Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of “Significance”
In his book How We do Anything Means Everything, Dov Seidman makes the case for what he calls “outbehaving the competition:”
It is important to be mindful of . . . the philosophical idea that if you pursue happiness directly it eludes you. . . . I have learned from my work that there is a corollary to this paradox – that you can’t achieve success by pursuing it directly. Inspirational leaders understand that real, sustainable value can be achieved only when you pursue something greater than yourself that makes a difference in the lives of others. The word I use for this issignificance.
Seidman works with corporate managers to promote values-based thinking and behaving. He purports that successful organizations today are more productive because the people within them share sustainable values that lead to positive outcomes. In other words, their focus is on a shared set of values rather than a successful outcome. When every individual within the organization truly thinks, communicates, and acts from the same set of core values, the outcomes take care of themselves.
As an example of what he is advocating, Seidman tells the story of professional golfer David Toms, who in 2005 disqualified himself in the second round of the British Open. He was unsure if his golf ball was wobbling in the wind when he tapped it into the hole. Because it is against the rules of golf to hit a ball while it is in motion, Toms self-reported his uncertainty. After watching the videotape, the rules official said he could not confirm whether the ball was wobbling when he hit it, and left it up to Toms.
Toms said if he had continued on and won, he would have felt like he was getting away with something. It would have been unfair to his competitors, but even more significantly, unfair to himself:
I believe it might have had a devastating impact on my career had I continued on. It’s very hard to perform without a clear head or a clear conscience. You have to be mentally and physically ready and prepared to play.