Along Interstate 20 in Texas, somewhere between Abilene and Eastland, stands a billboard that bears the Texas Tech University logo and reads, "We make Texas better."
The billboard does not mention Texas Tech's academics, or athletics, or grad school acceptance rates, or faculty. Its simple statement focuses on the bottom line: that, ostensibly, this university makes the world a better place.
Does your organization make the world a better place? Or does your organization merely fill the world with stuff? Does your organization enrich lives? Or do you act as if people's lives (customers' lives, employees' lives) exist to enrich your organization? Does your organization exist merely to make a profit? Or worse yet, does it exist merely for the sake of existing?
I would assert that if an organization does not make the world a better place, then it has no reason to exist. If an organization does not bring life, or joy, or love, or friendliness, or peace of mind, or greater wellbeing to the lives of people, then it has no reason to be.
We are all created to give something to the world. To enrich. To bless. Our organizations should do the same, or else we have deeply missed our calling.
Now, as we go about seeking to enrich the world, we had better have the excellent work, excellent products, and excellent service to make that happen. Texas Tech University had better have the stellar academics, the great athletics, the astronomical grad school acceptance rates, and the highly illustrious faculty that are critical to its mission. Texas Tech had better be instilling in its students the healthy worldview, the critical thinking, the character, the desire for excellence, and the drive to innovation that transform them into citizens who can make the world a better place. Organizations cannot approach the goal of enriching the world in the same way that the folks in this commercial approach the goal of ideation:
However, if we go about our business of making products and offering services without ensuring that we actually are making the world a better place, then we have missed the point entirely.
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Sometimes we get so caught up in our current state of work that we tend to forget WHY we are working. Sometimes the best thing we can do is to go back to the beginning. What is the reason that we made this company, this software, this idea?
ReplyDeleteGenerally, it's not because you saw a possible profit, but because you saw a situation that could be improved. You saw a way to help people. That is one half of what this world is about: enriching other people's lives. The other half, IMHO, is spreading the word of God.
So, this is all to say that I completely agree with your article. Very great post!