Organizations are created to achieve some purpose. The motivation may be a good cause, for example a conservation or health improvement goal. Many others are in the commercial marketplace. However, few new organizations, whether created for cause or for cash, are successful in their mission and remain viable over the long run.

Those that sell products with hopes for profits have a metric and a motivation for continuous adjustments. They evolve over time and survive only when they outbid others for the required inputs for their products. Cause-driven organizations find it harder to make intelligent adjustments and they lack the normal financial incentives of for-profit firms. Their information is less clear and monitoring is tougher.

It takes dedication as well as competence for a cause-driven organization to succeed. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating and supporting one that does, Warriors and Quiet Waters (WQW). Its success is a great tribute to our community. Here is its mission statement.

“The mission of the Foundation is to employ the therapeutic qualities of fly fishing to help heal traumatically wounded warriors. WQW brings wounded veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Montana for a six-day program of fly fishing and recreation. Most warriors who come are still in rehab in the military hospital system. Once here, they have the opportunity to relax and to learn to fly fish in the quiet and beautiful surroundings of Montana and neighboring Yellowstone Park.” I take some pride in the creation and evolution of this organization.

WQW offers a wonderful opportunity for the Bozeman community. We had, and still have, all the ingredients: superb fishing, exceptional air service, an army of top fishers, excellent fishing shops, and a strong civic tradition of helping. We only lacked entrepreneurs to organize, motivate, coordinate, inspire, cajole, and secure funds for this venture.

What actually emerged and fed success was a talented team of competent, dedicated individuals united by a cause, motivated by patriotism, and uncorrupted by political or personal considerations. Now the organization is in its fourth successful year and will bring six groups of wounded warriors, two with their wives, to Bozeman for a week of therapeutic fishing.

Here is an example of refinement and improvement. WQW launched its first events in 2007. Since very few of the warriors have ever fly fished, they need a practice day before hitting the famous “A River Runs Through It” waters of Western Montana. Several individuals offered places to learn. One was a small spring creek making a necklace of tiny ponds, another a pond in a suburban setting. These were fine for a beginning, but more attractive, professionally designed places were soon volunteered.

Information about WQW spread, especially through our DVD, “The Journey Home,” and people felt strong incentives to contribute their time, money, and fishing sites. Ultimately, the original sites were replaced by better opportunities for the warriors. WQW created a social ecology that promotes continual improvements. I can’t imagine how this could be replicated on a large scale. Governments can’t institutionalize compassion and creativity.

Successful organizations are organic and evolutionary. One cannot engineer success; to achieve it the leaders must respond to new incentives, information, and opportunities. With people proud to volunteer facilities for WQW’s learning day, the search was for sites better suited to the warriors’ needs. The costs would be consequences of any hurt feelings of those whose sites were abandoned. The hope is for a shared feeling that the warriors’ interests trump all else. And here the hope was realized.

Imagine the further new opportunities awaiting WQW. Hunting trips are autumn possibilities. Skiing seems obvious and Eagle Mount shows its feasibility. We’re already fishing in an Architectural Digest setting, how about a week on skiing in the Big Sky area? We can’t predict evolution’s outcome but we can influence its direction.