I have been on a self-help course
My boss insisted on it…
It was really very good, lots of interesting insights, most of it you know already:
- If you eat a full fried breakfast expect to feel sluggish all morning
- Exercise gives you energy
- Spending more than you earn will leave you broke
Sometimes having a lecture from Captain Obvious is not such a bad thing.
There was however one phrase that I hadn’t heard before…
You can do anything, but you can’t do everything
Now I am not entirely sure I believe that.
I am unlikely to make it as an Olympic synchronised swimmer, no matter how hard I try.
But I don’t suppose that was entirely the point, more likely it meant pick something and focus on it. If you don’t you will never be better than average.
I started to navel-gaze, really hard…
What should I focus on? What is the thing that would make my life worthwhile? What am I here to do?
Fortunately, my self-help guru came to the rescue with two pieces of advice.
- Focus on something you are good at — no really
- Do something for others
Apparently money doesn’t make you happy, but helping others does.
Compare and contrast… Bill Gates and Whitney Houston.
Does the same logic work for organisations?
Perhaps. Everyone knows that organisations need to focus on something, but how would it be if they focused on something that helped others.
- Google are well-known for wanting to organise the world’s information.
- Volvo want to the world leader in sustainable transport solutions
- Tinder aim to be the company you turn to when you want to meet somebody
- And maybe best of all, American Standard, the sanitary ware company, are hell-bent on saving lives in the developing world.
If my self-help guru is right and you focus on something altruistic, your organisation will be happier, more people will want to work with you and you might just be more successful as well.
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James,
I think there is truth in this statement: “If my self-help guru is right and you focus on something altruistic, your organisation will be happier, more people will want to work with you and you might just be more successful as well.” I think this is the basis for not only a great employee experience but also a great customer experience. I wrote in one of my posts: It is often said that customers buy from brands with which they align, whether that alignment is with the brand’s purpose, the corporate social responsibility policy, or something else. Employees want to work for companies with which they are aligned, as well.” That doesn’t make it so… just to say that I’m in agreement with that statement. :-)
Annette :)
Zig Ziglar said it best with total altruism;
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want”.
This is one of my favourite sayings of all time. If only more people took this to heart and operated this way then, I believe, we would live in a better world.
Adrian
Ian / Adrian, I could not agree more. I could bore you in the pub for hours on this one.
There is also some science about how it works. If you have half an hour I thoroughly recommend Dan Pink’s interview with Adam Grant…
http://www.danpink.com/office-hours/adam-grant/
Well worth listening to
Hello James,
It occurs to me that whole bunch of people did great by showing up and operating as altruistic industrialists. Here I am thinking about the Quakers during the Industrial Revolution. Their reputation for upright-honest-moral conduct made them sought out business partners: customers, suppliers, partners, employees could trust these Quakers. As a result the Quaker businesses prospered.
Then sometime around/after the second world war Britain ‘went to the dogs’, the ‘yanks’ prospered. And now the Chicago school of Economics and the Rand philosophy of life dominates the Anglo-Saxon business world.
All the best
maz
It might dominate Maz, but I am not so sure it works. Why did Warren Buffet give the Gates foundation $2.1 billion?
James