Jan 20

Inaugural Vision in Speech and Poetry

It is a special day. A short while ago President Obama took office. I found his inaugural address inspirational–lofty, even, without taking flights of fancy. Resolute and not rigid. I’ve posted the link to it here so you can read the speech. Hear it spoken in your mind, slowly, and with purpose. I spent the past hour poring over its ideas and phrases, its invitations and invocations in a meditation to find not only what he wanted it to mean to you, me, us, but a meaning that taps on your, my, our collective shoulder, pulls you, me, us in close, and asks for your, my, and our contribution.

The second link is to the inauguration poem. This often gets far less attention and yet was equally grounded and soaring. I found it soared not in primary colors. More a soaring in the bright, blended, and translucent colors of a rainbow. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Everyday performance demands (yep, I mean that, too) people feel and think they are connected to a big vision. Small actions only roll up into big achievements when they are plugged into something bigger. Plug an appliance into a socket that does not supply enough of the right kind of energy and the appliance does not do what it is capable of doing. So, please, may business managers stop believing and behaving like it is mainly about the numbers, or the small task at hand. When it comes time for each of us to decide if we are going to give more or pull back, go the extra mile or a few more inches, we consciously and subconsciously look for a deeper meaning that inspires us to give ourselves, our skills, our breaths, our life energy to our work. What meaning we can’t find in our work we will seek out elsewhere. This may be good for our other constituents, but it’s bad for our businesses.

One final thought: I hope you will read these when you have some quiet time and space, free from physical, auditory, mental, and visual interruption. To read them is one thing. To let them inhabit your individual and our collective inner space is more what I am hoping for.

Obama Inauguration Speech Text

Obama Inauguration Poem