A Short Six Thousand Years….

I make it a point to frequently meditate over natural landscapes. With the risk of sounding self-pretentious, I convince myself that these organic canvases have been beautifying themselves so that I show up one day. Just thinking about these millennia’s of creatures, wear-tear, and deformations this exact same spot has had. It really puts things into context for me.

Life is short. That’s truly the most underestimated phrase of my life (excuse the pun). In the scheme of things, ‘short’ doesn’t even come close to describing a lifetime. The big bang occurred 15 billion years ago, Earth itself existed for 5 billion. Multicellular reproduction started around a billion years ago, and the Cambrian explosion(Biology’s version of the big bang) took effect around half a billion years after that. Dinosaurs eventually roamed for 175million years. Human civilization for a minuscule 6,000!! So even if you live to be a 100, your life is not even a microscopic drop in that vast ocean of what is called existential creation.

Thinking about it in those terms, you realize a life’s value is not measured in years, fortune, title, etc. Rather, real value is in impact. What impact did you have on the world during you’re short blip. Today you are alive reading this; tomorrow you will die. Just like those billions of creatures that roamed this exact spot millions of years ago.

Watching those zombie-like traffic jams every morning, it just perplexes me how everyone is chasing that corporate KPI(Key performance indicators) like the world depends on it. Trust me! the world does NOT depend on it. YOU depend on it! Somewhere around Maslow’s pyramid, we chase every day trying to fulfill an everlasting need. However, it’s the little few that actually run for an impactful purpose. And these are the ones that make things happen in this world.

Of course, I am not naïve to think that all corporations should turn self-sacrificial, and switch to non-profit lambs resting on an economical alter. However, corporations must treat business strategy as a marathon not a sprint. A long-term higher purpose should take precedence over a short-term financial report. In turn, the over hierarchical social value would ricochet back to shareholders. Brand purpose just makes more business sense in the long run. A company culture needs to instill that sense of aspiration to its resources. If that sense of social determination is what drives a company, then financial reports would automatically be that much greener.

Here is to contemplating impact rather than just letting the world run its course!!