Which Building Will You Choose?

I heard a story a long time ago, I knew it was significant, but the older I get, the more significance I see in it. I think it goes well with everything I have said lately about what I want to see in leaders and what I don’t see in a lot of leaders today.  We all want to quickly move to the top and collect our money and recognition. It’s tough during the process when we realize how long and tough that road can be. The way I remember the story was like this…

There once was a man who wanted to build the biggest, tallest building in all the city. He was from a large city, with many tall buildings. Finally, he had the opportunity to meet with the best architect in the world (probably Ted Mosby). The architect sat him down and explained his thoughts for this project. He said to the man, “Sir, in all of my years of experience, I only know two ways to build the tallest building in the city”. The man was on the edge of his seat, finally his time had come. He continued, “The only two ways I know how to build the biggest building in the city is this, the first way is to spend lots of time and money building a solid foundation and working hard”. “The second way is to tear down all of the existing buildings in the city”.

I think this story applies to so many situations. If we want to just look at it from a work perspective, I will say a few things. First, if you want to move up, you will have to work hard and build a solid foundation. Second, you will have lots of opportunities to take shortcuts. In the beginning you think you won’t be tempted by them, in the moment they will be very tempting. Third, along the way you will have a choice, you can build people up as you go, or you step over them to get to the top. Part of the reason that it takes so long to get to where you are going is that the farther you go on your path, the more people you meet. Some of these people are brilliant and you can see that one day they will be your main competition. When you see them, you can ignore them, help them or push them out of the way. You will see people who are stuck and need help getting out. You aren’t obligated to help them, and if you decide to help them, it’s only going to delay your journey. You will also see people who have fallen. They are bruised and battered and don’t want to get up. If you choose to help them, it’s going to take some time. You will also meet some people who want to go to where you are going, but they have decided to take it slowly. You can get past them quickly or you can stop and chat for a bit before moving on, it’s your call.

This is what I have found out in all my years, the world is full of tons of beautiful buildings. Some of them seem to rise quickly and fall even quicker. They either had a bad foundation with lots of shortcuts or they didn’t create the right team along the way to help maintain it. Other buildings take longer for them to be constructed, but they seem to be there for a lifetime. Those are the buildings that when they were being built, someone took the time to make sure that the foundation was solid. They took time to help people out along the way. When they saw their future competitors, they still helped them. When they could see that someone was struggling, they stopped and helped. When someone had fallen, they took the time to help them up and then took time to rest and listen to them until they knew they were ok to continue. When they could see that some people were moving slower, they took time to meet them and get to know them. All those people that you slowed down to help, those are the people who one day become your foundation. Those are the people who work hard to make sure that the building is around for a lifetime.

Focus for the Week

Take time this week to focus on the foundation. Make sure you get your priorities done but spend time with people. We all have people around us who are struggling in some way, it would be easy to pass by them, don’t! Also, that person who looks like he might be future competition, help him out, instead of being worried that he will be above you, think about how great you could be if he was standing next to you!