I changed the world today.
Now, you might be thinking that’s pretty arrogant of me. Maybe, or maybe I know changing the world happens in the small moments many of us overlook or underestimate.
Get the Webster’s
Growing up, we didn’t have autocorrect or google. Instead, we had the Webster’s dictionary, which was about as big as I was.
I remember doing puzzles and asking how to spell words. “Get the Webster’s” was the only answer my brother or I would get if we wanted help (with an occasional detour to our collection of Encyclopedia Britannica volumes).
One night, I called my father arrogant and conceited. He barked “go get the Webster’s.” I dragged that behemoth back to the dinner table and started to look up arrogance. I couldn’t remember if there was one or two r’s, and just hoped I’d get it right. Then I found it.
“Excessive pride in oneself for no apparent reason or cause.”
My father puffed out his chest…”I’m not arrogant. I have every reason. Every cause.” And that, I said, is what makes you conceited.
Do the math
Years went by before he would tell me “I changed the Marine Corps.” Well, all I could do was roll my eyes and think of that arrogance and conceit thing. Until he did the math.
He explained that he made a point of having a profound impact on at least one Marine in every duty station, every role he held. And when they would thank him, all he would ask is that they pass it on. Do the same for someone else when it was their turn.
He knew they did, because many came back and told him. Over a 30 year career, the Marine Corps was not the same for him being a part of it. That’s some pretty amazing math.
Until that point, I had been doing the same. Maybe not with purpose and intention, but I had seen it modeled. I learned at my father’s knee about helping others. I might not have had the same position he held, so my help was often in small ways. Or at least that’s what I thought.
After that conversation, I made a commitment to change the world. One person at a time. To be the pebble that creates a ripple of change reaching well beyond what any one of us could do alone.
Small moments with big impact
I was leaving my current organization and having transition meetings with my outgoing team. During a conversation with one of my leaders, she started talking about meeting her new team.
“I did what you did when you met my team the first time. Do you remember? You busted my chops in a lighthearted way and afterwards the team said how much they liked you already. That you were an approachable leader. I did that today.”
She recounted how she busted chops with one of her new leaders. Allowed her team to see that, while she takes the work seriously, she doesn’t take herself too seriously. To see that she’s approachable and human.
There were tears in my eyes as she was telling me the story. All I could think was “she’s my person.” She’s not the only one, but she’s one pebble. One person that I’ve helped embrace imperfection and vulnerability. Or to take risks. Or find her voice.
With each person, it’s been small moments. To me. Moments that I may not have thought of as profound – the way my father tells it. Instead, they were profound to that person. Costing me nothing other than maybe a little patience or humility, but investing so much more.
I know this to be true on both sides of the table. Often the biggest changes to my life and career have come as the result of someone else’s small moments.
Ironically, my father doesn’t remember our conversation when I was 19 that transformed my life. I can recount it word for word, and it inspired a dogged determination, work ethic, and passion-filled fuel that would drive me for years. He was so focused on profound “big” moments that he could see, not realizing that his small moments could be even more impactful.
Find your moments
We each have the ability, every day, to change the world. The reality is that I changed the world over two years ago in a conference room. The impact of that moment was realized much later.
We plant seeds in every interaction. Each time we allow someone to be seen or heard, model a different way, or give freely of ourselves.
None of us will ever know the true impact of those moments. Not every seed will sprout on our watch. It may be long after we’re gone.
But we can know in the deepest parts of our hearts and minds. For each person that tells us, there may be 10 more that don’t. But the math doesn’t lie.
Whether it’s conscious or unconscious, our impact is carried forward by those we’ve touched.
Each person carries the seeds of our interactions. Sometimes they bloom where they are planted. Other times, like birds, those we influence carry seeds to other places that transform the landscape well beyond our vision.
Consider how you are changing the world around you. What moments big or small have planted seeds in those around you?
If this article inspired you, I’d love if you’d share it with your community. Imagine if we all consciously planted those seeds…how lush and beautiful the world would be.
