Wisdom from a 25 Year-old
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).
That proverb has a frighteningly literal application to our time. We simply will not move forward to the vast changes that are required without an attracting vision. But such vision is in short supply. There are still proposed visions of a future of increasing global affluence, but they are irrelevant to our present situation and encourage the wrong attitudes and expectations.
John B. Cobb, Jr. from the book Simpler Living, Compassionate Life
I’ve written a lot about the importance of belonging, affirmation and meaning to the long-term success of any organization. And, as the leader of your team, your most important responsibility is to build an organization to whom employees want to belong, create opportunities for individual and group affirmation, and meaning in the work or organization.
But just how does a leader create meaning (an inspiring vision) in work when team members are assigned to pick up trash, build lawn sprinklers, produce financial statements, answer the phone, sweep the floor, …?
I have the honor of having a bright, capable young woman working with me. She is currently working her way through a graduate degree is social work. We were having lunch today and talked about how to find meaningful, fulfilling work.
She said, “I think that most of the time it is less about the work than it is about the kind of people you are working with”. Wisdom from a 25 year old.
I am not sure that meaning always comes from the product or service that your organization produces as much as it does on what kind of organization you are trying to build.
