How can I know if I am successful?
This is a question that every human wants an answer for. I have a simple answer – put up a tent!
If you have never camped in the wilderness, you may not realize how important your tent is. It serves as
a shelter, dressing room, bedroom, closet, and sometimes a dining room. Your first task when
wilderness camping is to erect a stable tent so that it serves you during the whole stay. You could simply
throw a blanket over a rope, put up a simple pop-up tent, or erect an elaborate $750 one from REI.
Getting the tent set up and stocked is an inevitable accomplishment but how you did it and what you
accomplished are the conditions that inform if your effort is a success or not. Even elaborate tents
collapse in a storm!
My point of how this relates to us Rotarians is this: it is inevitable that we will be “in service to others”;
it’s in our DNA. However, it is HOW we go about producing beneficial results that will define if we are
successful as a club.
A good leader always imagines the end-result and then works backwards to define the HOW. And the
guiding light of HOW are our uplifting values and this club’s culture.
