You Get One

I recently had a unique opportunity to have dinner with a person who is at the very top of the R&D in a large well-known organization. Not only were his stories amazing and the work he was doing was mind-blowing, but the conversation did not end up where I thought it would ever end up. He was always after one thing. He was always after change. He was continually reframing conversation to illicit change. This was the challenge. He was all about bringing your mind into a space where change was the only solution. The conversation was hinging on our abilities to create new solutions.

Towards the end of the night, the group of us were asked to present a solution to this seemingly impromptu question:

“What is the one thing that the world needs that you can provide?”

 

I sat back in my chair and was speechless. My thoughts were 1) you’re only giving me one, and 2) who am I to provide the one thing that changes this messed up world we live in? Then it hit me, this is the exact resistance to change he was speaking to. We as people seek comfort. Comfort and change are not synonyms. We (in this case I) had to step right outside this box to contribute. No way was I going to sit idle in my chair.

I sat there and thought about it. As the conversation went around the table my mind raced thinking about grand schemes, and forgiving taxes, and no more war, and no more guns, and world peace. Then, I realized I was lost in the grandiose plan that didn’t directly include myself and my day to day life. I brought it right back down to my day to my life to something I could do. I tried to think of something small that when multiplied could have an effect, then it came to me.

If I can make someone feel important each day, the game begins to change. If you think about someone committing a crime, I believe somewhere along the line someone made that person feel pretty lousy about themselves. In other words, someone told them that made them think, “I’m not important..” These are vicious words to drill into someone’s head over and over again. With enough people downplaying you and anyone would crack. To me, it just sounds like a recipe for crime, for war, and for a whole lot of unhappy people. My answer to the question when it came to me was very simple. I want to make people feel important. Start one by one and keep going until it is by the thousand.

There are a lot of ways to do this. One of my favorites is just to say “Thank you” to someone, but not “Thanks” in passing. If you actually take to time to look someone in the eye, shake their hand, and say “Thank you.” I believe this says way more than two words. It says “You are important to me,” those words may just change their day, but I have a grander idea for those words. I have much higher hopes for them. We need to put this place we live on a good path and these two words do that.

Try it. Say “thank you” and really mean it. I think it’s a game changer. I think it’s the game changer!

 

 

Danny Lesslie

@dannylesslie