To Each His (Or Her) Own

Honoring Time

Oct 9

Every good actor knows they need leadership.

– Ron Howard

Happy Monday!

Recently I had a man come to my door at home trying to sell me insecticide spray for our large property. When I told him he was clearly knocking on the wrong door as I am a passionate organic gardener, he pulled all his sales pitches out of his pocket that he could muster up.

Realizing the more he spoke the more I came back with facts I know to be true as to why it was not only not a good idea, in fact a horrible idea, sharing over 40 years of gardening experience. That’s when he finally said, in disdain before turning to leave the words to me, “To each his own."

Those words have vibrated through my head since the encounter. We are all for sure different in so many ways but what happens when we have to share the same planet? When what we do effects another person or even millions of people for that matter.

While this planet has many problems to be sure, without a doubt one of the biggest areas where the earth is paying the price today for current and future generations are the things that are done for corporate profit. And how so many of the top 2% revenue makers in this country are making profits seemingly without a care of how it is effecting others in the short and long term.

Take the man who came to my door. Without mentioning the company name I can tell you that I did some research on who was the company that was profiting from this mans efforts. Turns out it is a multi-level marketing company run by a billionaire out of Utah. And this was just one of many pesticide companies he has started up because they are extremely profitable.

The man coming to my door was told by the company leadership that not only could he make a lot of money selling “safe” pesticides. They seemed to have disregarded informing him that not only are these "safe" sprays harmful to humans but all the millions of creatures that make this planet sustainable.

Did you know that an estimated 7 million birds a year die from eating bugs that were sprayed by “safe” pesticides. Because the crazy part is, if we would let nature take its course those same birds could naturally eat so many of the bugs the pesticides are working to get rid of.

While we all have our opinions to be sure I also think it’s important for each of us to do our homework and not just assume what someone is telling, especially selling, to us is the truth.

Over the weekend I listened to an interview with Filmmaker, Director, and previous actor, Ron Howard (he played Opie in The Andy Griffith Show and Richie on Happy Days). And his take on truth in leadership was inspiring in his role as a director working with famous actors. Today's quote was especially inspirational for me as I am facilitating a Leadership workshop tomorrow.

And it was a great reminder that Leadership is a skill set that needs to open our mind and heart to the possibilities of our contributions to people, creatures, plants, and other elements that make this planet work. To me true leadership allows not to have us focus on “to each his own” but in fact to own the truth even if we don’t like what we find. A very gray line in today’s world to be sure.

Doing our homework and seeing from other perspectives can help us with discovering more of the actual truth and its long range consequences. Food for thought.

This week’s video is a tour of my garden from last week. While a frost was threatening while I recorded the video, I am happy to report this morning that the garden lives on! But I know that the reality is that this coming Saturday morning will most likely change that tune and I am getting prepared.

As you head into your week ahead. Listen carefully, thoughtfully, as you honor those who you lead with the truth and a compassion from where each person that you encounter is coming from.

And I will leave you with this quote from Rumi, "If everything around you seems dark, look again. You may be the light." That my friend is leadership at it’s finest.