Beyond Having a Job. Don’t settle. 

by | Dec 5, 2020 | Blog post | 0 comments

Don’t settle.  This is a key principle in life.

“To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.”  Yesterday I posted about this statement Abraham Lincoln made about his struggle with depression. Like Lincoln, we all come to moments in life when we realise we do not want to remain as we are. The road we were on is closed.  We need to head in a different direction. We must be better, or we will die inside which often truly leads to rumination, depression or illness.

 


Don’t settle. 

 

The great, gifted employees want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They seek meaningful work, beyond mediocrity, beyond pettiness and smallness. They do not want to have to focus on the politics of stupidity.  They want to follow leaders who stand with their teams and do not put their own money first.  They seek principle-based leadership driven by virtue-based ethics and character to guide their decision making.  They seek an opportunity to engage their greatest capabilities to build a great company, products, services, and innovations that fundamentally alter the course of the world itself. Think of the great companies who change the world. The people who work for Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Google, and other greats will never go backwards after working there.

 

Don’t settle.  

 

Great managers cannot be held back in achieving their vision and realising their potential.  The greatest are not motivated by power.  They choose to opt out of toxic work environments led by people who main objective is to dominate and control others. They want to live larger than that old, tired game. 

 

I have seen businesses distracted by a lack of leadership and purpose. The ancient wisdom says, “Without a vision, the people perish.” Organisations without a vision have high turnover, low engagement, low morale, no communication, and leaders lacking self awareness and EQ whose command and control birth warlords and fiefdoms. Unhealthy organisations lack the central unifying mission and master plan that captures the hearts, imaginations, and minds of its employees inspiring commitment beyond the position description or contract. They turn into blame cultures, and victims all focused on themselves. That is often the cue the best managers watch for to leave a dysfunctional culture. 

 

Don’t settle. 

 

When we reach the point, like Lincoln, where we cannot remain as we are, it is time to reinvent the company. When employees feel as though they want to die to escape the drudgery of a meaningless job or live in depression, it is time to reinvent the company.   The best team members do not have to stay joined to people who do not aspire to greatness. We do not have to stay joined to groups and organisations whose vision, values, and goals do not mesh with our own.

 

Like Lincoln, we can decide we cannot remain as we are. We must be better.

 

Don’t settle. 
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