La Fixers
Oliver Parkes
A fixer is someone who carries out assignments for or is skillful at solving problems for others. The term has different meanings in different contexts. In British usage, the term is neutral, meaning "the sort of person who solves problems and gets things done".[1] In journalism, a fixer is a local person who expedites the work of a correspondent working in a foreign country. Use in American English implies that methods used to conceal their clients' identities or potential scandals are almost certainly of questionable morality, if not legality.[2] A fixer who disposes of bodies or "cleans up" physical evidence of crime is often more specifically called a cleaner. In sports, the term describes someone who makes (usually illegal) arrangements to manipulate or pre-arrange the outcome of a sporting contest.
Fixers may primarily use legal means, such as lawsuits and payoffs, to accomplish their ends, or they may carry out unlawful activities. The White House Plumbers have been described as fixers for Richard Nixon; their methods included break-ins and burglary.[3] Fixers who specialize in disposing of evidence or bodies are called "cleaners",[4] like the character of Victor "The Cleaner" in the film La Femme Nikita, or the fictional Jonathan Quinn, subject of the Brett Battles novel The Cleaner.[5]
In Britain, a fixer is a commercial consultant for business improvement, whereas in an American context a fixer is often an associate of a powerful person who carries out difficult, undercover, or stealth actions, or extricates a client out of personal or legal trouble.[1][6] A fixer may freelance, like Judy Smith, a well-known American public relations "crisis consultant" whose career provided inspiration for the popular 2012 television series Scandal.[7] More commonly a fixer works for a single employer, under a title such as "attorney" or "bodyguard", which does not typically describe the kinds of services that they provide.
In sport, when a match fixer arranges a preordained outcome of a sporting or athletic contest, the motivation is often gambling, and the fixer is often employed by organized crime. In the Black Sox Scandal, for instance, Major League Baseball players became involved with a gambling syndicate and agreed to lose the 1919 World Series in exchange for payoffs.[8] In another example, in 1975, Boston mobster Anthony "Fat Tony" Ciulla of the Winter Hill Gang was identified as the fixer who routinely bribed jockeys to throw horse races.[9][10] Other insiders may also be fixers, as in the case of veterinarian Mark Gerard, who, in September 1978, was convicted of fraud for "masterminding a horse-racing scandal that involved switching two thoroughbreds" so that he could cash in on a long-shot bet.[9]
In journalism, a fixer is someone, often a local journalist, hired by a foreign correspondent or a media company to help arrange a story. Fixers will most often act as translators and guides, and will help to arrange local interviews that the correspondent would not otherwise have access to. They help to collect information for the story and sometimes play a crucial role in the outcome.[11] Fixers are rarely credited, and often put themselves in danger, especially in regimes where they might face consequences from an oppressive government for exposing iniquities the state may want to censor.[12][13]
A map based on publicly accessible research data shows a visual representation of data collected from various studies conducted on both fixers and their journalist counterparts from over 70 countries. Gathered from the Global Reporting Centre, the survey demographic map had 132 respondents from North America, 101 from Europe, 23 from South America, Africa and Eurasia, 63 from Asia and 9 from Australia.[15]
Numerous films and several songs have been named The Fixer. As a genre, they illustrate the different meanings of the term. Most commonly, they refer to the kind of person who carries out illicit activities on behalf of someone else. For example, the 2008 British television series The Fixer is about "a renegade group acting outside the law to bring order to the spiraling criminal activity in the country".[16]
"We spend some of our time building things, from scratch. New ideas, new projects, new connections. Things that didn't exist before we arrived. We spend some of our time breaking things, using them up, discovering the edges. And we spend some of our time fixing things. Customer support, maintenance, bug fixes... And most of all, answering email and grooming social media. The world needs fixing, it always does."
These are the types of leaders that like to start new things from scratch. These are the pioneers. The church planters. The people that see a vision from God and then set out to make it happen. Builders come in all shapes and sizes, ages and backgrounds. While many young dreamers start as builders, they find that the work is long and hard. As a result, as builders get older, many become breakers, fixers, or maintainers out of frustration, exhaustion, or disillusionment. Lots of people WANT to be builders, but few have this as their primary driver. Builders many times are innovators. Risk takers. They try new things just to see if they'll work. They keep the best and discard the rest. But builders get bored after they've built what they've built. Maintenance is boring and unfulfilling. They get restless and look to start something new. In the church world, that many times means moving on to another church that offers that opportunity.
Breakers, on the other hand, have the ability to see what is not working and literally break it. Sometimes things need to be dismantled, torn apart and broken. Breakers can come into a church and, with a very objective eye, identify where the holes are, where the waste is, what's not working, and what needs to go. They're not afraid to shoot the sacred cows. Breakers can be the real change agents that a church might need from time to time to combat restlessness and status quo. Breakers hate complacency and they're not afraid to confront it. Breakers are the people many churches hire (without knowing it) to follow a long-term pastor. In fact, breakers can initiate the change that will quite possibly need a fixer or builder to ultimately remedy. Breakers can find themselves in turnaround churches repeatedly over their church careers. They enjoy this challenge and are good at it. But breakers find their tenure many times is just a few years... then it's time to go break something somewhere else.
Fixers bring the solutions. The fixer can be a long-term position that continues to diagnose and make things better. Fixers fix what the breakers broke. Fixers implement strategies, goals, and accountability for the long-term success of the church. They set vision into action. They may start some new ministries (bringing out their inner-builder). Fixers are there for the long-run. They work with staff and boards. They tweak governance and polity. They ensure financial viability. Fixers build teams and delegate. They're many times consumed with church health and vitality. They want to leave a good legacy to the next generation. They're a great person to have on your team. Fixers have the ability to stay at the same church for a long period of time and many times hit their 'sweet spot' in ministry at a particular church. This leads to long-term, fruitful ministry.
Maintainers are all about keeping the status quo. Maintainers many times seek safety (for themselves AND the church). Maintainers hardly ever anticipate growth, but expect current plateaus to continue. Many view a major part of their role as postponing decline. Maintainers are faithful servants who work hard to maintain and shepherd their church, knowing that the long-term future for their church may, in fact, be in jeopardy if something doesn't drastically change. Many maintainers feel guilty about not having a growing church; or they may be quietly skeptical or criticize churches in their area that ARE growing. Since the majority of churches in America are plateaued or in decline, there are a lot of maintainers that serve churches today. (Interestingly, when many churches hire, they say they want to builder, breaker, or fixer when, in reality, they want a maintainer.) Many maintainers move from church to church rather frequently, hoping at first to build, break, or fix... only to find themselves slip back into maintainer mode. In fact, some churches beat their leaders into a maintainer role over time.
1. Which type of church leader are you? Which bucket do you find yourself in?
2. Are you ok with that? Do you feel comfortable in your role? Are you able to embrace who you are as a leader?
3. Do you fit where you are for the long-term?
Todd has invested over 30 years in serving churches, having served as a worship pastor for over 15 years, a church elder for more than a decade, and in various ministry leadership roles in both the business and non-profit sectors. As the original founder and developer of ChurchStaffing.com, Todd fundamentally changed the way thousands of churches search for pastors and staff on the internet. Todd is a graduate of Cedarville University, and lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn.
Who gets to tell the story is also a function of who gets to travel. I carry an Indian passport, which allows me entry to fewer countries than an American or European passport. I often wonder: Would a journalist from Pakistan who is hired as a fixer by an American journalist be able to travel as easily to report in the US? If he managed to secure a visa, could he afford to hire his American colleague as his fixer?
The division between correspondents and fixers is not only a matter of title, compensation, and credit. It is also what determines who gets to tell the story. The role of journalism is to question the dominant authority and destabilize reductionist narratives. But too often, Western journalists are the sole authors of stories about non-Western subjects, and the inequitable relationships within journalism get reproduced in the published work. The result is a glut of predictable and monotonous news pieces about rape in India and war in El Salvador.
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