HOW DO YOU SEE GRATITUDE WORKING IN COMPANIES?

We live in a time of an almost unimaginable rate of change. Every week or so another wave of uncertainty or complexity rocks our collective boat. 

Most of us cope by narrowing our focus to just what’s in front of us, doubling down on exercise and meditation, or just shutting down.

And haven’t you noticed that somehow the horizons of our future seem cloudier and more uncertain? And have the paths to realizing our goals become more ambiguous and strategies less hopeful?

Globalization and all things digital or Internet have forced corporations to become more data-driven and in the process more inhumane. You know, it’s not just business, it’s the spreadsheet telling us what to do.

Mind you, being more data-driven is not necessarily a bad thing. 

However, I believe that business owners, execs and managers need to temper that with greater sense of empathy, with a deeper awareness of how their decisions or actions affect customers and employees.

But there’s more to that companies have become more complex, dynamic and inhumane.

Unspoken Fears

Millions of people, just in North America, find themselves in precarious positions with dubious career futures and jobs that no longer fit their strengths.

Worse still, many of the jobs need to be done have evolved beyond the skills and motivations of the job holder, setting the stage of his or her redeployment or layoff.

And of course, there will be a business cycle correction sometime, adding the background of anxiety or dread.

So, I took a look at all that through the lens of what can I do about it. 

I didn’t just ask a rhetorical question. I wanted to take it on as a life challenge, or what David Brooks would call a Second Mountain challenge, one dedicated to service, deeper meaning, and a mission beyond personal achievement.

At the end of 2018, I asked myself, 

“What calls me to scale
this second mountain?”

What might I bring, from all that I have learned and mastered, to a new gameboard? 

What would take the rest of my life to accomplish?

While I was taking a snooze-meditation, the name Gratitude Games dropped in with a thud.

It felt much like when an elevator approaches a floor and suddenly drops an inch before coming to a stop and opening its door.

I just knew that Gratitude Games was the answer, but had no real sense of what that meant. 

As I began researching gratitude and its various applications, four things sort of streamed into my awareness, creating a vista and landscape of my new mission.