The following is the edited text of an address delivered to the Newton-Conover Rotary Club in late 1998, entitled:
"THE COURAGE TO CARE"
By Pat Jones
In healthcare, as in most business and industry throughout our country, change is the only constant and is forever altering the way we do business. We could spend hours talking about why these changes are taking place, but my focus is not there. My concern is how we deal with what is before us and what competencies we as leaders need to demonstrate in order to assure that not only our businesses survive, but the people that work with us and for us survive also. Kerfoot, a leader in the nursing profession, states that we must “accept as a moral imperative and a sacred trust that one’s work must contribute to the meaning of people’s lives and that all organizations should in some way be in service to humanity’s greater needs.” Farson notes in the book, Management of the Absurd, that “love is fundamental to good leadership because leadership is all about caring.” And yet is it? In our corporate world today we hear much more about the bottom line than we ever hear about caring. Fiscal success has come to be the only success by which most of us are judged. We in healthcare have become so dominated by fiscal success, that “Managed-Care” organizations are zealously managing cost, allowing as little care as possible to be provided. Of course there were some excesses and cost needed to be controlled, but what we are seeing in the Mental Health arena is that care is being denied for those who really need it. This denial of care effects not only the individual, but the family, caregivers and the institutions where they work, and the community at large.
Judged on caring or judged on the bottom line … does it have to be one or the other? I think not. I think we can have a strong bottom line and caring. In fact, I think that caring will produce a strong bottom line. Fiscal success cannot be our sole work. David Whyte, writing in The Heart Aroused, states that single-minded attention to the bottom line will cultivate a work force that is unable to respond to the creativity needed to work in this intense environment. Thomas Teal, in the Harvard Business Review, states that great managers serve two masters, one organizational and one moral. He also notes that great management involves courage and tenacity. He states that management closely resembles heroism.
There is a saying about leadership that I love …
To attain excellence in leadership: One must –
Care more that others think wise.
Risk more than others think is safe.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
And what does it take to care, risk, dream, and expect in my organization and yours? It takes courage … courage to take seriously our responsibility to care for the souls of those for whom we are responsible. Courage comes from the French and means to “take heart.” Heroism is about our hearts, not our brains. It takes a true hero in today’s work environment to create a sense of community in the workplace where people can feel a sense of unity and fellowship of caring. This sense of community inspires a workforce to give its best, maintaining personal and corporate integrity. And of course, the bottom line.
I believe the success or failure of leaders in this new era will depend upon their courage to build meaningful workplace communities in which people can work, live, and grow. It takes courage to develop stability, interdependence, unity, and trust in the workforce. These are the essential elements in development of community in the workplace. Increasing opportunities for our employees to experience sociability and solidarity in their work life allows for the development of community. Listening to people’s stories and telling them in newsletters, corporate rituals, celebrations, and ceremonies also create a sense of community.
Each of us spends more time at work than any other single place in our lives. We, as leaders, must have the courage to resist the world’s message that money matters more than the spirit of human beings. Helping human beings succeed must become at least a important as monetary success.
We are each on journey and part of our reason for being here is to help others on their journey. I read in your statement of the Object of Rotary that service is an imperative in the Rotarian life. Life is about traveling this road with courage, and who travels it best?
I’d like to end with story about a king who had a great highway built. Before he opened it to the public, he had a contest to see who could travel the highway best.
On the appointed day the people came. Some had fine chariots; some used their feet. But no matter what vehicle they used, all of them complained that there was a large pile of rocks on the side of the road in one particular spot, which hindered their progress.
At the end of the day a lone traveler crossed the finish line and wearily walked over to the king. He was smudged with dirt but he spoke wit respect as he handed the monarch a bag of gold.
“I stopped along the way to clear a pile of rocks,” he said. “And under it was a bag of gold. Can you find the rightful owner?”
Solemnly the king replied, “You are the rightful owner. You have earned the gold by winning the contest. For he who travels the road best is he who makes the road smoother for those who follow.”
Take heart and dare to remember that it is in the people we lead that we find the soul of our work. Thank you.
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