'which marks out all those who believe in themselves and in others, and rightness, goodness and justice.' We need to have the faith in our beliefs and when times are tough, but it is also inspiring when others have faith in us - it can give us the vital momentum to move forward. It also feeds into commitment and taking new initiatives. For Vaclav Havel, hope is a dimension of the soul; it is not the same thing as optimism, but rather the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out. We can all cultivate a hopeful heart and draw inspiration from the great words of St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, chapter 8. Norman relates a number of inspiring stories where determined individuals overcome seemingly impossible odds with a combination of hope and faith – a Tanzanian man came limping into the stadium, last in the 1968 Olympic marathon. When asked why he had not retired hurt, he said that his country had not sent him to start the race but rather to finish it. The crowd showed their appreciation with a tremendous roar of applause.

In the final chapter on Love, Norman draws on the wisdom of Brother Roger of Taize, one of the few people I have met who radiated love. Love is also kindness, forgiveness, gratitude and reconciliation. A last key question, quoted from Henry Drummond is 'how have I loved?' In an age of increasing complexity, this inspiring and deeply humane book reminds us that the key principles of life are simple to understand, even if more challenging to apply. They are not qualities and values that, once attained, can then be set aside, but rather we need to remind ourselves of their importance on a daily basis and draw inspiration from within to become the person we really aspire to be. And each day we have a new opportunity, which is a wonderful thing.