The Meaning of our Journey

I suppose the great message or takeaway from this week's assignments was: there is more to life than making money. This might sound trite, but it actually means more than that. It really comes down to a simple question---"Why?" Why are we staring a business? Why are we making money?

A simple, yet still true, answer would be "to feed my family". And while that is one of the primary reasons we work at all, it is certainly not the only one, or in the case of business, the most crucial one. Because the fact is, doing work "digging ditches" could also earn money and feed one's family. The real question is: "Why start a business?" The answer must, of course, be deeper than "To make money."

Much of the material we went over had to do with answering this question, and the answer seemed to be that a business or freelancer must have a goal or a purpose. For me personally, I feel like my desire to tell stories through word and image puts me in a good position to create wholesome media that is also entertaining. I love certain types of fantasy and sci-fi stories, but more often than it should be, that media contains some elements that are less than wholesome. And thus the reasoning behind my hope of creating entertaining, wholesome media.

This question is one that seems to have become a major issue for larger businesses today. An article by Charles Handy titled “What’s a Business For?” explores the degradation and loss of real purpose in modern companies.

He says, “The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That ‘something’ becomes the real justification for the business.”

When a company has a purpose beyond making money, such as Facebook’s early mission (as related by Sheryl Sandberg in a presentation to Stanford students in 2009), which was to make available the “information that matters to you”—that is, information about your friends and associates whom you care about. This kind of “higher purpose” provides the energy in a company to rise above the base goal of making money.

It is when companies (and individuals, for that matter) lose sight of this goal, and focus only on making money, that corruption and far too fluid morals begin to creep in.

In his article, Handy describes the loss of public faith in the average company: “A Gallup poll conducted early this year found that 90% of Americans felt that people running corporations could not be trusted to look after the interests of their employees, and only 18% thought that corporations looked after their shareholders a great deal. Forty-three percent, in fact, believed that senior executives were only in it for themselves.”  

One thing that Handy describes as helping in these issues would be changing the self-identity to fit that of a money-making community, with the employees informed and included as much as is reasonable in the performance and finances of the company as a whole. This, one would hope, would help the whole company gain a community-like feel, and employees would be more invested in the good performance of the company as a whole, and their department in particular.

The Hard Questions

This week, the study materials and assignments were focused on creating a balanced life. The part that certainly had the most impact on me were some mini case studies we had to respond to.

It was one question in particular that really made me think. The situation went something like this:

Your 7-year old daughter’s first dance recital is tonight, and you promised you “wouldn’t miss it for the world”. Right before the show, you get a call from your biggest client, telling you that their plant is on fire (I assume they meant a plant as in a factory), and they want YOU specifically to be there, or else you will lose their business forever.

First of all, I felt that this scenario is lacking in detail about what exactly is going on. What kind of company am I supposed to be running, exactly? If my crew is supposed to be there putting out the fire, that is a vastly different scenario than if I’m a financial advisor or something.

I suppose in the end, it doesn’t matter, though. My first instinct, though, was to do what I could for the customer—within reason. If my presence there would do nothing, I am not sure I could justify breaking a promise to my daughter. I would do what I could to reason with them, and assure them that a second-in-command would be sufficient. Because if my customer cannot trust my second-in-command, then I have bigger issues than the customer in question. One thing I have understood about myself is that a lot of my decisions would likely be influenced by the example of my own parents and others whose example I’ve observed. They, of course, might make different decisions than the one I’ve described here—I might also, depending on the exact circumstances.  My feelings at the time I was giving my answer were that having a plant on fire is a very serious situation, and it would be irresponsible to ignore such a thing.

But again, if I were something like a financial advisor or something, I’m certain that having me be present would not have any sort of benefit. Although the scenario described the client as ceasing to do business with us if I did not personally come, I think that on the whole, people are more reasonable than that—sure they might make demands like that fairly frequently, but I believe most people would accept the service of a second-in-command that they themselves trusted in such a situation.  

These are certainly difficult questions, and often they are ones that we cannot answer for certain until we are in the situation.

One part of this week’s assignments we were asked to respond to was an article entitled “Attitude on Money” by Stephen W. Gibson. He describes how in life, everyone has “filters” when it comes to the way we see things. In the case of money, his sister viewed money as something to avoid discussing or even thinking about. Gibson, on the other hand views money as something to be understood, because “No matter who we are or what we are doing in life, money is a necessary part of it.” I am inclined to agree with Gibson—money is a necessary part of life, but in practice, I dread looking at my bank account because it is such a stressful subject for me.

This is likely to be (and in a lot of ways already is) a problem for me, because lately I haven’t been as mindful of what I spend. Seeing that number that represents the limit of my resources causes me to be more careful in how I spend. And although I haven’t been very good at laying out a budget, if I am aware of what I have, I am much more likely to be cautious in what I buy.

Some interesting rules are laid out in the article about how to prosper in life. They go as follows:

“Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him

Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings.

Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.

Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. 

Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.

Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.

Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive.”

I think that these largely boil down to this: Act and plan responsibly for your financial future (both in the short term and in the long-term), and love and trust the Lord in all that you do. I have been better about doing some of these things at certain times of my life than others, but I hope to become better about all of them in the near future.

The Twenty Percent

As always, this course teaches me so much more than I could have dreamed it would. One of the more interesting things this week comes from the words of Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products & User Experience at Google.

She explains that Google has a unique policy of giving their employees one day a week--Friday--to work on whatever project they would like to work on. This might seem like a dangerous way to manage their productivity, as undisciplined human nature tends to influence a person to find anything else to do but what they is supposed to do, when given unstructured time.

However, by her own estimation, Mayer found that fifty percent (50%) of what Google produced in terms of new launches came from the efforts spent in those "twenty percent" hours. The reasoning behind this, of course, is that when a person has something to work on that they are passionate about, they are more likely to give their best effort and make the most breakthroughs.

All this is largely in preface to the point that, whatever our dreams may be, and however hard it might be to achieve them, the results--as well as the personal growth--will be well worth the effort.

A Hero Does Not Say "Can't"

Much of what we have been learning this week has been geared toward becoming a leader in our homes, businesses, and so forth. But the lesson that I really needed to learn came from a book that we are reading: "A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey" by Jeff Sandefer and Rev. Robert Sirico. The first chapter in particular (aptly named "The First Step") struck me with a lot of force.

I, as I imagine many of us do, face a daily struggle with a little voice telling me that I cannot make it in life. "Your art is not good enough." "You will never be able to overcome your personal failings." "You have not seen enough of life--you do not know enough." Such are the sayings of the voices of doubt within me.

I have heard of the "tell yourself you can" strategy--the story of "The Little Train Who Could" is a prime example. But to read it in this book was especially encouraging and powerful. This is the quote that really brought it home for me:

"Do we see ourselves as merely passive biological entities that are essentially acted upon from without? Or do we understand that we are beings of august dignity who possess meaning and purpose in this world and within our nature--a sense of calling and vocation?

"If you want to be a hero, you must decide to be a person who acts, rather than a person who says 'I can't.' You can. You can make deliberate choices that will change your life. You can take steps--many small ones, occasionally a big one--toward your chosen goal, your star, your grail."

These words of inspired encouragement are rare, in that I felt them directed so squarely at me. I have been telling myself that "I can't" for so long in my life, that it has limited what I can do. I have been so worried about overexerting myself and being cautious (not necessarily a bad thing, but I think that I could have used a little more encouragement to take risks when I was younger) that I haven't been able to grow like I could have been.

I wish I could recount all that I learned in this chapter, but there were so many things that were inspiring and insightful, that I could not do them justice in a single post. Suffice it to say, your ability to do is not determined by what is in you. What is in you are seeds of divinity and ability that are wholly unique to you.

What determines your ability to do is your willingness to take risks (while of course being wise and prepared in the risks that you take) and your ability to learn from your mistakes, and the mistakes of those who have traveled that road before. Seldom will you make a mistake that ruins your chances of success, as long as you stay true to the divinity within you, and take the higher road when given a choice.

These truths are ones that I am still learning to apply in my life, but I hope that as I continue to open my heart to the possibilities that are before me, I will be able to know and feel the truth of these words firsthand.