“You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.”
– Napoleon Hill
In my new “day-job,” I’ve met a young guy named Jim Briggs. He’s pretty indicative of the quality of people that populate the phalanx of Spartans at Bancvue. He’s bright. He’s intense. He’s quick-witted. He is, like many people here, a difference-maker.
Yesterday, during a philosophical discussion around leadership, Jim raised this issue of “impact over activity.” It’s brilliant, really. He gathered it in an interview he did with a serial entrepreneur / CEO whom Jim asked, “What’s the key to success…?”
The opposite of impact is “busy-ness.” Busy-ness is, ultimately, a terminal illness. And, too often, we wear our busy-ness on our sleeve as a badge of honor. It’s complete irony that busy-ness is so close in spelling and sound to “business,” because the former prevents the latter.
Impact, on the other hand, enables all things good and meaningful. Impact is what we strive for, if our goal is to make a difference.
And, I’d challenge Mr. Hill, remembering the chicken and the pig in the question of involvement vs. commitment. If the chicken was involved in our bacon-and-egg breakfast, but the pig was committed, perhaps it takes even more than involvement to have impact — to make a difference.
Leave a Reply