i-TFTD #285: Short Poetic Inspiration

#285-1. I am myself
when I'm alone
but I need you
with me
to be the myself
that I like better.
-'Company' by Ramya Sriram, Indian poet (1988-)

#285-2. Come to the edge, he said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came. He pushed them,
And they flew..."
-Christopher Logue, English poet (1926-) but often wrongly attributed to Guillaume Apollinaire, pseudonym of Italian-born French poet Wilhelm Albert Vladimir Apollinaris Kostrowitzky (1880-1918)

(Thanks to Charushila Dhote for sharing this.)

#285-3. Along this tree
From root to crown
Ideas flow up
And vetoes down.
-A senior executive, quoted by Peter Drucker

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This tiny poem resonated with me instantly because I have struggled to express the thought, in different contexts, that we as living beings, have to aspire to change in the quest to be better. Yes, self-acceptance is a useful and sometimes necessary act, but it is a temporary tool, not a licence for complacency, stubbornness and a general mental laziness.

From big, bold steps taken by creative visionaries to entrepreneurial chutzpah to small daily acts we may dare to do (like speaking in front of an audience for the first time or confronting someone at work), we all know the need to take that step but hesitate based on imagined consequences.

In the organizational context, courage is needed not only to express new ideas but to listen to opposing views and evaluate them dispassionately.