I recently finished re-reading Good to Great, by Jim Collins. I loved this book when I read it nearly 9 years ago on a plane trip with Peteboy to Dallas. We were doing a Leadership Development Program for a group of WCOM leaders. That seems like a million years ago…
I’ve recently become quite cynical about G2G because so many of the profile companies have disappeared or fallen from grace. Adding to my falling view of G2G was the writings of Phil Rosenzweig (The Halo Effect) and the writings of Nassim Nicholas Taleb ( Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan). These authors provide a very different perspective on high performance. You might want to check them out and see what you think. Moving on…
As I finished Collins work today, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed his conclusion and how much it aligns with ours at BUILT TO LEAD. Check it out…
“Early in the book, we wondered about how to become Level 5, and we suggested that you start by practicing the rest of the findings. But under what conditions will you have the drive and discipline to fully practice the other findings? Perhaps it is when you care deeply enough about the work in which you are engaged, and when your responsibilities line up with your personal three circles.
When all these pieces come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you’ve had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.”
Does any BTL Builder want to finish the thought about what we believe the seeds of OPUS are in work and life?
You know you do, so go ahead…
BUILT TO LEAD 
“OPUS” is Latin for “masterpiece” or “masterwork.”
OPUS is distinctly different from another Latin word for work–“Labor,” meaning TOIL.
The means by which one lives a life of OPUS, rather than mere TOIL, is to discover one’s unique PURPOSE in life and apply that in the service of other human beings. This is the “meaningful life” that Collins speaks of above.
The means by which one discovers their unique PURPOSE is to work on what we at BUILT TO LEAD call one’s CORE–the foundation of faith formed by clarifying:
1.) beliefs (“world view”),
2.) identity, and
3.) principles;
and the hope inspired by:
4.) passions (loves),
5.) vision informing purpose, and
6.) a process to put all of this into action;
and finally, the basic orientation to others, not to self, called in some circles “charity.”
All the rest is practice.