LEARNING FROM YOUNG LEADERS : Question 4

I came away from my time at West Point thinking about engaged cultures. And I drew this triangle—Tommy and I drew it on the airplane—of inspired motivations. If you could build this into your organization, these three points of this triangle. On one point at the top is the idea of service. And on the bottom right is the idea of success. And on the bottom left is the idea of growth, right? We’ve talked about all three of those: service, success, and growth. But if you could build a culture that has service to cause or purpose that you are willing to suffer for, that you are willing to sacrifice for; and that has challenge or growth in the form of BHAGs that push people and make them grow because they’re so hard; and has the idea of communal success built into the culture, the idea “What can we do to reinforce the idea that we only succeed by helping each other?”—that is how I think we build meaning. For it is impossible, in my view, to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And I believe it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. And how do we create meaning? Service, growth, communal success.