”’In the middle ages, alchemists sought the “Philosopher’s Stone””’ which could turn base metal into gold. Visions of impossible wealth and power and the very magic of the idea captured hearts and minds.
”’The base metal in modern life is everything that suppresses energy, cooperation and willingness”’ to reach beyond the predictable. For a long time I’ve sought simple ways to transform this base metal. There have been few answers. Success has been mostly in events and often temporary. Training programs, reorganizations, rewards and new direction have usually made a short lived difference. The source of the difference seemed to go away. Still, the sometime magic of new possibility keeps me the playing the game. The experience reminds me of playing slot machines in Las Vegas. Every once in a while, I pull the lever, people commit to each others success and, in that moment, there is an explosion of energy, attraction and intention regarding whatever they care about and were resigned about in the first place.
”’There are many corporate examples of “commitment to the success of others.””’ The most common is found when people have mentors. The evidence is that people who are mentored by others can get ahead faster. Most of the time, though, people in companies have not been committed to each others’ success. It’s just not something they are rewarded for. It’s not that people are against each other, although that does happen. They are just not “for” one another. There are many reasons for this. Most of these are natural human reactions to the design of hierarchical and functional organizations. Some may come from human nature. It is too easy to condemn the organizations and the people. Rather than condemn, I suggest that the act of committing to others’ success makes resistance disappear for as long as you sustain and renew the commitment.
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