CEO beCause Global Consulting connects: individuals & enterprises to core purpose; across silos in organizations; with external stakeholders
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We’ve all heard it: The bedrock prayer of the 12-step recovery program begun by Alcoholics Anonymous: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Simple, concise truth—but finding such qualities as serenity in the face of suffering, the courage to combat evil and the wisdom to understand one’s limitations is daunting. But if you’re a caring, aware person, you know something must be done to confront the plethora of woes in the 21st century.
I’ve always been struck by Martin Luther King’s philosophical yet practical response when asked why he believed nonviolent civil disobedience could realistically triumph over violence and hatred—you can’t fight fire with fire, you must fight fire with water. Theologian Jim Wallis voiced the same idea when he said, “Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, and then watching the evidence change.” Young people embrace “Be the change you want to see.” And the late, great anthropologist Margaret Mead offered a battle plan in her often-attributed quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” The power to change is real and it lives in each of us.
So what does that mean for you? Whether you lead a business or don’t know how to read a finance balance sheet, are a lifelong activist or never bothered to vote—no matter where you live, your occupation, gender, race, political views, socio-economic status, do what you can, where you can, how you can, when you can. For example, if you’re the head, or even a member, of a business line in your organization, take concrete steps to improve how that unit functions by changing your own behavior. Reach out to others who share your view and engage them in your effort. Change can start bottom-up (or top-down if you occupy a leadership role). I’ve seen it happen both ways, and it always turns on individuals taking responsibility, however small they start.
There’s no denying that all change is very hard. Just trying to stop smoking or stay on a diet can feel impossible. Can we still solve complex issues through reason and common cause? Yes! I’ve worked with all kinds of folks in a variety of dire situations and helped them untie Gordian knots through what I call Connectedness. Not pie-in-the-sky thinking, it’s a process that helps create solutions rather than be victims of problems. The actions and new reality born of Connectedness, of seeing that we’re inextricably linked, allow us to transcend fear, hate and exclusive self-interest, to turn bad into good in our personal situations.
You just can’t do it alone. And you certainly can’t effect change if you don’t believe change can be made. Connectedness is belief in the strength, importance and result of compassion, empathy, fairness, the acceptance of human differences, the capacity to examine and expand one’s sense of identity, and the readiness to do one’s own small part. So long as you’re distressed by any aspect of the present and concerned about the future, connecting and acting with others not only makes you happier and more fulfilled, but you also have the power to lead change.
We have reason to take heart because considerable positive change has been made—not by magic, but through research, resolution and action taken by an army of small groups of thoughtful, committed citizens. Over 100 years ago, women in America couldn’t vote, African Americans were as constricted by Jim Crow as they had been by slavery, homosexuality was viewed as a criminal disease, medical science was still in its infancy, and we were just starting to recover from the devastation of World War I, coping poorly with large-scale immigration, and grappling with the enormous changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution.
Yet despite those horrors and the ones confronting us today (economic, racial and gender inequity; global pandemics; climate degradation; wars; migration; xenophobia; etc.), the world is actually doing better. In global terms, there’s less poverty, hunger and infant mortality; greater access to health care and education; and fewer people without drinkable water or sanitation. There’s still an enormous amount of work to do to improve the lives of those who don’t yet benefit from these advances – but it is doable.
Mother Teresa—a venerable albeit controversial figure—is often credited with saying: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” I contend that the power to effect change through the practice of Connectedness is the result of small things done with great love—by all of us—and in the process, great things get done.
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