There has probably never been a time like today in our country for both the creation of wealth and non-profits and social entrepreneurs.We sometimes think this trend is new but it is an ancient pattern.Often you see this pattern go together “and at other times one follows the other.

One of the reasons for the founding of monastic communities was that a generation of young people was turning away from the excesses of their wealthy parents.During the 12th and early 13th centuries there was something of an explosion of both wealth and the formation of informal orders within the Catholic Church.

One of those” the Franciscans grew and spread rapidly across Europe and North Africa.Founded by Francis of Assisi ” the order quickly numbered in the thousands and changed from an independent loose confederation of "brothers" living in absolute poverty to an official order of the Church with written regulations under the jurisdiction of a Cardinal designated as the "protector" of the order.

This was the beginning of the end for Francis” the entrepreneur.It marked the change from a few brothers who owned nothing to a disciplined community accumulating wealth and influence.It was then that Francis became what Joan Acocella coins "the inconvenient elder" in "Rich Man ” Poor Man" in an article in the January 14  New Yorker:

"When he ceded control of the group” Francis hoped that he could still lead the men by example but his influence quickly waned. This enraged him. ‘Who are these who have ripped my order and my brothers out of my hands?’he shouted. “Once when he saw a new building that he thought the community had erected for itself in disregard of the rule of poverty he climbed up to the roof and began prying off the tiles and throwing them to the ground. Breaking with his earlier gentle practice ” he cursed people who opposed his ideas.”

Francis is indeeda good example of what” in the annals of history might be called the “inconvenient elder”: the person who starts the revolution and then once it succeeds becomes an inconvenience even an embarrassment to the next generation. (Think of Gandhi.) They honor him —they have to — but they wish he would go away ” so that they could “work within the system”and relax a little.

Anyone who has started an organization should think about this.How do you cede control without abdicating?How do you release your grip without abandoning the vision?Perhaps this is the way it should be.No one can live with a permanent revolution. Organizations mature” and the wise "inconvenient elder" knows when to step aside – or start another revolution.