“If you are distressed by anything external,
the pain is not due to the thing itself,
but to your estimate of it;
and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Out of bad things good can come.
This has been a theme of our human condition. I can source it to the Bible. I can find it in the lessons of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths; and I have just discovered a book that others have considered their favorite for years that illustrates the wisdom that the author wanted to document about learning to live the good life. The book is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher. This small book that Aurelius never meant to be published lead me to another book that now rests on my desk, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. It feels like both books were written to be read right now. At a time when we are confronted with a threat that we have little control over, more unknowns than knowns, and decisions of life. The safety of our friends, family, and coworkers collides with the need to preserve our businesses, organizations, and economy.
I am not searching for a book that is a panacea or has a quick-fix answer. That is not helpful when dealing with complexity and collapse. What inspires me is reinforcing my philosophy that People are Basically Good and Well Intended, Able to Learn if They Want to, Capable of Greatness, and When we Work Together It Gets Better. I found some reinforcement in Aurelius’ Stoic Philosophy and appreciated Ryan Holiday’s contemporary interpretation and additional leadership stories of individuals who, when faced with great challenge, saw the opportunity and managed the threat.
I am choosing this path of thinking right now. A very realistic acceptance of the responsibility to deliberate and find good solutions while also maintaining an unwavering belief that we will be better for having made the journey through this trial by fire.
Like all of my colleagues and clients, once I arranged my life to fit the new situation of shelter in place and social distancing, I shifted my focus to figuring out how I could be relevant in this time of crisis. How I was to reinvent myself, my work, and my life to embrace the earthquake of change and to plan to pop out on the other end of the event better in every way possible. It is that intent that I carry into supporting those around me. I believe that we have been presented with an opportunity and can use this challenge to learn, grow, and improve our life condition if we are thoughtful and intentional.
I have always been this way — an optimist to the core with a back bone of reality. I was delighted to find the writings of Marcus Aurelius to reinforce my beliefs.
I think it is this strong pull toward the desire to forge working environments and working relationships in to temples dedicated to the highest potential of people. I know, trust, and have learned that we can do great things together. This solid belief in that People are Basically Good, Well Intended, and Able to Create Great Things Together in Good Times and Bad drew me into the field of Organizational Development and has been a theme of all of the books that I have written. I love to chronicle the stories of how individuals, groups, and organizations collectively did what others thought was impossible (often under difficult situations). Some might call these stories heroic but I love the stories of everyday heroes and workplace heroism.
It doesn’t take much to find those stories in our current COVID-19 Pandemic situation. Though I keep current on the reality, I choose to fill my mind with the stories of individuals helping each other, of organizational generosity, and rapid response and transformation to adapt, survive, and even thrive under challenging conditions.
Early in my career it was the book In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman that told stories of great American Business that were stand outs in their fields. This book had a great influence on my career, on the trajectory of management theory, and was a lighthouse of hope and inspiration for striving to be better.
More than thirty years later, I am surrounded by examples that would have fit into the In Search of Excellence model. At this time I want to lift up the hard work and good intentions of thoughtful individuals who are choosing to seize this moment to do well, right, and better with the challenge we all have been given.
I am witness to the rapid assimilation of change and embraced innovation without resistance by individuals and organizations simply because we have no choice but to go forward. For this effort by all these people to ‘play through’ and stay focused on their organization’s mission, they and their organizations will be better.
This is an opportunity. Grab it and run.
With your mask on!
“The tests we face in life’s journey are not to reveal our weaknesses
but to help us discover our inner strengths.
We can only know how strong we are
when we strive and thrive
beyond the challenges we face.”
― Kemi Sogunle
Additional Resources:
YouTube Video Lesson from Marcus Aurelius
In the next few weeks I will be sharing stories of extraordinary individuals and organizations who are turning challenges into opportunity.
Leslie