Why work in governance and policy?

This post arose from my reflections on my career while I've been searching for jobs in Australia.

When I’m out socially and people ask what I do for a living, and I say – policy development or strategy/governance – their reaction is almost invariably to look over my shoulder in desperation for someone else to speak to.  I sometimes wish I was a doctor, or in the police, or something that they make TV dramas about.  People can relate to that kind of thing.  I remember sharing a flat with doctors who would complain that dinner parties were a nightmare for them because people would always ask them about their ailments.  But from where I’m standing, this seemed a far more attractive prospect than having people recoil from you for fear of being bored to tears. 

I’ve often asked myself why I keep getting attracted to job roles which involve strategic governance and policy development.  In my more negative moments the answer which creeps with dripping, tarry paws through my levels of consciousness like a hyena circling fresh carrion is:  it’s all I’m good for.  Throughout my supposed career, I’ve ‘fallen into’ roles involving work in these areas and as a result, I have nothing else to offer the world of work.  I’m doomed to this life of having people cross crowded rooms to get away from me.
But there is another possible answer to the question…
To explore this, I think it helps to understand why policy and governance could be seen as such a turn off.  I haven’t tried this, but I’m pretty willing to bet that if I asked the population at large what comes to mind when they hear the words policy and governance they’d come up with some or all of the following:
• Regulation
• Bureaucracy
• Box ticking
• Constraints
• Red tape
• Faceless officials
• Legalese
• Policing (more in the sense of a traffic warden than a maverick detective)
• Divorced from the ‘real world’
Who would want to be involved in any of that?  You’d have to be the sort of person who shuns social interaction and finds it difficult to relate to others in the ‘real world’ to be passive enough not to run a mile frantically in the opposite direction!  Policy and governance are seen as unfortunate, necessary evils that happen to people.  Why would anyone want to be the purveyor of such evil?
Why does it exist all?
I’m not going to go into the argument about order and chaos, civility versus anarchy etc.  We all know these factors are why rules exist but it doesn’t make us feel any better about them.
This is the reason why I like working in the policy and governance field:

Any collective endeavour requires reflection followed by change in order to succeed.
We need to give ourselves the space and time to reflect and set new directions, otherwise we become demotivated, stagnant and trapped.  We all know this from a personal level and yet, even in this context, we are often reluctant to reflect and change, despite the potentially rewarding and fulfilling experience it might be for us.  We want meaning in our lives without being encumbered by rules.  We want to feel successful without uncovering our weaknesses.  It takes bravery to undertake a journey of self-exploration.  It takes a willingness to be vulnerable and to look at your weaknesses in detail.  It involves learning to see things from a variety of perspectives.  And change involves risk, however much you try to mitigate it.  Not everyone has the guts for it.
Reflection also offers the opportunity to understand fully your strengths and how they contribute to your success.  Through reflection you give yourself the chance to see how far you’ve come and what you’ve already achieved.  Reflection is the foundation of achievement.
This is what policy and governance is about:  creating the space for reflection and change.
Simple enough?  Ah yes and now to the rub.  If we struggle with this on a personal level, how much more complicated is it to manage on an organisational level? 
Reflection and change in an organisational context is all about managing tensions. 

Tensions between:
• Priorities of differing personalities, different groups
• Frameworks which preserve order and creativity which looks chaotic
• Collective consensus and individual brilliance
• Plans and reality
All this tension, how do we stand it? How do we exist in this cacophony of human experience?  By harnessing it.  And I want to be on board when it goes off. 
I’ve chosen this as the reason why I work in policy and governance.  That and the fact that I’m not that keen on the sight of blood.