Visions of "more" danced in their heads.

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the office

Every person was counting their profits and losses.

The finances were posted on the intranet with care,

In hopes that bonuses soon would be there.

The bosses were nestled all snug in their high-priced threads,

While visions of more danced in their heads.

In the spirit of the holidays and year-end it reminded me of how much we focus on, or obsess over, more.  We expect our corporate vision statements to express how we want to achieve more, we write New Year’s resolutions that describe how we will do more, and as we balance our checking accounts we long for just 10% more so that we can really be happy.

It's interesting that while our culture tends to be fixated on how we can get more, more is not always everything we assume it's cracked up to be.

In Jim Collins' book, How the Mighty Fall, he determined (through extensive research) that stage 2 of how the mighty fall is the undisciplined pursuit of more.  More scale, more growth, more acclaim, more of whatever those in power see as "success." Collins says, "Discontinuous leaps into areas in which you have no burning passion is undisciplined.  Taking action inconsistent with your core values is undisciplined.  Investing heavily in new arenas where you cannot attain distinctive capability, better than your competitors, is undisciplined.  Addiction to scale is undisciplined.  To compromise your values or lose sight of your core purpose in pursuit of growth and expansion is undisciplined."

I recently did a little of my own research.  I knew there was a personal income threshold of diminishing returns regarding happiness.  In other words, at some point, making more money no longer provides a level of happiness equal to the additional income.  That number…$75,000 per household.  That's right, household income, not individual income.  How many people do you know whose households make more than $75,000 have a New Year's resolution to find a way to reduce their income so they can be at peak happiness?  It seems like we have a greater desire for more than we do for the outcome or result of having more.

In the last presidential election when I heard that very political question, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" for the first time I asked myself, "Do I need to be?"  I took this question to mean do I have more?  More income, more net worth, more benefits, more opportunities, etc.  What if I don't have more, what does that really mean or even matter?  I realize that for many who live below poverty or who are working poor that more really does matter.  But I'm guessing most of my readers fall into a category very similar to me; I really don't need more.

It is not my intent to end the year on a low note, in fact, it's the contrary.  As we make plans for a new year, for both ourselves and our organizations, what if we were to think beyond more?  What would our visions and goals for 2014 look like if they didn't start from the vantage point of more?

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the office

Every person was envisioning their hopes and their promise.