You, Me And The Very Long Fun

Stalin got a bad rap.

Ok, not really going there.

But I do like a plan.

Less five years though. Make it 100.

A month or so ago we had lunch under an 800 year old tree - give or take (we didn’t ask; you know, it’s rude to ask after 21).

“It must be wise” said Zac, age 6. Yes, she must be.

There’s no doubting that trees move slowly. Guess you’d need to if you’re aiming for 800+. No point rushing. And in not rushing there’s no doubt she misses all sorts of short term opportunities, however they might typically turn up for a tree.

She doesn’t care though. She’s playing the long game. She has fewer objectives but works to them diligently, slowly, doggedly.

While she slowly turns we flare and burn in the blink of an eye.

But we need less flare and burn. We need change.

We need less focus on short term wins, less focus on winning vs losing.

Less focus on me vs you.

We need to wriggle free of the unholy grip of our lazy, crazy, needy, greedy minds because it’s in her grip that we’re stuck in these short term cycles, short term win vs lose, the me vs you hyperloop.

The business you run or help organise is a vehicle for change. Sure, I know it needs to make money and all that jazz, but it’s also contributing to bigger, systemic change; your business is one small node in a new story, a story which might take 100 years to fully materialise but a new story nonetheless. Potentially.

How might your business look if you oriented instead around enough growth? Growth enough to invest in your team, the community around you, on which you depend, growth enough to meet your needs.

In his book The Web of Meaning, Jeremy Lent poses an interesting idea; what if the basis of a company was changed from it’s only legal requirement today - to generate a return for shareholders - to something new and expansive: like a legal requirement to be generative, not extractive? I like other ideas too like a legal obligation to make decisions for 100 years of return, so benefiting you, yes, but many future you's too.

My invitation to you…?

Get out of the weeds of the immediate and don those long term specs.

If your business was organised to deliver value for the next 100 years - not just sales for this quarter or next - how would you organise? What would you continue? What would you stop? What you create or make? What incentives would be important? How excited might the team be?

What changes would you make?

Feel free to share in the comments below.