Spending Life

This post is an excerpt from my book “Thinking Aloud.” The theme continues to present itself in my conversations with leaders: how to share complex information and challenging perspectives candidly and constructively. I hope you enjoy the essay – and perhaps introduce the questions below as a way to start conversations with your teammates. – CAW

See a list of other posts in this series at Blog Post Series

Spending Life

We grilled and devoured this year’s first sweet corn.  We like to wait until it appears at the Saint Paul Farmer’s Market – which means it was grown within 50 miles of here.  To everything there is a season, and thus begins the season of sweet corn, here in the near-northern climes.

I am repeatedly stunned by the acceleration of the seasons through my adulthood.  This is no novel observation; I have read explanations that our perception of time is relative to our age.  A year constitutes 20 percent of the life of a 5-year-old, and (insert much smaller percentage here) of my life.[1]  That causal explanation, while intuitively compelling, fails to capture the power of the phenomenon.  We can feel its real power as a sense of urgency to pursue that which is important.  How do we spend our lives?

Unlike our money, we have no choice but to spend our lives: we can’t save our time for later.  We can make choices that are likely to extend life, and we may face circumstances or make choices that shorten it.  Except under dire circumstances, we can’t know our remaining balance.   But, regardless of their durations, we are forced to spend our lives.  Happily, to a very great extent, we can determine how we do so.

Therein lays perhaps the most compelling argument for ethical conduct and the pursuit of greatness.  In our work with clients and business students, ethical leadership consultants daily confront the question of why, in a competitive situation, one ought to go beyond legal compliance to act in accordance with one’s moral sensibilities.  Why should we do more than is required?  Our discussions often address the long-term benefits of trust-based relationships and the nature of unexpected competitive advantage.  I encourage business leaders to think creatively and act courageously in pursuit of outcomes that are both commercially and ethically great.  It is not always the case that commerce and ethics align, but I believe that those outcomes are available more often than we might think, if we are willing and able to bring them about.

Perhaps the most basic reason to do so is at hand: because we have but one lifetime, we devote much of it to our work and we owe it to ourselves to spend that portion meaningfully.  That includes doing work that matters, in ways that build relationships with others.  It means taking the time to engage with others in meaningful pursuits, as well.  This may mean going beyond a traditional conception of “acting ethically,” to embrace a broader notion of acting honorably.  In other words, let us use our precious time to do our best, and to be our best.

We should also enjoy the rewards of acting honorably: we can celebrate a job well done, a courageous or creative action, or an unexpected opportunity to help someone else.  This celebration is a reward unto itself; it also reinforces our commitments.  To enjoy a life well-lived is also to encourage the commitment to live well.  A sense of duty can be compelling, but so can taking pleasure in doing the right thing, and some humble pride in acting honorably.  Let us remember to enjoy some sweet corn along the way, as well.

Conversation Starters: 

One core concept of ethical leadership is simple, but not always easy to achieve: we ought to lead our lives mindfully, even honorably, and take some pleasure in doing so.

• What aspects of your life, at this point, are most satisfying for you?
• In what achievements, or commitments, do you take humble pride?
• What changes could you make now, to feel better about how you are spending your life three months, three years, or three decades from now?

[1] This explanation is just one of many, but I won’t pause to dive into that, um, timeless controversy.  William James, for example, wrote beautifully on his view that time seems to fly faster as we age because when we are young, more things are novel.

At Ethical Leaders in Action we believe that most, if not all people, can develop themselves to play leadership roles in many different spheres both large and small. The foundation of this development process is a short but powerful list of virtues which can be developed and improved through conscious effort. For more information feel free to take the Virtues of Ethical Leadership Self Inventory (VELSI) which breaks these virtues down into features that can be individually developed. The results of the VELSI come with a quick reference guide to help you understand how the virtues and their individual features fit together. https://ethinact.com/velsi/

See a list of other posts in this series at Blog Post Series

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