An Age of Miracles | David Dye’s Engage! | December 2016
It’s hard to imagine – how did this happen?
This morning I had a wonderful meal. Shredded beef short rib, seasoned perfectly, served under an egg and covered by an excellent green chili. Music played overhead – a soulful, bluesy piece by B.B. King. While I savored the meal, I read a novel that I’d downloaded to my phone, paused to arrange a Christmas purchase with my mom, talked with my daughter Averie in Guatemala, and my sweetheart Karin in Maryland – all via text.
After breakfast I popped into a drugstore where I got an immunization to prevent influenza. I replenished my travel kit with a toothbrush and razor, before taking a beautiful, blustery walk in one of my favorite Denver parks. Then I drove to the airport and boarded a plane that, as I write this, is carrying me to Minnesota and North Dakota where I will share my expertise with people who need it and get to a visit a friend of many years.
I often say we live in an age of miracles.
Every one of my experiences today was once the exclusive experience of royalty or would have been viewed as devilish wizardry. A meal assembled from spices gathered around the world? World-class music played by one of the best? Near instant communication with loved ones? A quick shot to prevent an illness that killed millions? Two hours travel to make a trip that would have taken a week or two, weather permitting?
It’s not just that all these things exist. It’s the people that make them happen.
How many people were involved in creating this single day? The number must be in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands.
The people who grew the food I ate. Who cooked it. Who built the restaurant. Who engineered and built the electrical and natural gas systems that powered the restaurant. Who worked with King and recorded and distributed the music. Who researched immunizations. Who made the one I received. Who brought it to that drugstore? Who build the roads, the airplanes, the airport. Who assembled my phone. Who built and maintain the network that transmits my texts. Who drew the oil from the ground that became the toothbrush and razor. Who manufactured them. Who built and run the system that allows me to insert a bank card and transfer value from my account to theirs. Who…who…who…
The web of people responsible for…one…single…day is nearly unfathomable.
Even more amazing…nearly every one of those people responsible for my day had a choice. They didn’t have to do what they did. They could have chosen to do something else or nothing at all. No one had to invent the thousands of inventions that made today what it is. They chose to.
It’s astounding, isn’t it? Your life is the product of millions of decisions made by millions of people you will never meet.
What will your team choose to do? To be? To create?
Your future is our future. We will build it together, imperfectly, in fits and starts, threatened always by our fears, insecurities, and the question of whether we can truly grasp our universal condition. We’re all in the same boat – a boat called Earth.
That’s why I do what I do. And – it’s what you signed up for when you chose to lead.
Today, my wish for you from 30,000 feet: Enjoy the miracle that is (y)our existence.
Be the leader you want your boss to be,
David Dye
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