By Thomas R. Schori, Ph.D., and Michael L. Garee, Principals, Millennium Marketing Research, 808 E. Ironwood, Normal, IL 61761-5239. Tel. 309-532-8466 -
Some years ago, one of us worked for an executive in a major insurance company who had this sign prominently displayed on his office wall: "Remember, in 100 years, all new people." Over the years, when things would get hectic, or if we ever found ourselves beginning to think that we were more important than the jobs we were supposed to be doing, we have laughingly reminded ourselves of this seemingly simple statement.
Ostensibly, the statement refers to the fact that we should bear in mind at all times that life on this earth is indeed short, for all of us. But upon further analysis, there is actually much more than that implied by the statement. Following are what we believe are some of the deeper meanings of the statement, as well as the significance of those meanings for all of us, particularly as regards our professional lives:
To put this into perspective, if you’ve been employed by one company for a number of years, think back on some of the top executives, or other key, powerful people, who were in positions of unquestioned and significant authority when you first began working for the company. Now, suppose some of these people have moved on, retired, died, etc. Ask some of your fellow employees who are relatively new to the company what they know of these once "powerful," influential people. You know what their answers will be¾the names of these people will mean absolutely nothing to most, if not all, of them!
Too many people in business today simply "go along to get along." That is, they "show up" but they do little once there, year after year, decade after decade. And, before they know it, their career is reaching its end and they’ve little to show for the many years they’ve been in the work force.
Of course, it’s relatively easy for a person¾any person, at any level¾to quickly get into the habit of making a lot of "moves," e.g., attending an endless series of meetings, writing meaningless memos and reports, "politicking," etc., while making little or no progress toward any meaningful goals or piling up any significant career accomplishments. Such people keep promising themselves they’ll meet such goals and make such accomplishments "tomorrow," but for many "tomorrow" never comes!
Very, very few of us will ever do anything that will make us "famous" among future generations. That does not mean, however, that we can’t do things in our business career that will in fact make a difference for those who will be coming after us. The great companies of today didn’t become great simply as the result of the act or acts of one, or even a few, people. The combined efforts of significant numbers of people¾at all levels¾within great organizations are what made them great in the first place, and it’s what keeps them great! Each of us can make a difference and we should always strive to do so.
None of us knows when our careers¾or even our lives!¾will suddenly end. But suddenly end both of them will. That means that things in both our lives and careers that should be done today (and we all instinctively know what those things are!) should never be put off until some distant "tomorrow," which may never come. Chances are better than even that those things we continue to put off until "tomorrow" simply will never get done.
Some people erroneously perceived the "100 years, all new people" statement prominently displayed in the insurance executive’s office to be bordering on fatalism. That is, they interpreted its meaning as being roughly equivalent to saying, "Well, since none of us are going to last all that long, what does it really matter what we do during our lifetime." Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, as the executive would quickly and forcefully point out! In fact, the statement’s true meaning, as far as the executive was concerned, at least, was closer to the slogan Nike made famous¾Just do it! Not a bad way to approach life and our life’s work!