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Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
The joy of service is the single most consistent beauty of life.
An attitude that leaders serve customers first is especially vital to sustaining success. Employees are only empowered by serving customers. They’re not motivated by getting the stock price up, cutting the budget, or increasing the earnings. They don’t see tangible rewards from succeeding by those metrics, even if you make them shareholders. They get turned on about customers. In a Starbucks store, the barista gets excited about creating an environment that’s fun for the customer. I was at Starbucks earlier this morning and saw a barista greet a customer by saying, “Oh, Rick, nice to see you. Do you want the Rick special?” Rick comes there every morning because he has a relationship with that Starbucks employee.
Life all through has become a consistent karma yoga session. There is no-one who requires thanks for the service and there is no-one who is getting the benefit of going against the usual selfish, self-serving, immature, self-gratifying, agenda ridden movement of the Self or mindbody package. It is just service because there is no other. It could be seen as the most selfish act of all, because it is known that there is only this One. But in actuality there is no self or sense of the person, therefore only others are considered.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
"May I share with you a formula that in my judgment will help you and help me to journey well through mortality... First, fill your mind with truth; second, fill your life with service; and third, fill your heart with love."
Intent and service--that is my motto.
How do we serve society? We serve society by good jobs. We serve society by creating wealth for people. We also mostly serve society by creating great services and products for customers.
No man stands as tall as when he stoops to help a crippled child.
“No man has ever risen to the real stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve himself.”
We should take care not to make intellect our god. It has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve.
"Regarding God/Spirit/Source, whatever one calles it, I feel I have all the answers. I just don't apply them as I should and that's where I work. I try to remain uninvolved in others' sacred space, but "live it through service, compassion and Love."
~Michele Kim
aka Sacred Activist
Some people would argue the other side: that the business of business is business, and companies should only be focused on profits. But in today's world, I don't think corporations can only be focused on profits, because they are inextricably linked with the communities that they serve. I do not believe you can be a leader in your industry without being a leader in your community. It's a fundamental shift in how you think about business.
Once you know what you want and what is important for you to achieve, also define the values associated with it. What is important? That is something a lot of entrepreneurs pass by too quickly. For us, the things that were important were, No. 1, customer success. Nothing is more important to us than making sure every customer is successful in our service.
Our goal while on this earth is to transcend our illusions and discover the innate power of our spirit. We are responsible for what we create, and we must therefore learn to act and think with love and wisdom and live in service to others and all life.
Be.
Virtuous.
Full of character.
Present at all times.
Visible, to those who know.
Whole, Living in Spirit, Loving, and In Service.
Friendships based only in expansion and deepening of Spirit.
For Love that has any other purpose ends, absent of anything real.
~Danielle Marie Crume
I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a finger print. And that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.
There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children... one is roots, the other wings.
We've collected the most common service complaints.... and every one of them is rooted in a lack of respect for the customer.
I am committed to doing customer service for Craigslist for the rest of my life. The exit strategy is death.
We think of Craigslist as a form of Social Media.
We provide a simple service that is mostly free and we leave money in the community, instead of taking it away. Shared values, nothing fancy, treating people like we want to be treated.
What works on the net works for people in general. The net has very little to do with technology, what matters is how people use the technology.
The first question when you are doing anything in life is, “What’s the point?” That is a very spiritual question. What are you doing with your one and precious life? You’ve been given a gift of consciousness and wisdom and now you have this resource for a fairly limited time. What are you going to do with it?
In business you start from the same place. We ask, “What are you doing? What is the point of what you are doing? What are you trying to accomplish? Why is that important to you?” At the same time, to accomplish something in business, unless you want to be a criminal, you have to also value what would further the purpose of other people’s lives. That’s how you are going to get them to buy your product or service: by giving them something that they find valuable. The source of value is that it is congruent with their life’s purpose.
Becoming aware of what is meaningful to you and what is meaningful to those around you is the beginning of every successful enterprise. The moment you lose touch with that you are going to go down in flames. Maybe the words are too spiritual, but this is like basic Business 101. What’s your value proposition? Why would anybody want to buy your product or service?
There are those who see the free market as an enemy. But the market is an invaluable instrument for human development. Every act of commerce is an act of mutual service. Even though it can be motivated by personal interest, the market system channels that selfish energy towards assisting others.
If you're going to tally up things in life, tally up what others do for you, rather than what you do for others.
"Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of duty. They were not thinking of getting killed when they went where death lurked. They went there to put the fire out, and got killed. Firefighters do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires."
"I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. Our proudest moment is to save lives. Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even of supreme sacrifice."
Any leaders who disappoint the people, ideals and promises by which they were appointed are by definition themselves dis-appointed.
Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious instrument in the attainment of the historic, universal aims of humanity.
