The World Can Be Much Better

For weeks now, I have been contemplating the following quote by philosopher Max Roser:

“Three things are true at the same time. The world is much better; the world is awful; and the world can be much better.” 

I find it challenging on one level to hold his three things as true at the same time. It is so easy to go to the place of “the world is awful.” It is easy to frame things up through this lens and to find information and people who will support it. But I know that if I follow this path, I am not going to end up in a place that serves me well or allows me to live up to my full potential as a person or an executive coach.

While I have glimpses of “the world is much better,” I find that I am leaning now toward the work related to helping the world “be much better.” I am inspired by Katharine Wilkinson in her TED Talk when she stated, “It is a magnificent thing to be alive in a moment that matters so much.” And I do believe that this time matters so much.

I know from experience that most businesses fail because of ruptured relationships among the people who work there. And I know that as I get older, a lot of my work is helping people deal with the social and emotional aspects of being a leader, not just the technical aspects of organizational change, i.e. creating a new strategic plan or executing a new strategic plan.

I have come to the realization that when we choose as leaders to involve people who have to do the work in the decisions that will affect them, this choice is based upon the idea that people are better than we think they are. They can be counted on to make wise choices. This leadership choice is grounded in a perspective and understanding that “the world can be much better.” It is a place where hope, perspective, and faith come together.

As you move forward through this new week, I encourage you to pause and reflect on Max Roser’s three things, and then decide which one you are going to focus on for the next seven days. I hope you will choose to make the world a much better place for all of us.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257