At some stage during the course of my executive coaching with a client I will always ask them what they are doing to make a contribution to society. Now this does not seem strange to me at all, but recently one client seemed quite surprised at the question and asked me what that had to do with what we were talking about.
Truthfully, I am so accustomed to the question that I was a little surprised when asked to explain. At the end of my explanation, my client really got it and suggested that I include it in one of my articles, so here goes!
Executive coaching is all about raising the bar to perform to the best of your ability and deliver results that you are capable of. It is about fulfilling your purpose and being the best that you can be. But it is not about being self serving. I believe passionately that you cannot perform to the best of your ability, and at the same time live your life in a self serving way.
You see, making a contribution is fundamental to us as human beings. If we are not making a contribution then what are we doing? Is our only purpose to succeed just for ourselves and accumulate the most money? Is this why we are passing through this world? Is it all just about me?
What sort of world would we live in if we all lived like this? We would have a world that is so totally besotted with individual egos – and is that not what has contributed to our current economic climate and the wars that are spreading around the world?
What sort of world will we leave to our next generation if it is all about us? I do not believe that we have been kind to the generation we have brought into this world with how we have managed our world in recent years, but we can do something about it. It starts right here, and it starts with me! And you!!
I believe that performing to the best of my ability includes making a contribution to society, because if it doesn’t then frankly I don’t know why we bother, and that is why I always talk about it when carrying out executive coaching.
If I am not asking myself today where I am going to make a contribution, then I am not working to peak performance, I am not trying to be excellent, I am not focused on being a high performing manager, business owner or leader. I am just being selfish and nobody has ever asked me to undertake executive coaching to help them become the most selfish person they can be!
So, where am I making a contribution today? I ask myself that question every day – and I have today’s answer, so what’s yours?