Zig Ziglar famously observed: "You can get everything out of life that you want, if you help enough other people get out of life what they want." Giving is a way of Getting.
We could express this in Mother Theresa terms or in purely secular terms of utilitarian self interest. That the Mother Theresa method works is evidenced by some 5,000 nuns around the world who imitate what she did in serving the poor. But those who have truly "enlightened self interest" also realize at some level that giving is critical to receiving.
By contrast, the narcissist takes self interest to a point that it becomes destructive. The narcissist may at times have a good goal or ideas, but it can be overshadowed by their totally self-serving nature.
The balance that must be struck is akin to that on an airplane when cabin pressure is lost. The parent must take the oxygen mask first before placing it on their child. You can give if you don't survive.
Ideas and intercourse – here we speak of social and intellectual, not sexual, intercourse – need to flow freely in order for there to be health.
This reality is vividly portrayed in Nature by the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. The Dead Sea is dead precisely because water flows in, stagnates and the life in it tends to or does die. By contrast, the Sea of Galilee has water flow in and water flow out. Life thrives in the Sea of Galilee because of that free flowing and purifying exchange of water.
What makes for a good association – or pro-industry focused trade media – is in part precisely the opportunity to interact with others, to share ideas, for there to be an opportunity to test what works and what doesn't.
There is power in unity. But there is also power in sharing. The testing and healthy interaction are critical for the health of a business, an organization or a trade publisher.
For example, we share an Internet stage broadly here on MHProNews.com with others. This benefits all involved. You are reading this post, while others are reading something else from someone else on this same site.
Giving real opportunities yields real growth. When the thought is 'win-win' vs. 'win-lose,' the opportunity and odds for sustained growth blossoms.
Giving and Getting
We get by giving. We don't walk up to a fireplace and say, 'give me heat and I'll give you wood.' Rather, we give the wood, plus the kindling and then supply the match or flame that ignites the mix which produces warmth as well as an enchanting, romantic light.
We can make a plant grow for a time with insufficient water or without the right blend of nutrients. But without the proper balance, it will over time wither and die. The same happens in business.
We have to be open to receiving as well as to giving. Imagine a plant that was given proper nutrients rejecting those necessities! The lower (non-intellectual) side of Nature does not do this, but ironically humanity at times does.
What we come down to is this. The giving and receiving – the exchange – of ideas and opportunities yields growth. Neither you nor I can do it all, nor can anyone else. We need each other. We need what is unique in the other to be able to make up for the fact that each of us has our limits.
Do you want to grow? Give.
Give your time to an organization – business or other – in some fashion that taps the best of what you have to offer. But do so knowing you will also interact – get and receive – back in the process. As suggested above, this is part of the glory of a good association event or at a good trade show.
You can give by writing, if that is a talent you possess. I'm amazed and appreciative of all the topics and insights our featured writers or Industry Voices guest writers share. I and others learn from them even when they share a different point of view, sometimes precisely because they share a different point of view!
You can give by leading others to information and events. Forwarding an email or sending a Link to an article that can help someone via a message, call, text, tweet, Facebook or LinkedIn post is a simple yet effective form of giving.
We understandably fret about things that harm our industry's image or a lack of professionalism and how that holds us all back. We may stew about a lack of sufficient engagement on political issues and a host of issues. But if we lend an encouraging hand – yes, even to a competitor – we can arguably improve our industry and thus in time our own outcomes.
That may sound like 'heresy' to some who think only in terms of 'survival of the fittest.' You don't have to give your competitor the price of admission to a seminar that may help them. But all are wise to invite others to an association meeting or share a link to an article that could lead them to improve their location or business practices. Their improvement benefits you. Their improvement in turn improves your stature in the community too.
We can't effectively force people to do what is right, but we can encourage it through associations and good trade journalism.
Please take five and ponder the Zig Ziglar quote that we opened with. "You can get everything out of life that you want, if you help enough other people get out of life what they want." ##
PS: Check our many Exclusive and Red Hot Featured Articles for October and see the
other new stories and 'Purely Political' cartoons at MHLivingNews.com too.
L. A. "Tony" Kovach
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Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right. – Henry Ford
