Conquer the Right Mountain

I was working with one of my clients that runs a feed yard, and he told me a story that he had once told his kids. He was getting across the message that we often fight with others over things that simply don’t matter. He wanted them to get the proper perspective in their mind before reacting to things. As the story went, one day, his kids had gone with him to work. They often worked beside their dad as he went about his day. On this particular day, the yard maintenance guys were scraping and leveling the yard. When they do that, they are pushing all of the cow manure to the center of the pen into a giant pile.

He pointed out the giant pile of manure to his boys and told them to watch the cows. The cows would fight and push to make it to the top of the manure. They would defend their superior position from the other cows. They would even stand on top of that mountain of manure like they had won a great prize. But, it was still just a giant pile of manure. He asked his boys what the top cow had really won.

How many times in our own lives to we work to climb to the top of the wrong mountain? How many times do we fight with others, blame others, put others down, only to be crowned the king or queen of the crap pile? It isn’t a victory at all. As leaders, our climb to the top should be one that leaves humanity better than we found it. As leaders, our push in business should be the fulfillment of a mission and vision that solve an important problem. And ultimately, if we are to climb the right mountain, we must do 3 things.

1. Pursue something that inspires us.
2. Pursue something that challenges us and pushes us to be our best.
3. Pursue something that leaves the world better than we found it.

There are lots of journeys up mountains available in this world. Pick a mountain that is worthwhile. Pick a problem to solve that you can look back on and be proud of. When you do that, you leave the next generation inspired to do something great as well.