THE VOICE WITHIN

There was a farmer who grew superior quality, award-winning corn in his farm. Each year, he entered his corn in the state fair where it invariably won citations and prizes.

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew his corn. It turned out the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors!

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in the competition with yours each year?”, asked the reporter, nonplussed.

The farmer replied, “Don’t you know? The wind picks up pollen grains from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I have to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn too.”

This farmer had an insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbors’ corn also improves. The same is true for other crops.

And so it is with other dimensions of life. Those who choose to live well help others live well. They know that the value of a life is measured by the number of lives it touches and how...

Success does not happen in isolation; it is most often a participatory and collective process. So the good practices, ideas and new knowledge ought to be shared. As they say: ‘Success begets success’.

Leadership guru John Michael Morgan writes about an octogenarian entrepreneur he once interviewed. This entrepreneur explained that most people have a ‘scarcity mindset’ that makes them fear revealing what they do to achieve success. They’re afraid of their competition copying them. They’re frightened that what’s working for them will stop if everyone starts doing it.

But the truth is they are making a big mistake. “The more you teach, share, and help others, the more you learn. Centuries ago soldiers would share their stories from the battlefield because re-counting the events gave them clarity in how they achieved victory. That clarity allowed them to replicate their success,” said the entrepreneur.

When asked about people worrying over competitors, the entrepreneur replied: “You must have an ‘abundance mindset’ and understand there’s enough out there for you and your competition. Giving away your plan doesn’t mean everyone starts reading your mind. Others will first have to adopt your plan and make it work for them.”

“But there is another reason you should share your success,” the entrepreneur reminded, “Whether you realize it or not, someone helped you. It’s good to keep the cycle going. I remember being flat broke and struggling to stay in business. I reached out to someone who had achieved success and asked for his help. He did. We’ve been friends ever since.

“Once I asked how I could repay him. His response was ‘One day I want you to help someone you don’t know’. At first I thought he was just a big fan of the movie ‘Pay It Forward’, but then I realized that he gets it…

“Success is more fun when you have people to share it with. Being an entrepreneur can be lonely. Don’t waste time building something that only you can enjoy,” the entrepreneur concluded.

— the harbinger