There is a famous French story entitled The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery. In the story the best friend a young prince makes on a banished planet, is a fox. Eventually the fox must leave the prince forever, so he offers to tell him the most wonderful secret in the world if the prince meets certain conditions. The little prince does what is expected and then asked to be told the greatest secret. The fox replies, “Only that which is invisible is essential.”
You cannot touch, smell or taste values but they are essential for a person ultimately find meaning to their life. Many people are focused on chasing the dream. They believe if they attain it, they will be happy. If only I had a bigger house. If only I had nicer car. If only I could afford to eat at better restaurants. These visible and tangible items drive their work but in order to ultimately be happy and find meaning people must first focus on the essentials…what do they really value.
Early in The Mandt System training we have participants examine what values they find to be most important. We then examine as a group shared value that exist. These drive the many of the activities later on in the training. When we live out shared values we can truly find happiness. The explorer Freya Stark said, “There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.” Know your values and then live them out!
Tim Geels – SVP of Corporate Instruction and Implementation
