The world doesn’t need you, but…

The world doesn’t need you…

…you need the world.

To get what you desire…

…get the world to desire you.

There is a shape to life I tend to notice, especially among the people who talk to me about their leadership.

It reminds me of my own journey, and many things I have noticed about the world through observation and contemplation.

I think most leadership and creative struggles come down to this basic truth: You need the world more than it needs you.  To change this, you need to get the world to desire you.  This will help you get what you desire.  If you are not getting what you desire, it’s because you are not giving the world a good reason to desire you.  And so you continue to need the world, because it does not desire you.

Did you follow all that?

Let’s do a thought experiment and develop that.  As you may know from some of my other content, I think quite a bit about the feeling of absurdity many of us experience in life.  Some of what follows is highly influenced by the philosophical literature around that.

Things either always existed or they came into being.

Then life.  Plants and animals.  Then humans.  (Both Chapter 1 of Genesis and the scientific account agree on that general sequence, BTW! - the order might be meaningful…)

Humans filled the Earth and we still do.

Doing the human thing.

And then you arrived, and now you’re doing the human thing too.  You didn’t ask for it, but you’re here, for better and worse.  Sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s worse.  That’s true for all of us.  Those feelings are shaped by a complicated and dynamic equation of stimuli and interpretation.

What if you hadn’t arrived?  There are countless hypothetical people who have not arrived.  Isn’t that crazy?

Is the world worse for not knowing them?  Maybe.  Hard to say.  We’ll never know.

What if you hadn’t arrived?  Would the world be worse for not knowing you?  Maybe.  Hard to say.  We’ll never know.

But you’re here, so you’ve had to make it work, right?

We didn’t ask for it, but we started getting assignments pretty early, and they never stopped.  Because the demands of nature are unforgiving, and so society’s demands are as well.

Get the point?

The world didn’t need you.  It still doesn’t.  If (actually when) you leave, the world will continue without you.

It doesn’t need you.  You need it.  And so you will do what it asks, even if you don’t desire to much of the time.

If we resign ourselves to this pattern we die a spiritual death, and this is frustrating.  And growing as a leader often starts with frustration.  Because a leader takes stock of what they see, decides what they don’t like, reframes it to what they desire, and pursues that.

It’s a calling born of desire.

And to get what you desire, what do you need to do?

You need to get the world to desire it with you.  And then you can pursue what you desire on your own terms.

But it takes work.

The work of clarifying your vision, expressing its relevance to everyone else and getting enough of them to desire what you want too.  And in doing so they will desire you.  And if enough of them desire you, you will get what you desire.

Get it?

Every act of creation is the result of a leader somewhere breaking out of that frustrating pattern of needing the world, getting clear on that desire, and communicating it to enough other people to inspire the same desire in them, which changes their course of action to include supporting the leader.

This sometimes takes a while to see, and I notice I tend to meet people after they’ve lived a bit on the world’s terms.  But something inside of them knows they’re ready to start living on their own.  And they have a completely unique way to do that within the grand flow of human history.

Remember, the world didn’t need you before, and it doesn’t need you now.  But if you know what you desire, you have power over that pattern.

And it takes work, the work of leadership growth.  The way the world responds to you at any given time shows you whether you still need the world, or if you have successfully shifted to the world desiring you.  Be patient and persistent.  It doesn’t happen overnight, but you can do it.

The world doesn’t need you…

…you need the world.

To get what you desire…

…get the world to desire you.

P.S. Don’t misinterpret my words.  There is a paradox here.  The world doesn’t need you, AND you are a creature of infinite worth.  Your unique perspective is valuable, and it is ultimately the only key you have to unlocking your leadership potential.  That’s where my conversation starts.