"We
all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out.
The mystery of life is the plainest part of it."
"Every stone or flower as a hieroglyphic of which we have lost the key;
With every step of our Iives we enter into the middle of some story which we
are certain to misunderstand... "
G.
K. Chesterton
We all know there is a mystery; the unaccountable.
We also know that in every stone and flower is the key to this
mystery and yet we continue to misunderstand and to repeat over
and over our misunderstanding hoping that in the repetition the
miracle of awareness will occur. But it will not.
Organizations worldwide have long been searching for an "It"; a Holy
Grail. A key. That one magical, mystical element that will unlock the secret
of our lives and of our organization - not as we know them, but as we hope
they can be. So much energy, time and money has been spent in this search that
it defies quantification. This illusive "It" will, our leaders hope,
keep customers happy and loyal; employees energized and committed; and at the
same time enable the organization to make pots full of money or dominate the
marketplace or whatever.
We've tried automation, technology and robotics. Managed by objectives and
managerial grids and Myers-Briggs. We've issued team T-shirts; decentralized
and centralized. Deconstructed and re-engineered. On we've gone to mission,
vision and values, trying to convince employees that they are now empowered
when they weren't yesterday or the day before or the day before that.
We come so close to the mystery. Even our language mission, vision, values-has
spiritual roots and yet we continue to play on the fringes afraid to truly
abandon ourselves to the search. We want so much to be in control, to be rational
rather than passionate, to give learned papers attempting to make statistical
sense out of a spiritual world. Dennis Overbye in a brilliant Time magazine
essay writes:
The theory of everything, even if it existed...could not
pretend to tell us what we most want to know. It could not tell
us why the universe exists-why there is something rather than
nothing at all. And it could not tell us if our lives have meaning,
if God loves us.
Written on a piece of paper or on a T shirt, the theory of
everything would just lie there waiting for something else to
breathe fire into it....
If you are intent on breathing fire into your organization; intent
on finding the key and understanding the story, there is one
insight that will give you
the power you need to do so. Systems, structures and strategies are important
but are not the "IT" that will transform your organization... Do
you know that all of your important work is spiritual work! If you and I learn
to touch and move the hearts and souls of people, we can touch and move the
world. All real change must first be spiritual change.
The following quotation must be printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article:
"Copyright The Ian Percy Corporation."
Ian Percy is one of North America's most inspirational speakers.
Ian Percy is an international
speaker and consultant and can be reached at www.ianpercy.com
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