John Woods wrote,
"We may, then,eliminate such terms as volunteerism and charity, which
suggest sacrifice. It is no sacrifice to be good to others, it is simply
intelligent, logical, self-aware behavior."
John, when I first read your words above I thought that we had a different
set of assumptions around the words "volunteerism and charity" than I do.
On re-reading your words, I see that we have similar assumptions.
I don't see "volunteerism and charity" as necessarily involving sacrifice.
Giving of what we have available as resources to another person doesn't
seem to involve any element of sacrifice. It certainly does seem to be
self-serving as you suggest because we are all connected. In this vein,
it definitely fits as a key leadership characteristic, i.e., being aware
that we are all connected and so something that benefits one person or set
of people (without being detrimental to another set of people) clearly is
a win/win/win choice of actions.
This idea is captured in the Effectiveness Principle which I have posted
to this group before.
"Effectiveness Principle: P/PC balance focused on the customer
If
* We choose and perform all our actions to sustain or build
- our relationships with all affected people (customers
and other stakeholders) and
- our production and/or service capability (PC/SC)
(facilities, equipment, hardware, software, the
environment)
* While we produce and deliver today's products and/or services
(P/S),
Then
* We will sustain or build our capability to produce and
deliver our customers' desired P/S tomorrow."
I would also like to interject another view on volunteerism. As soon as
people accept that they are responsible for the results they produce in
their lives, they are ready to understand that all of our actions are
voluntary (unless we are in a drug induced state). So when we go to work
for pay, it is a voluntary action. Of course, most employers don't yet
understand that. And for that matter most employees don't understand that
either.
Sometimes we don't like the consequences of the choices we have to make.
Nonetheless, we do make the choices, i.e., our choices are voluntary.
Even if someone has a gun to our head, the choices we make are voluntary.
For many of us, who have grown up in a psychologically dependent state, we
think that the choices are not ours and that we are not responsible and
that we don't have other choices. This system of collusion is
self-perpetuating because so many people accept it without questioning it.
It is easy to fall into the collusion because many of us during our
formative years only saw as models people who acted as if they were
independent. That is we saw a lot of people who lived out of win,
win/lose, or lose/win. Very few of us grew up around people who practiced
win/win and even fewer who practiced win/win or no deal.
In any case, recognizing that we are all volunteers and we are responsible
for those results we get in our adult lives enables us to get more of the
results we want and in a way that adds value for all (practically
speaking, many) of those people affected by us (and the environment).
Well, Happy Holidays (and of course happy every other day for the rest of
your life) to everyone out there.
-- Willard Jule 75272.3452@compuserve.com