Written Saturday November 14th in Istanbul the morning after the Paris Massacre
We desperately need People Artists. We need people who bring out the best in others. We hear too much about the worst and fail to find, celebrate, and draw out the best. Please join me as a People Artist. Add color to your world to wash away the greyness of disengaged passivity and to obliterate the blackness of hate and terrorism. Be a person who brings out the best in others at work and everywhere else in life rather than a person who destroys, injures, and hurts. Life is too short – draw out the best.
Here is my plea…
Everyone is an artist. Don’t wither. Don’t go negative. Lay claim to the artist you already are. It is time to use your senses. It is time to move beyond yourself and make work matter by ensuring people know that they matter.
Artistry is a gift you give rather than a gift you have. People Artistry is a gift you give to others. It may even go beyond them and touch others you never see or never know. People Artistry is more than a pebble in a pond creating shallow ripples it is a positive explosion of recognition, gratitude, appreciation and engagement. It is connection that destroys mediocrity, passivity, and disengagement. And here’s the ironic thing, when you give the gift you receive the gift of moving beyond yourself and drawing out the best.
Accept the invitation. You don’t have to do this but why would you decline? Why would you ignore what brings out the best. This is your daily hero’s journey. Your dragons are ignorance, busyness, and fear. Your light sabre is to see beyond yourself and to connect like there is no tomorrow. Be like all the people who race to get on every flight at the airport, they can’t seem to wait to store their excess baggage and to claim their seat. Get rid of your excess baggage of fear and disconnection and race into a flight of People Artistry.
You owe a debt. Your debt is to the people who brought out the best in you. Perhaps your grandpa, your mother, your teacher, your brother, your friend, your co-worker, your boss. Don’t fail to pass the torch of drawing out the best from those who drew out the best in you.
You already have the tools. Your tools are not in a box or cabinet. They are you. You have a heart to care. You have ears to listen. You have eyes to see. You have lips to express. You have hands to give.
The time is now. Go ahead. Dwell deeply in the art of being human. Share your work. Enliven the blank canvas at work. Banish invisibility of others. Open your heart. Listen deeply. See beyond. Express fully. Reach far.
People Artistry is in your hands
start now,
embark on the journey,
don’t settle for anything less.
J’aime Paris
. . .
David Zinger is an employee engagement expert and speaker from Canada who is in Istanbul to speak on employee engagement. He is also a practicing People Artist engaged in drawing out the best in others. People Artists: How to Draw Out the Best in Others launches in Montreal and Winnipeg at the end of November.
