Wanted: Salt and Light

In the world I live in, namely strategy, technology architecture and leadership incubation, I am often asked in what area do we experience the greatest shortage in?

Is it technology xyz?

Is it strategy best-practice abc?

Is it …….?

It is easy to point to some technology, business best practice or other area and say “we need more / less of” but I wonder if in doing so, we are merely pointing at symptoms of a larger underlying challenge.

Is it possible that what we truly need more of is salt and light, specifically more people who stimulate and disrupt our world (the salt) and more people to point us in the right direction (the light)?

Stimulating our world doesn’t imply always being inspirational and motivational.  Sometimes it is a calling to have the courage to tell us that the emperor has no clothing on, to encourage us to stand up for what we believe in and to make a difference as a result.  In essence, it is a calling to tell us what we need to know, not what we want to know.

By the same token, being “the light’ doesn’t imply that such individuals are always showing us the beauty in things.  Sometimes it means casting light on something that needs to be corrected, something that we may have been otherwise oblivious to but which is impacting our world in a negative way.  Keeping challenges hidden or ignoring them is a surefire way of guaranteeing that they will be a larger problem later.

Being a motivational, inspirational all-star can be a lot of fun, especially when the accolades flow with relatively little effort.  For some, it presents a tremendous boost to the ego when the “easy love” flows in.

It is the easier of two paths, requires little courage and is somewhat of a free ride.  Everyone loves those whom they perceive to be the all-enlightened optimist who tell us that there are no problems in the world.  It feels safe and doesn’t remind us of our own responsibility to make a difference in the world.

However, sometimes to be the salt and light means that one embraces difficult matters, things that people are afraid to champion or problems that are very difficult to solve but must be solved. 

Problems that must be solved if we are to reach our fullest potential in our personal, professional and societal lives.  Pretending they will go away if not addressed is the death knell of many uber-optimists.

Few have the courage or intestinal fortitude to call it the way it is, especially when the news is bad or troubling.

However, we should be grateful that such people exist, for their impact is often far larger, with far greater sacrifice to themselves and often with fewer accolades commensurate with the sacrifices they made.  They are the pessimists, so we think, who keep disrupting our bliss by incessantly reminding us that there are things that need to be fixed.  Shame on them. :-)

So …… salt and light …..

We can be relatively tasteless table salt and play it safe or we can be the vibrant taste of kosher salt, helping ourselves and others experience the full taste of Life.

We can be a match light in the darkness, illuminating a relatively small area while overlooking important items or we can be a powerful torch, maximizing the illumination experienced by ourselves and others.

In other words ….

We can choose the easy, seemingly painless road, with minimal impact on the world and be embraced as someone who doesn’t shake things up (thus not taking others out of their comfort zone).

Or ….

We can choose a road filled with challenge and complexity, one that creates an opportunity to make a long-lasting impact with far-reaching potential (taking people out of their comfort zone BUT providing opportunity for them to grow towards their potential).

We can be bland and dull or tangy and brilliant …. we can take the safe, easy way or the impactful one.

The choice is yours.

What kind of salt and light are you?

In service and servanthood.

Harry

 

PS.  It’s no secret what side of the salt spectrum most people find me to exist on.  :-)  My friend Bret D. quoted Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy in describing my insatiable need to be “the salt”:

“I am an impure thinker.  I am hurt, swayed, shaken, elated, disillusioned, shocked, comforted, and I have to transmit my mental experiences lest I die.  And although I may die.  To write a book is no luxury.  It is a means of survival.”

To be the salt often creates an interesting, complex structural tension with the very thing one believes must be changed.  It can be thankless, extremely difficult and exhausting – but it must be done anyway. :-)

Be the Salt

In Matthew 5:13, Matthew writes:

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” (ESV)

There are many people around us who are “the salt”; those people who bring collaboration, sharing, creativity and a new dimension of “getting things done” to everything they do and they do so with a passion that frightens others.

There are many egos who feel threatened by “the salt” and will do whatever it takes to thwart the efforts of “the salt”.

When the owners of ego see “the salt” arrive, they get nervous.  After all, their ego needs recognition and control above all else and arrival of “the salt” challenges this need.

Ego is a competitive beast that is in one of two modes at all times – either being on the offensive to seize more control and recognition or seeking ways to defend itself against the perceived efforts of other egos that want to wrest control and recognition away from it.

And so, when “the salt” arrives, the egos rally against this new perceived threat, assuming that every person is motivated by ego.  Since ego always believes that others need to attack it, “the salt” represents another enemy to subdue.

With that, the ego will do anything to prevent “the salt’ from making a difference in the world that the person with ego is in.

This manifests in many ways, including but not limited to:

1. Preventing “the salt” from participating.

2. Keeping “the salt” out of the loop.

3. Actively discrediting “the salt” or playing down the strengths of “the salt”.

4. Making errors and blaming it on “the salt” (for something “the salt” did, didn’t do or whatever else is convenient).

5. Trumping up its own ego-centric plans, intentions, and such with the belief that no one else can dream up something as grand (or be as far along the path), thus demonstrating that “the salt” is not necessary.

6. Intentionally avoiding opportunities to share and collaborate with “the salt”.

7. Tactics that include bullying, intimidation and spreading misinformation.

There is a great irony in all of this.

“The salt” is not focused on competition at all.  It sees what it does as its responsibility on the earth – to make a difference and not to win recognition for its effort.  It is passionately compassionate towards those who need help or those who seek to help others.

“The salt” seeks to do whatever it takes to maximize the intended outcome, which includes ego-less actions such as sharing, collaborating and the pooling and promotion of the talents, skills, knowledge and life experience of others. 

It seeks to live by values such as Stephen Covey’s 4 L’s – to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy.

Ego doesn’t understand this, because ego can only attack and take.

Being “The Salt” is Difficult

Being “the salt” is not easy.

It is often a thankless job.

It is often a lonely job.

It is not something one chooses to be.  One is either “the salt” or not.

Salt is necessary - without salt, we die.

Without those who are “the salt” in our culture; political, professional, economic, religious, educational, ecological, societal, etc., our culture dies.

Ego fights for recognition and survival from the ego’s standpoint while “the salt” fights to do the right thing for others.  The fight is a fruitless waste of time but the ego knows no other way.

Ego takes delight in being able to chase off “the salt” when these skirmishes occur.  It puffs up and relishes its victory, triumphant in chasing off that which challenged its superiority.

However, “the salt” always wins over ego.  Ego just doesn’t realize that it is fighting a losing battle.

Sometimes “the salt” will give up the fight and ego thinks it has won.  It hasn’t.  “The salt” realized that it was wasting its time and energy and has moved on to where its time, talent and treasure can play a larger, more impactful role with the gifts that it has.

Ego delights in its “victory”, not realizing that it hasn’t won anything for anyone.  No one benefits when ego carries the day.

The prize that ego fights for is small, private, meaningless and selfish.  The prize that “the salt” fights for is large, impactful and loving.

Are you ego-focused or are you “the salt”?

How do you know?

What would others say?

Be “the salt”.  Associate with others who are “the salt”.  The world needs it.

Without it, we all die.

In service and servanthood.

Harry

Addendum: In a conversation I was having with a Facebook friend tonight (thanks, Jeannette), it occurred to me that salt is a fascinating and interesting dichotomy.  It is both a source of nourishment and a source of irritation, depending on the circumstance.  I found this to be very interesting as “the salt” is necessary in society but is often a source of irritation to the egos of others.

For my Musings-in-a-Minute blog “Be the Salt”, please click here.