Lessons for Life in Three Stories

 

Lessons for Life in Three Stories

By Jeffrey M. Bowen 

 As a school administrator, I spent years attending workshops and conferences trying to glean lessons I could apply to my work.  Often I would return uninspired and frustrated because I could not see relevance in what I had learned.  In retrospect, I have discovered the real messages from those workshops came from life stories. Data may deaden the mind, and generalizations may weary us, but the stories still remain vital and memorable.   

 Therefore, I would like to introduce several characters whose experiences were described in workshops that taught me the most.    

 My first character is Jim Hayhurst who, in 1988, attempted to scale Mt. Everest.  His ordeal was harrowing.  Ultimately it failed, and more than one of his mountain climber colleagues died from altitude sickness.  Yet his year-long ordeal ultimately produced a self-revealing book titled “The Right Mountain”.  Every chapter contains a metaphor about success in life.  Factors like preparation, teamwork, shared expertise, slowing down to take one step at a time, and maintaining a balanced perspective come into play as Hayhurst and his companions face life-threatening encounters while they struggle toward the 30,000-foot summit. 

 The book title takes its lesson from the tragic death of an expert climber who joined the expedition and misjudged conditions because he tried to repeat the same strategies he used on another mountain.  Each mountain, each situation, Hayhurst tells us, involves a vital combination of factors.  You must know just who you are, your core values, the skills you can offer, how you like to operate, and your ability to compare what you can offer with the challenges you face.

 A very different cast of characters is described by Dr. Spencer Johnson in the short book titled “Who Moved My Cheese?”  They are imaginary mice, actually four of them.  Two are named Sniff and Scurry, and two others, Hem and Haw, are mice-like, but called “littlepeople” – beings who are as small as mice but who look and act much like people today.  The idea of the book is that these beings experience the challenges of life as they run through a maze looking for cheesy nourishment and happiness.

 Sniff and Scurry are said to possess only rodent brains, so their search for cheese is instinctive.  Hem and Haw, on the other hand, are looking for “a different kind of cheese” associated with happiness and success.   All four discover a huge cache of cheese in one of the corridors.   Soon Hem and Haw arrogantly regard the cheese pile as theirs, not noticing the pile has been dwindling.  Sniff and Scurry quickly and instinctively head off to find another supply, but the two littlepeople sit tight and grow angry and frustrated.

 Righteous indignation sums up their reaction.  After all, the cheese pile had been their material source of security, and the reason they felt like the “the big cheese”.  Ultimately, Hem clings to the same spot based on excuses like being comfortable, getting too old to move, and fear of failure.  Haw reluctantly leaves his friend behind, trusting the unknown and painting a positive picture of success in his mind.  Warnings include the dangers of fear becoming a habit and failing to notice small changes before the big ones happen.  In the end, Hem rejoins Haw.  The lessons of the book for us are that change is inevitable.  One should anticipate and monitor it, and adapt quickly to new circumstances.

 A third story is about Fred the mailman.  Author Mark Sanborn uses “The Fred Factor” to highlight how passion in one’s work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.  Fred is described as “a gold-plated example of what personalized service looks like.” Based on a true story, this mail carrier is a living parable of principles that confirm everyone makes a difference; success is built on relationships; it costs you nothing to create value for others; and reinventing your work will renew your perspective.

 The essential point about Fred is how changing the way you look at your job helps you to transform it, even if nothing in the nature of the work changes.  At the same time, focusing on service yields terrific rewards for everyone who is involved.   The people we remember most are those whose inspiration, commitment, and inclination to view us as friends make all the difference.

 Every day I find new ways to use the key ideas found in the three books I have described here.  I think you might too.  The challenges are these: to assess situations in terms of your personal values and the skills you can bring; to break through habits of fear and the arrogance of comfort; and to view work as way to affirm service and the value of others. All of these are top qualities of administrative leadership.  Better yet, they provide marvelous lessons for life.