I read A Message to Garcia
A few days ago, Lulu Cheng Meservey tweeted that "everyone working at a startup should read A Message to Garcia."
I had no idea what A Message to Garcia was, but being a startup employee and trusting Lulu's judgement, I found it and read it.
A Message to Garcia is a short essay published in 1899 by Elbert Hubbard. Read it for yourself. It'll only take five minutes or so.
I'll go further than Lulu. I think everyone who has a job, especially students and young people who will have many jobs in the future, should read A Message to Garcia and apply the lessons.
The most powerful part of this short essay is the very end:
"My heart goes out to...the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks will be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town, and village - in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such; he is needed, and needed badly—the man who can Carry a message to Garcia."
It's easy when you work a large faceless Big Corporation to feel as if your efforts mean nothing and you are expendable. I've been there. And in many cases, you're probably right.
But here's the truth: groups of people–employers, businesses, organizations, teams–who seriously and genuinely intend to accomplish something, who aim to make a real impact on the world, to create something new from their own blood, sweat, tears and deliver something of value to other people—they are desperate for competence.
They are all anxiously looking out for a Rowan they can persuade to join their cause. Every single endeavor relies on Rowans. Big projects and small projects, public and private, any industry. They make things happen and bring success, even though there might be ten other people who are just mailing it in. They are part of the 20% making 80% of the world go round, the ones who have massive leverage to negotiate their situation, and the ones who actually make things happen.
I read A Message to Garcia and came away hopeful. When's the last time you heard someone say, "you know, we just have too many competent, kick-ass people on our team? I just couldn't handle coming across yet another one." There's always a path or a spot for someone who brings Rowan-energy and ability. That's entirely within any one person's control, too.