A Journey to Purpose
Impact
They see, they blink
Jan 21st
I have been wondering about how often we have a critical moment when we make life decisions that greatly diminish our options going forward. We see an incredible opportunity, and we blink. The challenge is that it is hard to know when we are simply encountering just another demand on our time, and when we are upon, what one of my friends would call, a junction choice.
Yogi Berra, the famous baseball player known for nonsensical statements that make sense, once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” Such sage advice… and we like it because we think we can have it all. We think that greatness is arrived at by amassing lots of convenient choices, like double-tall-nonfat-no-foam-extra-hot-lattes, while simultaneously helping those in Haiti, or Africa. This delusional tendency is fueled by the vicarious living that comes courtesy of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools. By forwarding a link on a disaster or opportunity we wrongfully feel we have done all that needs to be done in freeing a slave, or changing our lifestyle, or making an eternal dent on the globe.
Deep down, if we are honest, we will admit that we see, and we blink. We see the need, but we don’t act. Or we act, but we take the fork in the road that seems to have the highest number of Starbucks signs along the way.
Folks, this is not about coffee: this is about eternity. Too often I see people standing for a week or a month in front of a window of life-changing opportunity: they see, and they blink. This has made me wonder myself about times in the past, and even today, when I see a life-changing moment, and instead of seizing it, I reach for my cup of convenience… and pretty soon the window has closed.
And why does the window disappear, and why do we blink? I would contend that it is because we over-think, over-analyze. I cannot think my way through the pivotal window unless my thinking is followed by a determined step.
What’s the value of a changed life?
Jan 9th
Many years ago Peter Drucker said that the product of a not-for-profit is a changed life. What happens when businesses are having an increasing societal role, and not-for-profits are running more like businesses? Do non-profits have more of an emphasis on real value for money? And how do businesses place a valuation on the life-change that they bring about? If they do so through a physical product (as in, “My iPod changed my life!”) then the price of the product is easy to establish. But it the product that changes someone’s life is a service it is harder to value.
One way to look at it is whether the service that resulted in “a changed life” made that person more able to earn more income. So if I can earn more because of my changed life, I will pay more for the service. But if I simply feel better, I will pay less… unless, of course, I could put a price on my prior misery.
Another thought to consider is, “What is the value of knowing your purpose?” You might think about the opportunity cost: if you don’t know your purpose then many of your activities, investments and resource allocations could be wrong. At The Institute we help leaders and corporations “get” Purpose. There is a thin line and yet a world of difference between knowing and not knowing your purpose. Once we have helped someone wrestle through the uncovering of Purpose, then they quickly forget what it was like to not know their purpose. Once the butterfly has spread its wings it quickly forgets what it felt like to be a worm.
Because we have a tendency to forget, closely followed by a tendency to be ungrateful, perhaps it would be wise to determine the value of a changed life before that life is changed. But as the Pied Piper knows, this does not always work either. What’s the value of a changed life? Perhaps it depends on our willingness to admit that we need change.
“So that…”
Dec 29th
This morning I woke up thinking about how many organizations, and especially businesses run by ‘Christians’, lack a “so that” in the purpose. The inputs are there and they are laudible. But the reason for it all is more milk toast than mind blowing.
I am glad we have created a “Kingdom Business Assessment” this past year to much the business is in God’s business. But many still need a “Day of Purpose” to get to the gist of their corporate calling, and to ensure there is a clear “so that” in all of the plans they have laid for 2010.
