How Much We Matter
‘You are naïve to say that one person can or does matter!’
The above opening statement is paraphrased from responses to Leadership Weekly Note #3124 (22 July 2024) that stated:
‘All lives matter… or none do.’
I agree that in current human practices there is a hierarchy of life-value (mattering) between the powerful few and the majority that are treated as modern-day serfs, third class beings, and easily expendable.
Such practices are tangible evidence that human social practices have not evolved much, and that legacy leadership is not leadership at all, but rulership, dictatorship, mis-leadership…
It should not be and need not be like that.
However, it is also the responsibility of each person to rise—to choose to matter.
It is not another person who gives you or me the space to matter, we must create our own spaces.
So, as an Influential Leadership activist, I reiterate:
1One person always matters, yet we must also choose how much we matter.
It cannot be another way because that would imply nobody matters, or that only some people matter, or that 1One person cannot make a productive difference.
Since Human #1 it has always been 1One person that has counted, that has mattered, that has chosen to matter, for good, or bad.
Sadly, there are many examples of individuals that have chosen to matter for unproductive reasons, and still do. Just look around in our homes, schools, teams, businesses, and countries.
Sure, groups and collectives also matter, but their building blocks are always the individual, and in Influential Leadership, it is the single person—the 1One person that makes the productive difference.
There are millions of examples where individuals are the activators of productive or unproductive change, who choose to matter. Let us think through just four typical cases.
- To start, let me direct a point back to anyone who is not yet persuaded that they matter. You do, but unless you choose to matter, you are taking up space that you are not paying rent for.
Let us now turn to the above infographic for the next three examples:
- Mr Nelson Mandela was 1One person—he mattered, his life-story still matters—he chose to matter, to change things for the better. The universe did not give him better cards, he played what he got.
- Ms Jane Goodall is 1One person—she still matters, at age 90—she too has chosen to matter, to change things for the better (for humans and other living things).
- The four youthful Hongkongers on the left have also chosen to matter in their world, and at the proper time they will surely matter in thé world too.
I would like us to take the following ideas out of this Note:
- If you are a youth, a scholar, even if from a community with meagre resources and few obvious opportunities, just know you matter.
Furthermore, to matter to the people around you (your world), you must also still choose to pay your rent on planet Earth. Study with all your might. Choose your friends wisely. Do what is right. Be cheerful and light. Find solutions. Imagine great things for yourself—work towards them. Ignore the naysayers, prove them wrong.
- If you are a parent, create the environment and culture of meaningfulness in your home, especially for children.
Set an example to them of how you matter, and behave in a way that matters. It is unproductive to say one thing and do another. Also, tell them daily that they matter, that they can do great things, and that they must choose to do so. You brought them into the world, it is your business to give them the best platform to be their best.
- If you are a manager, in a school, a team, a business, in government, wherever—set the example of mattering to those you manage.
Then, treat every person you manage in a way that shows they matter—this takes you from managing to also leading. Demand of them that they must pay their rent in their collective, that they must choose to matter there, or they do not.
Each of us matters, yet each of us must also choose to matter, to create reasons to matter.
Influential Leadership is founded on the philosophy that we are all connected, that we all matter and that we are each responsible for paying our earthly rent.
You matter—choose how much you matter!
Regards,
Colin @ Karoo
We Activate Leadership!
Leadership Weekly Note: 3424.190824
e: colind@karoo.world
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