What’s Your Measurement for Success?
Times and situations that present personal challenges can be interpreted as a Call to Adventure; an invitation to embark on a hero’s journey. Joseph Campbell described the hero’s journey in his epic book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Although every traveler receives the adventure for which s/he is ready, a common theme is the father quest. Being assigned to “Go Find Your Father” means to discover who you are. Hence, the hero’s journey is the story of human maturation; a rite of passage, or initiation intended to prepare you to take over from the previous generation of leaders.
So, I am asking you, here and now, who are you? Or, which way will you go when someone recites John Boyd[i]’s famous “To BE or to DO” speech to you:
Tiger, one day you will come to a fork in the road, and you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go that way you can BE somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club, and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.
Or you can go that way and you can DO something—something for your country and for your organization and for yourself. If you decide you want to DO something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference.
To BE somebody or to DO something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will need to make a decision. To BE or to DO. Which way will YOU go?
What’s YOUR Measurement for Success?
You want to BE a careerist who makes more money for shareholders—including yourself—or, DO something that is bigger or other than yourself, something that makes the business the Obvious Choice Supplier to every member in your intended target audience?
You want to BE a careerist who grows bottom line results or, DO something that is bigger or other than yourself, something to develop the system’s capability and capacity; making results predictable?
You want to BE a careerist who follows economic principles or, DO something that is bigger or other than yourself, something that knits together economic principles with spiritual or humanitarian principles; giving people pride of workmanship?
Who Are You?
If you are one of those rare leaders who want to make a difference, who want to DO something for your business, its employees, and the community they serve and live in, contact me for a free consultation; I’m here to help you succeed. Read more, get my book The Root Cause: Rethink Your Approach To Solving Stubborn Enterprise-Wide Problems.
[i] Col. John R. Boyd USAF (January 23, 1927 – March 9, 1997) was a fighter pilot and Pentagon consultant of the late 20th century. His theories have been highly influential in the military, sports, business, and litigation fields. Boyd inspired the Lightweight Fighter program (LWF) that produced the successful General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, which are still in use by the United States and several other military powers into the 21st century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_(military_strategist)
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