Serve The Many

I left work today driving home on the freeway. Many of you may be in a similar situation where you drive home and think about how the day went. “What went well?” “What didn’t go so well?” “What are the challenges that need solving?” This is what I think about as I drive home. I see many challenges needing people to step up to and fill. I, like many of you, can probably step in and solve each one individually. But that only serves one…

Serve The Many

And serving one leads to only one getting the job done. This leads to a capped salary to match. A salary of a position that requires one person to fill. This makes you individually good. But it doesn’t make your salary great. It doesn’t make others great. It doesn’t make you great. The greatness is in finding the ability to serve the needs of many people – to get many people to become good at what they are doing.

To serve many, you must understand their reason for being. This is simply their philosophy of life – why they do what they do. If you are reading this, you are probably a driven person who wants to make a difference. You probably have a high standard for what you expect from yourself. We don’t need to go into your reason for being. But I believe it very important to understand the reason for being for the majority of people who don’t have quite as high a standard as you and I do.

Here’s why: I look at my salary for the past six years, it has more than doubled in that time; however, in the last couple years, the increase has slowed down. This could be due to economic recession, but I don’t think so. I see that the jobs/careers that will allow me to increase my salary where I want it to go require me to do more than just a superb job at my individual set of tasks. I can be a terrific web developer at work. Even as productive as ten other web developers. But that doesn’t translate into ten times the salary. I’m sure those of you reading are many times as valuable as someone you work with or know. Is your salary three or ten times theirs?

I’m willing to bet it is not. So the challenge is not in doing a better job at work. You’re already a rock star. You already stand out from the crowd. You’re already self sufficient. A CEO, for instance, helps an entire company achieve with strategies to be followed AND helping those in leadership positions to do the same. The challenge now is to help others become more valuable. And it all starts with serving many rather than yourself. Jim Rohn said it best, “Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness – great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.”

Shifting The Reason For Being

Let’s take a look at how a person with a low standard for their life might think.

• I go to work to get my pay check, to pay the bills, and then come home.
• I’m staying married just for the kids.
• I tolerate this person.
• Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.

There’s a certain tone to these reasons. It makes me think of driving on the freeway. Most people who are driving are going to do just enough to get from point A to point B. It’s true isn’t it? You look in your blind spot just enough to see other cars before you make a lane change. You may not even signal sometimes if you’re in a hurry. Generally you give your driving just enough attention to hopefully avoid a crash. This is, unfortunately, the mindset of the many…

But not the mindset of you! Not the mindset of a leader. But it is the mindset of an average person. Not a bad person mind you, just the average person. Someone who is looking to do just enough to get by. The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America declares that we have the right of, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” How many people actually exercise this right?

Create a Reason

The goal is then to give the average person a higher reason for being. A popular weight loss product might achieve this result. Something like “Slim Fast” might get millions of people to make up their mind to lose weight. It gives them a greater reason for being. There is great power in increasing the reason for being for many people.

Doing so might lead to a new set of standards from the once average person:

• I give all I have at work to leave behind something better and to become something more.
• I’m staying married because I will create a glorious relationship.
• I want to understand this person in order to better serve them.
• No matter what I’m told to do, I will always seek out solutions to problems.

So taking my own advice, how do I then serve the many? Well, I know those reading my blog here are leaders. They are people looking to increase their position of employment at their company. They are looking to serve many with an idea, product, service, or community. So my goal is to help these leaders gain an advantage in serving many. I do this through motivation, inspiration, strategies, sharing experiences and insights, and doing all I can to offer something that they can take with them and apply in their life.

So Faye the Wise … or Sam the Samurai … or Kim the Mindset Success Coach … or the Insightfull Valerie … or Optimistic Jarrod … or Zippy Gamer Jonathan. You are just a few leaders who are reading here. What reason for being are you going to give your audience? What do you offer that will get them excited and offer value? What are you doing to increase your value personally, so that you are qualified to lead your audience?

At my day job at an Internet company, I will find a way to serve the needs of the many. The tools and resources to learn how to develop great software are readily available. The missing link is the right psychology. But to make a change on a company-wide scale, I will introduce the right psychology. I will teach people to master their state to be peak performers. I will show people a reason for being beyond earning a pay check.

For you reading my blog, I pledge to you that I will continue to read, research, and give my absolute best in the areas of personal growth, learning, and leadership that will help you give more of yourself to the many. This is the missing key to greatly increased fulfillment and economic wealth. And I don’t do this because I want anything. I do it because it is my standard – to do all I possibly can.

image by Haslam