Individuals make the difference. Systems and processes don’t innovate, or break out of the box, or strive for excellence. Individuals do. They stay back late when they don’t have to. They work around rules and bureaucracies to excel. They make things happen because they give a damn.
Rules don’t maintain order. Individuals do. The best laws won’t stop an individual intent on acting unethically. Good people don’t need laws to be good. Whistleblowers expose corrupt systems. The most soul-stirring political manifesto changes nothing unless individuals choose to act.
Individuals hold the power to create change. Committees and groups don’t think outside the box. Individuals do. Mobs don’t show compassion. Individuals do. “They” are the other; a concept. An individual is inevitably viscerally real.
When it comes to giving (or not giving) a damn, it comes down to each individual: I care, or I don’t care. All of our actions flow from this simple decision.
Consider the work that you do - do you enable individuals, or systems?
