Daring Greatly - Part 1 of the Morality Series

Back in August, we talked about courage, action vs. inaction, and thinking outside the box. In September, we talked about how the way we treat one another, the way we talk to each other, the messages we share make an impact on the people around us.

The fact is that if we do not have the courage to take action, we cannot make a difference. We will have no chance to “change the world” in which we live.

Back in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt said, in a speech at the Sorbonne, “It is not the critic who counts . . . [not the person] who points out how the strong man stumbles. The credit belongs to . . . [the person] who actually strives to do the deeds; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly . . .”

His words inspire us to take action, to invest ourselves in a worthy cause. The worst thing we can do is nothing at all.

Pat Lencioni talks about high tech as being one of the most difficult environments in which to live one’s values – the industry is so fast paced with such large dollars at stake. I spent over twelve years in that industry, a period in my life when I was strongly devoted to living my faith. There were many occasions when I was appalled at the way people treated each other, all justified by a fierce focus on getting something done.

For me, I felt the challenge of living my values, which dictated a different behavior from what I was seeing, yet continue to be the team player that my organization needed from me.

The answer came to me one day at a national sales meeting when our leader asked us for ways that we could super-charge our sales results. I asked a question about building a true “sales culture” and was immediately given the task of building one. My first reaction was wondering how I would ever get this done…where would I find the time? Then I realized that this was my opportunity to personally “invest in a worthy cause”.

Many people volunteered to help me with this effort. Our end result included a definition of constructive ways to work together, to ensure that our teams benefited from the points of view of all of its members, to avoid bullying behavior and to help team members learn from their mistakes rather than feeling blamed and at risk. The program we developed was eventually rolled out globally and aspects of it remain in the organization today. As a result, countless people experienced significant improvement in their level of job satisfaction and the company benefited from the improved results that came when each team member is working at full capacity.

This experience told me that I had the ability to affect change in a difficult situation, despite my perception that I had no time or power to change anything.

Question to ponder: What circumstances are you encountering today that are not consistent with your values? What can you do to make a positive change in those circumstances?