Page 44 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE CASE FOR MEANING

what goes on inside the company to what customers will pay
for and what investors trust.
But in this book, we also argue that organizational capa-
bilities more readily lead to lasting value when leaders
promote meaning making as well as moneymaking. As lead-
ers weave affirming stories, find heroes and causes, embody
ethical and trusted values, clarify principles that lend order
and rationality to decisions and routines, and make visible
the ways employees’ efforts help the company contribute to
a greater good, they create organizations that overflow with
a sense of meaning and abundance. In the words of former
U.S. president Woodrow Wilson, “You are not here merely
to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world
to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of
hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world,
and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” 32
Pockets of abundance can flourish in virtually any orga-
nization. The entire organization does not have to wait for a
charismatic executive to push the abundance agenda. While
we look to leaders to create organizational abundance, all
employees also own the opportunity and responsibility to
create an abundant work space for themselves and their
team. Leadership is not confined to the executive suite.
As organizations become repositories of abundance,
employees gain antidotes to some of the malaise, isolation,
and crises of meaning discussed here. They also increase the
organization’s capability for doing what it does best. Apple
researchers who experience abundance turn their personal
creativity into Apple’s product innovation. Disney “hosts”
who experience abundance find a greater good in delighting
theme park guests. Marriott hoteliers who experience abun-
dance serve customers from resilient inner conviction more

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