The Starfish Story
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)
When I came across the starfish story, I immediately thought it is a beautiful analogy for leadership. Leadership is all about making a difference in other people’s life. The question is whether it is a positive or a negative one that you make.
John Maxwell, the American leadership guru, states that “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” I couldn’t agree more on that. Leaders are supposed to focus on others and to serve them. However, there are a lot of indicators that often, this is not happening.
Leadership is in a crisis. Take for example the Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey conducted regularly by Edelman, a public relations firm. While 41% of the survey respondents trust their government, only 13% trust the individual government leaders. 50% of the survey participants have faith in companies, but only 18% trust company leaders (2013 global survey results). In both cases, a huge trust gap exists between the individual and the organization as such.
In surveys across the globe about the most admired professions, medical doctors typically come first. But look who is ranked at the end of the list. Last are politicians; business leaders come in only second but last.
Gallup, the opinion poll and human resources consulting company, who is regularly monitoring the satisfaction of employees across the globe, states that in 2013 only 13% of employees worldwide were engaged (U.S. 29%).
Combine these findings with the expectations of millennials who are looking for a different leadership style and the needs of the baby boomers who are nearing retirement wanting to make sure that they have made a difference, you have a clear case for a necessary change in leadership.
Life, business, work, and leadership are all about people. People matter. They are the key success factor.
Summarizing it can be said when it comes to success in your career and your life, it is all about people. So always remember the starfish story and ask yourself: “What difference will you make in someone’s life today?
