A signpost stands in the fork in the road
Pointing in one direction, the sign says “Victory.”
Pointing in another direction, the sign says “Fulfillment.”
We must pick a direction.
Which one will we choose?
If we choose the path for Victory,
The goal is to win!
We will experience the thrill of competition
As we rush towards the finish line.
Crowds gather to cheer for us!
And then it’s over.
And everyone goes home.
(Hopefully we can do it again).
If we choose the path to Fulfillment,
The journey will be long.
There will be times in which we must watch our step.
There will be times we can stop to enjoy the view.
We keep going.
We keep going.
Crowds gather to join us on the journey.
And when our lives are over,
Those who joined us on the path to fulfillment
Will keep going without us and
Inspire other to join them too.
– Simon Sinek, “The Infinite Game”
The passage above from Simon Sinek’s book “The Infinite Game” is something I read at the beginning of this year – and it has an even deeper meaning now. This line felt better to lead off vs. close. Let me know what you think.
It’s been roughly three months since the world was turned upside down. The pandemic, the subsequent economic fallout, and the stark reminder of the racially driven inequities in our community and across the United States have shaken us, exhausted us, caused us to wrestle with competing ideas as individuals and communities, and challenged our long-held beliefs.
All of this angst has caused us to pause, come together, reflect, innovate, and take action on things we’ve taken for granted or worse, tolerated for far too long. As economic development organizations, we must understand the history of our communities and constantly push toward a better future. We must pursue victory and compete to win the short-term battles to fuel our fire and move us forward. In parallel to competing each day, we must force ourselves to take a long view on a path to complete fulfillment. In the case of the Columbus Region, to pursue prosperity for all of our citizens and communities.
We must use our strengths to overcome our weaknesses, bring people together to create opportunity in order to celebrate risk taking job creators and to reduce that risk reduce the risk they take with smart policies and the development of public-private partnerships. We must act as a community and put our individual interests aside, which requires the hard work of building trust through both words and actions.
I look forward to hearing from you, listening to your ideas, and taking action alongside you in the days, months and years ahead.
-Kenny McDonald