Page 69 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

abundant organizations and assess areas of strength and weak-
ness. The remaining chapters of this book will address each
area in more detail. These chapters will give leaders specific
tools and concepts for increasing organizational abundance
in teams, divisions, or companies.
These principles apply at a personal level as well, as shown
in Table 2.3. Questions on this individual assessment tool
can help you and individuals you work with gauge your sense
of personal abundance and meaning at work. You will find
more specific tools and concepts for increasing your personal
sense of abundance at work in the chapters that follow.
Getting high scores on these questions does not mean that
work will suddenly feel easy, people will get along instantly,
customers will flock to buy products, or stock prices will soar
overnight. Meaning does not ensure ease; it offers hope.
Playwright and founding president of the Czech Republic,
Václav Havel, writes, “Hope is not prognostication . . . It is
not the conviction that something will turn out well, but
the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of
how it turns out.” Abundance emerges from the growing
conviction that what we are about “makes sense”—that it
contributes to something larger than ourselves and that it is
grounded in our deepest values. Such conviction does not
forestall all problems, but it helps us confront problems with
courage and integrity. And it is in that confrontation that
meaning—abundance—flourishes.
In economically good times, abundant organizations
matter. In tough times, they matter even more. When orga-
nizations address the key questions and build on the guiding
principles of abundance, capable, committed employees also
have the satisfaction of knowing their work makes a genuine

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