Learning Philosophy

We are all learners. In this world – especially in this time in history – we must recognize the vast changes that affect the most intimate details of our lives. Changes in technology, communication, economics, attitudes and values. The world of business is one that both creates and follows trends, seeking to create value whenever and wherever possible. The purpose of organization is to create value.

This is a journey of the intellect, but also a journey of the heart, for the essence of the transaction is love. People coming together not just to survive, not just to blaze a trail or find nirvana, but to bring back the boon and offer others the sense of wonder and excitement and joy that the best of us have found within ourselves. This is value. This is something for which we will trade our time and energy and knowledge. Economists call this “gains from trade.” But trade is not sanitary, sterile copulation. It creates children. It spawns relationships that last a lifetime. It feeds ideas that were left in the dark corners to starve. It breathes life into our lives.

"It’s just business." What a cop out. Say Sport, I don’t mean it personally but I’m going to ruin your livelihood. And yet we choose to play the game. We can equally choose to raise hedgehogs in Montana in isolation. When we choose business, we choose to love others. Make no mistake about it. When we make money, we are reaping the rewards of the value we create. Yet money remains a symbol of nothingness. Of death. Of the certainty that all we do here is without meaning. The root of “mortgage” from the French is morte. Death. No one wins in the end when we focus on the symbol of value, not value itself.

Yet death in many languages connotes transformation and enlightenment. To learn we must let go of the old ideas. Neuroscience tells us that brain plasticity need not founder as we age if we continue to rattle those neurons with new challenges.

Life, love and death. And in between we learn something about how the universe works, how to treat each other, and how to learn to be happy. As we grapple with the chaos of information, new knowledge, opinion and news, we must remember to return to love and ask ourselves simple questions: What did I do today to create value? Whom did I love? What did they learn from me? What did I learn from them?

And finally, the question that all sentient beings who have learned the value of organization, collaboration and learning ask when living with presence:

What do we do next?

On Hiring Commitments

I once had a conversation with a supervisor at hiring with a government agency. I had stated that I’d made a commitment to another organization and would not be able to work for his organization. He asked simply to whom I’d made that commitment. I named the organization.

His reply: "Michael, you don’t make commitments to organizations. You make commitments to people." I said, "When do I start?"