My clients and candidates sometimes ask me "What's your favorite movie?" I have three:
- The Passion of the Christ
- Saving Private Ryan, and
- Gladiator
There's an awesome scene in Gladiator in which Russell Crowe (playing Maximus, the protagonist) is addressing his troops before their final battle in Germania. He tells them "What we do in life echoes in eternity."
Quite possibly, Maximus was right. In the last 20 years, quantum physics has refined the idea of "chaos theory." Unlike deterministic Newtonian physics in which event A directly causes event B which directly causes event C and so forth through event N (in a chain reaction, like billiard balls striking each other), chaos theory holds that event A is linked to event B, but so are a confluence of other factors, the combination of which seed the conditions for event N (like a butterfly flapping its wings in China contributes to a tornado in Oklahoma).
Why is this in a blog about careers in marketing?
- Because your life matters (!!!), and
- Because the only way to lead is by example.
If this sounds like the typical self-help headtrip, consider the example of Rosa Parks.
Last year a biographer asked Mikael Gorbachev what inspired him to implement Perestroika, which led directly to the fall of Soviet communism. Gorbachev said he was inspired by the leader of the Polish Solidarity movement -- Lech Walesa. Years earlier, another writer asked Walesa what inspired him to lead the Solidarity movement. Walesa said that he got his inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King. And where did Dr. King get his inspiration? From Rosa Parks -- the little old lady who refused to take her seat in the back of a bus.
Rosa Parks' life mattered, but not perhaps in a way that she could understand. After all, sometimes it's hard to see the picture when you're inside the frame. Sometimes the big picture can only be seen from the vantage point of ... eternity.
For her own part, Rosa Parks was an authentic leader -- the Real Deal. Rosa Parks didn't give a speech about civil rights, nor did she write a book. Rosa Parks walked her talk.
The original Madame Butterfly
Rosa Parks' life is a real example that in the long run, God wins: Good conquers evil (God is supremely good). Truth conquers falsehood (God is truth). Love conquers hate (God is love). And life conquers death (God is life). Ultimately, in God's agency, all things work to the good of the Virtuous -- those people that consistently apply the virtues in every area of their lives, no matter how small or insignificant, no matter the cost.
As a reminder, the seven virtues are Faith, Hope, Charity, Wisdom, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. (St. Augustine adds Humility.) Virtues and Values are different. Values are what you believe. Virtues are how you act. And although they don't appear on a resume, these are the traits that all of my executive search clients want me to identify in my candidates.
It's easy to have lofty values. Talk is cheap. It's hard to live a self-sacrificing life of heroic virtue. It requires constant effort and meditation to be authentically virtuous. But if you can pull it off, the effects of your earthly life will surpass anything you ever imagined.
Do you want to change the world? Live the virtues. You never know who'll be watching.
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Q: Need the number of a recruiter who "gets it?"
A: Download Harry's contact info for future reference.
