In researching another post a few weeks ago, I came across an older item on Stanford professor Bob Sutton’s blog that I thought was worth excerpting here … especially seeing as this is graduation season, when millions of young people set forth in the world to make their mark and their fortune.
I am an unabashed fan of entrepreneurial energy; of that relentless desire to somehow explore, change, or improve the world as it is while taking command of your own life in the process. It’s one of the reasons I loved living in Silicon Valley for the seven and a half years that I did. But in this particular post, Sutton cautioned about what he called the “negative underbelly” of this “drive for human achievement.”
I am all for high performing teams, excellence in performance, and I love the restlessness that drives creative people at places like Apple, Pixar, and Facebook. But there is a negative underbelly to this human drive toward achievement. It can become a disease where, no matter how much some people get, they keep wanting more, and the result is not only chronic unhappiness for themselves and those around them, it is also often propels unethical and otherwise inhuman behavior.
The worst examples are seen in the power poisoning and associated delusions among the worst of political leaders, with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his sons’ disgusting antics currently playing starring roles on the international stage. But my focus has been on more mundane crimes against humanity. In particular, if the charges are true, the insider trading and other unlawful actions taken by Galleon Group’s Raj Rajaratnam, whose trial just started, reflect a similar human flaw. Even more shocking to me is the news this week that Rajat Gupta—former board member at Procter & Gamble and at Goldman Sachs, and former Managing Director of McKinsey—was charged with insider trading. Procter & Gamble and McKinsey are two firms I know pretty well, and while there is a strong focus on excellence in both places, I was troubled because—each in their own way—they are among the most ethical and non-greedy cultures I have ever encountered.
The fact that such a central player in both places fell victim to such apparent bad judgment and greed means, to me, that no matter how wonderful you may think you are as a human-being, and no matter how good the people around you might be, we are all at risk of falling prey to own greed, status insecurities, and that feeling that comes with power that “the rules are for the little people.”
As a counterpoint to this critique, Sutton offered the following Kurt Vonnegut poem, which Sutton used, with Vonnegut’s permission, in the opening to one of his books. The poem is about Vonnegut’s friend, Joe Heller, who wrote the famous WWII-era novel Catch-22 (later made into a movie with Alan Arkin in the starring role):
Joe Heller
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!”
–Kurt Vonnegut
The New Yorker, May 16th, 2005
(Reprinted with Kurt Vonnegut’s permission)
Just as it’s useful, in the midst of a challenging flight, to ask yourself, “Am I okay right now?” … I think it’s also important, in the midst of chasing down possibilities and achievements, to stop every now and then and ask yourself, “I may not have all I could have, but do I have ‘enough’?” And to remember what an important benchmark that is.
Read Sutton’s whole post here.
Dear Ms. Wallace,
Thank you for your many years at Flying and for your continued insights into human endeavors. Along with countless others, I seek you with keystrokes instead of flipped pages!
Someone wiser than me said a weakness is often a strength taken too far. As with so many things, I think knowing when to say when is inculcated in childhood…but success breeds success, and the pursuit and achievement of goals often becomes exponentially more rewarding and therefore exponentially more costly. Your, Professor Sutton’s, and Mister Vonnegut’s words remind us to stop regularly and ask a couple questions: “Why am I doing this?” and “Will this achievement truly help my family, society, or the world?” You better be able to look your mom right in the eye when you answer…
Thanks for your time!
At the most basic level when we have food, clothing and a place to live we have enough. Of course we want life to be interesting and engaging so there will be more desired.
In an aviation context this means that finally starting on a Pietenpol is enough. I have the place to build it and fly it from at low cost. The fact that others have done more earlier or faster in aviation does not concern me. The point is that now the activity is happening in my time and place. That is good enough.
Will there be more planes to build, suggesting that one is not enough? Well the answer is that, yes, there will be more though never at the expense of family and friends or matters bigger than one’s self.
What started so many years ago as a childhood dream has become an adult reality. It is a part of the life journey and that is enough.