Complain, Withdraw, or Be in Action and Make a Difference

It is not difficult to look around our organizations, or our communities, or even the larger society and see things that do not work.

Sometimes we opt for complaining and blaming the ubiquitous “they” who should be doing something to correct the situation aren’t. We get to be righteous and the “they” get to be irresponsible and wrong and the butt of our frustration and even anger.

Sometimes, maybe out of our frustration or hopelessness, we give up in resignation and withdraw – best to just shut our eyes and get on with our lives as best we can and just put up with it.

And other times we take the initiative, marshal all our reserves and collaborators and get into action and make things happen.

There is hardly a major city in the world that does not have some version of infrastructure problems, traffic congestion, and road rage as frustrated road users struggle to get to where they are going in intolerably congested conditions.

I discovered during my stay in India that CyberCity, Gurgaon is no exception. But just look at what a few committed individuals are doing to make a difference.

And there is hardly an organization, division, function or team, in the world that does not have some parallel frustrating condition that wastes time, energy and resources and disempowers the people involved – until, that is, someone or some small group of people, like the members of the CyberCity Welfare Society, step up and declare, enough!

What and where is your traffic congestion – your CyberCity?

Then, ask yourself, who do you need to enroll and engage to get your traffic moving, and are you going to opt for complaining and blaming, or action and desired outcomes?

In the process keep in mind Margaret Mead’s much quoted observation – "Never doubt the power of a small group of committed people to change the world, in fact, nothing else ever has".

Go for it!