…isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be.
On the flipside, something beautiful unfolds when we ponder what will be the the necessary solutions and answers for the questions that will be asked of those that we serve tomorrow and in the days to come.
We have moved from an economy of standardized tests to one powered by the pop quiz.
Ears.
Eyes.
Be ready.
They’re saying we’re in the “Connection Economy” but what do we mean when we say connection?
Most think this means that you, your cause, your idea, or your service grows when your number of followers and ‘likes’ grows.
Let’s call that what it truly is: a popularity contest. You can buy friends, you can buy likes, but can’t buy a connection. It appears that this connection economy is not suggesting, rather it is demanding that we redefine what it means to connect.
I believe a connection is what happens when, because of you, someone is then connected with some thing-person-idea-information that otherwise would have been disconnected had you not been in relationship with that person. We connect when we become the middle man between someone and their enlightenment. A connection is a relationship where the goal is to see, hear, feel, and taste.
Alas, connection is all about bringing more and more value, clearer insight, holy inspiration, and an overall better experience to those we enter into relationship.
People will connect the dots when you shine a light on them.
Shine.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the music metaphor for success is its mysteriousness. The truth about our music, the success we pursue, is that it is a never ending and ever-changing pursuit that is always just on the horizon of our vision, reach, and hopes.
Einstein framed this very well by saying, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
Growth stops, fresh turns stale, and color fades to black and white when we lose the emotion of mystery.
I’m After It > I Got It.
You can make a wrong right.
You can’t go back and pre-perfect the wrong that has passed.
We are works in progress, not works in perfection.
Perfection is about punctuation that marks an ending of something. Right is about a progression and continuation of that which is true and noble.
Perfection touts the finish line. Right boasts in the journey.
Doing, building, and pursuing what’s right inches us ever so closer to living a life that can one day look back with the hope and sense of perfection.
My wife and I have three year old girl that lives with us. There’s no doubt you’ll come to know her one day, but for now let’s just call her Story.
Story has many talents, but one of my favorite talents she has is her patent-pending ability to use words that start with a ‘L’ and pronounce them as though they start with a ‘Y”.
Some may call this a flaw to correct, but to me it’s flare to celebrate.
Who said you can’t make funny faces with your music?
Who said keep your tongue in during a slam dunk?
Who said flowers were supposed to be painted right-side up?
Leaders, take a yook and yisten to the flare of your followers.
One’s mean, median, and mode is not what they were sent here to illuminate with.
Ashton.Gustafson 