Consider Inviting a Little Linsanity into Your Company and Your Life

You don’t have to be a basketball fan to know about Jeremy Lin or to learn from his story. The fact is every leader can learn important lessons from studying the pattern of his life.

Jeremy Lin, a 6’3” guard playing for the New York Knicks, is the NBA’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. Coming out of high school, he was unrated by the recruiting services. After playing for Harvard, he began his quest to play in the NBA.  He had try-outs with several teams, then was cut by The Golden State Warriors and The Houston Rockets; finally, the Knicks decided to give him a try. And now, after breaking into its line-up, Jeremy Lin helped the team win seven games in a row.

Impressive work!  Two teachings we can take from Jeremy Lin’s story are 1) Success is seldom the product of luck, and 2) Success doesn’t track stereotypes.

Success is seldom the product of luck.

To say that Lin is an overnight phenom in the media is not an overstatement. His story reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a friend whose business is taking off.  After I passed on my congratulations, she smiled and set the record straight:  “It took me four years,” she told me, “to become an overnight success!”   Luck has countless definitions, so my view probably can’t be wrong. I like the notion that folks who appear lucky are those who put themselves in a position to take advantage of opportunities passing through their lives.

How do they do this? Through preparation and perseverance. In my book Humanity at Work: Encouraging Spirit, Achievement & Truth to Flourish in the Workplace (Chapel Hill Press 2008), I told about one of the great chance encounters of my life. On a plane flight in 1996 I sat next to Dick Bass, then the oldest man to climb Mt. Everest and the first man to climb the Seven Summits–the highest mountain on all seven continents.

“What is your formula for success?” I asked Dick.  “Simple,” he said. “Keep putting one step in front of another!”  As Jeremy Lin proves, what is seldom noticed is that reaching the summits in our lives requires preparation and perseverance, taking one step and then the next—and then another after that.

Success doesn’t track stereotypes.

The arrival of Lin has generated one big question asked over and over in the media: “Why wasn’t this guy on anyone’s radar screen?” The lesson for us in business is that we need to pay close attention to the potential of every co-worker or applicant, not stereotype them to save ourselves time and effort. What this requires is that we dispassionately examine an individual’s talents and skills, not just divine who/what he or she can offer based on the written record alone.

I am often approached by friends seeking advice on securing a new position. Most résumés give a detailed exposition of their achievements, but that is not enough. Applicants think they can drop the document on a possible employer, and in reading over that document, the reviewer will divine exactly where the applicant best fits in the organization. Frankly, the truly successful organizations do just that, they have that kind of insight and spend that kind of time at it.

But while we wait for most organizations to have that sort of epiphany about the worth and best use of individuals who come their way, here’s some advice. My friends, some people have an attention span with a pretty narrow bandwith, possibly like the scouts who followed (or neglected to follow) Jeremy Lin’s career.  When you apply for a job, a promotion, or a transfer, take the time and care to spoon-feed to the recipient-employer what you will bring to the party.

Driving Your Business Forward—by Learning to Shed “The Good Old Days”

Have you ever visited the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan?  It’s really neat.  I recently read an article, “Driving America,” explaining that not only is the museum displaying selected cars – starting with an 1895 Roper Steam Carriage, but the exhibition is meant to show the impact of cars on American culture—how cars have affected our history and so much more.  The author of the article goes on to say that viewing the older cars is, “. . . a trip back to an America where driving was fun, unencumbered by angst about pollution, congestion and urban sprawl.”

Of course, the author of “Driving America,” in emphasizing the joy of earlier driving on wide-open roads, forgot to note as well that it wasn’t that much fun to ride in cars without airbags and safety belts.  Plus, cars even as recently as the ‘70s were not sealed as well as our cars are today, so very often drivers and passengers were unwittingly subject to noxious exhaust fumes that seeped up into the cabin.  And if you were in a car accident, the chances of dying through infection or other injury were exponentially greater than those we face today!

Isn’t it amazing how we romanticize the past?  Individuals in companies that are undergoing change often make such remembrances into a very personal art form, one that can limit their lives and, thus, your company’s ability to grow and prosper.

I was an executive at two companies that experienced explosive growth.  At one company we had a spell where we added about 200 people a month worldwide!  Putting into practice a means to help all our coworkers handle such fast change was an imperative. However, once we got started, identifying the individuals who needed help accepting change in “their” company was easy–there are numerous tell-tale signs.

Those struggling with change often talk about “the good old days.” They hold onto the past with all the might they can muster. For example, one group of people was upset when the company no longer gave out little clocks to new employees. While a nice thing to do, it was no longer practicable.  But to some it was not merely a break with a tradition but they claimed it as a marker that the company would no longer honor what had gone before. What we did instead was not only note the arrival of new employees in the company’s monthly newsletter, but we added a little biography of past experience. This demonstrated to the staff the outstanding people who choose to join us and made them feel even better about the company’s prospect! While the company was growing one thing you can do to keep a sense of cohesiveness is to try and keep operational units fairly small. In that way folks are still fairly familiar with those who carried on shared responsibilities.

The lens we focus on the past is imperfect in dramatic and misleading ways, but also in natural ways because each person’s particular visual emphasis is invariably based on their biography and interests.  No way around that, even by taking the “fun, unencumbered, uncongested roads” of yore!

That’s why when change occurs, your first responsibility is to explain (or come to understand) not how change will occur, but why!  In that way when coworkers ask you why we’re changing, you can tell them – to get to a better place!  Your honest emphasis on the specific aspects of what will be better in your company after the changes have been instituted will go a long way toward affecting a smoother acceptance of the new processes, procedures, and people soon to be in place.

It’s a fact that some of your coworkers have microscopically narrow comfort zones.  And here’s another practical way to delete “microscopically” from that sentence:  When those in your charge or those you work with tell you that they’ll be happier “when” this occurs or “if” that happens, remind them (and yourself) that there is no need to wait for the illusory “if’s” and “when’s.”  All that any of us is guaranteed in our life is this moment in time.  Consider how this moment, like the automobiles of 2012, is in so many ways better than what went before.  If you think about it, by the time you read this note the present will have morphed into the good old days!

Whoever said that folks enjoy living in the past are blind to a most obvious fact: There is no living in the past–the past had its moment of existence, but it lives no more. Remember to remind your coworkers that life–like our cars, our roads, and even the very English language we use to talk or write about them with high appreciation–inexorably changes around us, slip-slidin’ away.

But that’s no problem.  Think about it, then come to enjoy all the promises this moment holds!  And now this one.  And this one in your better company of today and tomorrow.

Tired of Mundane Mondays? Look Over the Rainbow…

Several days ago I was listening to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole sing his rendition of “Over the Rainbow” (often called “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”).  This led me on a brief journey of memory and a teaching I derived from it.  I knew that the song was first performed by Judy Garland in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. But who wrote the song? That is a really neat story and provides food for thought in our business and peronal lives.

The composer Harold Arlen and the lyricist E.Y. (Yip) Harburg were hired to write the songs for The Wizard of Oz. Harold Arlen was a remarkable man. Considered one of the giants of twentieth-century music, Arlen composed over 400 songs, including the hits “Stormy Weather” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” Arlen and Harburg were given only two months to complete the assignment of composing The Wizard of Oz’s entire score. Imagine trying to accomplish that!

They met the deadline–but the story gets even better.  The “rainbow” song was initially deleted from the film after a preview because MGM thought the song “slowed down the picture”!  Of course, the song was eventually reinstated

Where am I going with this? First, you can guess why the song was removed? It probably came about through a decision that was a careless consensus. I bet at one time or another we have all worked in an organization that demanded consensus decisions. Decisiveness is nowhere to be found.  The course of action is usually the child of a tepid compromise designed to suit everyone polled.  How was the song reinstated? Most likely, a leader brought decisiveness to the scene. He or she said, “There is no way that song won’t be in this movie”. The good sense fostered by decisiveness prevailed and we came to love a song recently voted the #1 song of the century and the greatest movie song of all time!

Remember, the seemingly common events and decisions we observe or participate in daily—that we sometimes dismiss or even disparage as boring or at best pro forma—are imbued with wisdom if we will be alert to it. These “frames of” or “slices in” highly meaningful time occur in every aspect of our lives, but companies and organizations, because they are Action Central for high-stakes decisions, offer a rich lode of wisdom-they merely have to be harvested.

For example, if you attend a meeting called to reach a decision on a key issue, more than one opinion will be offered up–and folks choose sides for a hundred reasons, stated or not. When a decision comes down after that meeting, take the time to understand how the decision was reached, what the winning side did to prevail, when you might begin to see the results, and what further or unexpected effects may follow on from the original decision?

I can remember a situation where two different views on an issue were brought to a meeting. I was a little surprised that one person’s view was quickly adopted by management. On inquiry I found that one of the proponents took the time to sit with the decision makers before the meeting to answer any questions they might have concerning his view. His opponents had not. Consequently, the folks in charge were fairly comfortable with the soon-to-be prevailing opinion even before the meeting occurred. They had had time to think about his view with an especial focus on the benefits of going his way.

By paying attention when decisions are made you will be seen to be an “intuitive, insightful” leader, when, in fact, you have simply taken the time to be an observant, caring, and careful one.

Here’s some tag-on advice. If you are having a difficult day, pull up the words to “Over the Rainbow.” Surely, each of us has days when trouble does not “melt like lemon drops.” But never is there a day “when the dreams that you dare to dream, can’t come true.” That is completely within your control, exactly where it should be, if you will take an interest, pay good attention, and learn from what you find in the processes all around you.  In this way, Mondays are never mundane, meetings never boring—they are healthy grist for your mill.

Super Bowl XLVI – One Play at a Time to Win

While it is almost impossible for the Super Bowl game to rise to the dramatic expectations stoked by the media and advertisers, what occurs on the field always provides teachings applicable to our business and personal lives.  First, the team that wins is the one whose players have restrained yet fully internalized their satisfaction gained from the victories leading up to the game. That internalized satisfaction plays out slowly to energize them.

Each player retains the confidence that comes from prior successes, he understands that he and his teammates do right to harvest immense satisfaction from any significant achievement, but he also understands that while those achievements provide a ticket to ever greater achievements, past wins do not guarantee future wins.  And by means of earlier wins that season, he is not entitled to future wins without new work and sacrifice.

As the former president and COO of a highly successful service provider to the pharmaceutical industry, I have learned a fair amount about the keys to building a sustainable competitive advantage.  I consistently reminded my co-workers that we needed to prove ourselves daily. The comparisons are endless:  A friend tells you about a terrific play, one certainly worth seeing, but that good review of the work should matter little to the play’s performers. They know that when the curtain goes up, the folks in the audience are expecting a great evening. But at that moment the paying customers will gain not one shred of satisfaction from what they were told of prior performances.  This night’s performance stands on its own merits—so the actors go out there and give it their best; every night is opening night!

Here is a more dramatic telling of the need to be at your best daily. My twin brother was a fighter pilot in the Navy with nearly 300 carrier landings–many at night. I once asked him, “Bill, what are you thinking about as you hurtle toward the ship’s deck at 200 miles per hour?”  “That’s simple,” he said.  “I’m thinking that it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve done this before–if I can’t get my plane safely on board tonight, this time, I have a real problem!”

Second is the problem of focus. We have all read of the distractions that beset the teams as they try to prepare for the Super Bowl while circling in a whirlpool of hoopla surrounding the game. I’ll bet it’s sort of like trying to study for a final exam in the center ring of a circus tent, a cadre of clowns carrying on to the right of you, a parade of linked elephants turning up the sawdust to your left.  When I speak to groups on the attributes of great leaders, I list the ability to get things done. They shake their heads in wry agreement when I remind them that it’s great to be involved in crafting mission statements and vision statements. Thinking in aspirational terms always gives us confidence—the hours spent on these tasks offer a generalized, communal era of good feeling.

But the next day when we come to work, we must have a laser focus on just one thing–making that new or redrafted mission statement a reality. We need to get things done. It sounds pedestrian to some but not to really successful companies.  The Fed Ex slogan is the perfect directive to its employees: “Absolutely, positively the next day.” I can’t imagine anyone in that organization who doesn’t understand what today’s mission is and that it must be done.

And so when you watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, think about these two factors to success:  which team best realizes that all past victories and accomplishments were steppingstones to, preparations for what for many players will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to excel; and which team is able to maintain its focus upon the job at hand.

A final story:  Many years ago I had one of my greatest chance encounters.  On a plane flight toSalt Lake CityI sat next to Dick Bass, then the oldest man to climbMount Everestand the first man to climb the highest summit on all seven continents! When I asked him his key to success, he smiled and said, “I just kept putting one step in front of another.” Now there’s good preparation as well as focus upon reaching his goal.

Enjoy the game!

Really? By Phone? Joe Paterno deserved better.

Much as courage is form-fitted to the occasion that demands a heroic act, in times of crisis we try to form and bring the correct judgment–our internal compass, of sorts, to any problem that stands before us. We often succeed, but other times—many times–anything short of a spot-on determination of the correct course of action creates the most grievous outcome. We can only pray that we are not often tossed into that hot, refining crucible and that when we are, we acquit ourselves admirably, with a balance of justice and mercy toward our fellows. If we miss, if we fall away from the admirable judgment, close or far, then we must find the courage to accept the consequences of what we have done and/or failed to see, understand, and do.

As you know, much is being written about Joe Paterno upon his recent death. Lots of judgments on his life, vigorous analysis of his legacy.  As I read these kinds of articles, I am called to the adage “Even God doesn’t judge a man until the end of his days.” Frankly, I am not certain that one’s passing over grants the living a license to judge his or her life.  However, lessons can be learned from studying Coach Paterno’s life–powerful lessons!  Any child can see the consequences of some of his self-admitted flawed judgments, but to judge the man, as opposed to judging his actions, is something I will leave for a Higher Order of judge and jury. Thankfully, He is far more compassionate than any of His human creations are. And that is how it should be.

The life lesson I focus on in looking at Joe Paterno’s life is one that holds a great opportunity for each of us to increase our humanity day by day. It is the manner in which the board of trustees at Pennsylvania State University terminated Coach Paterno.  According to news reports, upon reaching a decision to terminate Coach Paterno, the trustees called him on the telephone to give him their decision!  After giving 46 years to the university, he was fired over the phone!

From what I read, the soundness of their judgment as to ending the coach’s tenure is not in question, but the manner in which the trustees acted upon their decision has drawn wide criticism. Why? When I speak on the vital attributes of great leaders–those who practice humanity, I naturally talk to the need for them to respect all others with whom they come in contact, from the mailroom to the boardroom, from the oil-drilling platform to the London penthouse and heliport.

Can any of us conceive of anything that is more important to our person than being respected? Being noticed and treated as a person of worth? I don’t know about you, but in my life, respecting someone and having that individual reciprocate in kind, feels like love’s closest cousin.  We so cling to notions of respect that the vicarious hurt we suffer in watching another being disrespected can sting as much as when we are so injured. Self-respect is so deep in our souls that it takes little imaginative effort to put ourselves in the melting pot of another person’s critical scene as it plays out!

Some claim that it’s trite, even childish to call a team of people–be it in sports, business, the military, or in our everyday lives a “family.”  Not so—when any group has a deep, energetic bond of feeling that passes between and among them, they are a family! In Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (Dell Publishing, 1977), Richard Bach rightly describes a family:

“The bond that links your true family is not of blood but respect and joy in each other’s lives. That is why a family seldom grows up under one roof.”

Given that realistic definition, are a group of people genuinely concerned about the success and well-being of each member of that group family? You bet they are. But besides feeling and expressing “joy in each other’s lives,” the second key ingredient is a mutuality of respect. Meaning that most fifteen-year-olds know not to break up with a girlfriend or boyfriend over the phone.  That’s not an action taken after a judgment made in justice and mercy.

The next time you have to take a decision that involves another soul, carefully consider not only what you are about to do but how you are going to do it.   As William Butler Yeats asked in a poem:  “How can you tell the dancer from the dance?”  Considering how we give a judgment is as important, then, as the respect embedded in the content or message of the judgment.

Delivering hard messages in a manner of respect for the judged—and, thus, for yourself as well– might keep what is otherwise a good and just decision from becoming the bad seed that soon sprouts criticism of you—or of your board–by all who are affected and those who observe and read about your deed.

The Razors Edge that Separates Success from Failure

As the new year begins, advice-givers bookmark the season as a time to offer once again well-meaning but often platitudinous articles with lots of holistic advice–how to succeed, how to be happier, how to hit a golf ball farther.  Their advice runs the gamut, with pretty much a cure for any infirmity–real or imagined.  A lot of this stuff, though tedious, is able nonetheless to raise our anxiety and guilt!

I know the New Year is a commonly accepted juncture for reassessing the state of our lives–and it’s fine to stop and ask ourselves how we are doing, plus ask the biggie:  “Am I happy?  Happier than last January?”  But that blurs the point that happiness is a continuum, not a specific goal like losing fifteen pounds.  On a daily basis, no gradients of effort to be happier than we found ourselves at any previous moment–be it December 31st at 11:59 p.m. or January 1st at 12:01 a.m.–are needed to do that the best we can.

Having shared that self-constructed belief, I must admit that shortly after the New Year my wife was reading an article on tips for how to improve our well-being in 2012, and she read to me the ten suggestions.  Most were useful but one was really powerful–not the type normally found in these cookie-cutter advice columns: Take the time to forgive someone. Now that is a great idea, one I can really use!

Several years ago I wrote a letter-essay on forgiveness and mailed it to family, friends, and colleagues. Later I excerpted it for my book Humanity at Work: Encouraging Spirit, Achievement & Truth to Flourish in the Workplace (Chapel Hill Press, 2008). This essay prompted some of the most searing, emotional responses I have ever received from one of my missives.  Here’s a short segment from the letter I sent:

“Consider forgiving someone you can’t imagine forgiving…. I have someone in my life, someone I pray for every morning who I need to forgive, yet have not.  I have not found it in my heart to do so. I judge even though I know that judgments are seldom constructive and only build barriers.  Moreover, as Saint Paul observes, who am I, ‘a mere man,’ to pass judgment on another?”

I know something about this subject. I come from a large and loving family, but I can remember when family members would get out of sorts with each other. As a child, I would scratch my head over the subjects of their disagreements. Of course, to the adults, rifts between family members always concerned important issues—“He was supposed to call me last Thursday at 8 p.m. but he didn’t!  What’s wrong with him?” For that deep transgression, the offending party might be in the penalty box for a month or more!

At some level of consciousness we all know that forgiveness is a personally liberating act.  Why is it so?

A being who holds animosity toward another has a cancer feasting on his or her soul.  Animosity and especially long-term rancor shackle and enervate our humanity because ill will runs counter to one of our most fundamental instincts for survival, according to Charles Darwin–to help one another. Yet we can all remember times when we have stoked our anger, tending meticulously the fires of revenge or judgment, and then getting a sudden rush of energy when we act against our target-human.

But it is a dark energy, like that contained in a black hole, as it sucks the divine grants of goodness and compassion out of our being. When we inflame a wrath of hate or indignation towards others, the dark exhilaration at taking revenge—or just at zapping our target with a fine-tipped zinger—evaporates fast and then we are weaker than before. Our health is impaired, literally. We’re pretty much miserable and don’t know what to do with ourselves.

The reason forgiveness has such a commanding effect on our well-being is that it is a charitable act. I define charity as giving someone a second chance. Is there anything better in the new year of 2012 we can do for another and thus for ourselves than giving someone a second chance? Biographies are replete with tales of individuals who succeeded beyond all measure when some generous soul provided them with a second chance.  My friends, it is but a razor’s edge that often separates success from failure. That is why it sometimes takes the slightest intersection on our part to turn a life around. Forgiveness is an inspired intersection of one soul with another that can produce such an outcome!

Well, after scolding some of the new-year advice-givers, I guess I morphed into doing the same.  But here is something I hope you’ll remember—and I need to remember it, too:  When Mother Teresa was asked what one should do to lead a meaningful life, she responded, “Pray and forgive.”

In the Present State of Politics, First Things First

“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.”  Mohandas K. Gandi

Though strongly tempted, I probably should not speak to the fears we feel now at the state of politics in our nation.  Well… perhaps a few words.

At the outset, let me say that I do not and will not use my blog to promote any specific political view or philosophy. Like you, I have certain beliefs as to the proper role of government in citizens’ lives and how it governs best. Moreover, I have generally supported one of the major parties–but not always. In any event, know that when it comes to comparing the competencies of the two political parties, I am pretty much an agnostic.  Though not an atheist, or I wouldn’t be writing on this subject at all.

Having said that, I think there’s a lesson we can all take from the state of politics that is a powerful teaching, relevant to how we live moment to moment.  We must also examine point-blank our role in the genesis of politics and our individual political behavior within the whole. Hence this note.

The artist Tom Sachs writes that “If you worship money, you’ll always feel poor.” If you think about it, the same is true for those who worship money’s pals–power and influence:  enough is not enough for them.  Sadly now, where we see the effects of coveting power and influence play out most vividly each day is in the halls of government.  By contrast, during His time among us, our Lord never sought the company of those with social, financial, or political status.

How often His parables lead to the inescapable conclusion that the conventional use of power and influence regularly produces monstrosities. He taught that whatever bounty we are granted and/or have earned should be focused on the material and spiritual salvation of “the least of the brothers of mine.”  Recently, I read that while some only see the suffering of the poor, Mother Teresa saw their dignity and value: “Indeed, it is the poorest, who are not consumed with worldly matters, who are most free to seek God’s peace,” she observed. Think about it, among the most divine forms of “power” is power of compassion like hers.  So if you consistently find yourself coming up short in those incessant comparisons of your own power and influence to others’, congratulations!

Compare yourself instead to those who attend to the neediest among us, such as the leaders of nonprofits and NGOs, individuals of such compassion that they often cut their own modest salaries so that enough caregivers in their organizations can be kept on staff.  Other heroes of compassion “adopt” a needy child in their free time. They are influential leaders indeed! As you read this letter, know to a certainty that within earshot of your house, men and women, boys and girls are living in their cars. When you retire to your warm bed this winter night, compare yourself to the caregivers who spend their waking hours finding shelter for the homeless.

We hear lots of talk and see vivid symbolism around the cherished concept of hope.  The promise of hope has always been a darling of the political class.  Perhaps we instinctively believe that if someone, anyone, says they can provide hope, then they are to be trusted.  To bring up in a stump speech the emotional knowledge that citizens want, need, and thus value hope means that the candidate understands and thus is at least on the way to caring about us, right?

Well, trust under any circumstances—family, friends, work, business or political leadership–requires a leap of faith.  If you think about it, a trusting relationship is by definition a safe place.  Because we need emotional safety, trusting someone is a serious,key decision we make.  How does the Phish song go?  “Each betrayal begins with trust.”  One of the problems is that we don’t hold people to their proof, their actions taken in the service of our needs.  Descrying the reasons why we do that is another essay topic for another day!

But, for whatever reason, not holding politicians accountable for their assertions of fact has led to a fascinating phenomenon – claiming that what a candidate says is true because no evidence exists to prove otherwise.  That’s the ultimate exercise in foolish trust.  Are you familiar with the recent movie “Anonymous”?  The story claims that the plays attributed to Shakespeare were actually written by Edward deVere.

The fact that deVere died before ten of Shakespeare’s plays were written doesn’t slow these scholars down for a moment.  Nope, they argue next that a conspiracy to suppress the truth of deVere’s authorship has been perpetrated:  and the fact that not one shred of evidence exists to prove deVere’s authorship demonstrates how effective that conspiracy was!  You can’t make this stuff up.

But in political matters, too, as long as we give our leaders a pass on factually sustaining their positions and actions, we have to accept our complicity in cultivating the political quagmire.

Noted author and commentator John Kay has observed that “When we elect a government in a democratic society, we simply cast a ballot. We do not have to tell the government we reject why it has failed or the government we elect what we expect.” [Emphasis added]  There may be historical precedent for Dr. Kay’s hands-off reading of citizens’ proper response to government leaders’ actions and statements, but I think it no longer will do. Instead, we need to stand up to failure to govern with more focus, confidence, and firm expectation of their accountability.

Because in the last twenty years, it appears to me that citizens have simply and sadly concluded that our elected officials suffer from the behavioral panic and cowardice we witness daily outside the Washington bubble.  We think, “Hmm.  What a mess that is.  I expected more of them, and I didn’t think that government needed a primer on governance. Oh, well . . . .  Perhaps I was wrong. . . .”  It is, in my estimation, entirely too late for that kind of complacent response to what we see each day in Washington and in many state capitals.

My friends, shed your impotent, generalized anger and face the fact that placid cynicism, sophistication in the face of general societal anguish, and separatism of any kind is not going to help us through this period of rapid and turbulent change.  It is all about change now, as never before.  The changes in our work lives and in our political lives are here. They are among us, they are us, and there’s no place to hide.

As Mother Teresa gave her energies and care to the destitute, as employees of nonprofits and NGOs dedicate their energies and care to the poor and homeless around them in towns, cities, and countryside, we must each in this coming year (and beyond) devote our energy to studying the facts of our candidates’ and leaders’ current statements and actions, holding them accountable for each one.  Then we must take action to get on track, as we see it.

Once we know what we’re talking about—doing our homework, reading for facts , then we can take responsible action to lessen the gaping distances between perceptions and facts.  Because unless we know the truth—the hard truth, in many cases, we are not living free and democratically; we cannot “promote the general Welfare,” or, reliably in a time of inexorable change, “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

It is not too late to get a grip and be a truth-leader who requires accountability, just as the Church asks each of us to be a minister to our fellows.  But soon, perhaps, it will be so:  too late.

To conclude, I include an excerpt of a letter the great American mind Abigail Adams wrote from London to her son, later President, John Quincy Adams, on September 6, 1785, two years after the close of the Revolutionary War:

“I know . . . [America] capable of whatever she undertakes.  I hope you will never lose sight of her interests; but make her welfare your study, and spend those hours, which others devote to cards and folly, in investigating the great principles by which nations have risen to glory and eminence; for your country will one day call for your services. . . . Qualify yourself to do honor to her.”