Week 47 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Carolyn McOwen is our guest writer today.
Week 47: Making Ourselves Useful to Others and to Ourselves
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In a “selfie” culture, we tend to live for our own personal gain, rather than serving others. But Peter Drucker says we are to focus both inward and outward. This is what brings meaning to life, fulfillment and hope for the future.
CAROLYN McOWEN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 47, pages 364-368:
• Drucker’s definition of "existential" was “a universal need for inspiration, effectiveness, and hope.” It is important for us to “transition from success to significance. Fulfilling these needs is a way to face the reality of our own mortality.”
• Lee Iacocca put it this way, “Fame and Fortune is for the birds.”
• Kierkegaard believed that the “special disease of the modern West [was] the falling apart of human existence, the denial of the simultaneity of life in the spirit and life in the flesh, the denial of the meaningfulness of each for the other.”
• And I love the question at the end of this week 47, “'Faith is the belief that in God the impossible is possible, that in Him time and eternity are one, that both life and death are meaningful.' Can this provide you with hope for the present and for the future?”
CAROLYN McOWEN'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
In God’s economy, this concept of “Making ourselves useful to others and to ourselves,” is what I call a '‘win-win.” From my personal experiences, the most meaningful, joyful experiences in my life have been when I am being used by God, even in the simplest ways, knowing that it really is beneficial to another person.
I served six years as an associate pastor in a church in the middle of a retirement community. From that experience, I sat with people, listened and learned. I found that this time spent with people, listening to their life stories at the end of their lives, was not only healing for them, but such an amazing blessing to me.
THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY CAROLYN McOWEN:
Carolyn McOwen is a retired physical education teacher, retired associate pastor, but not retired housewife, mother, and grandmother.
TO-DO TODAY:
• Daily I pray and ask God to use me wherever He may, to grow His kingdom, and to be His light of hope into the darkening world.
Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold).
NEXT MONDAY:
On Nov. 30, 2015, watch for Jackie Tsujimoto's color commentary on Week 48’s topic, “What Do Leaders Stand For?” the fifth chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.”
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