It’s not X, but how you Y

It’s not where you’re going, but how you get there

It’s not what technology you’re inventing, but how you use it to improve people’s lives

It’s not what you’re building, but how you treat your team and customers

It’s not how much money you make, but how rich your life is

It’s not how well you automate filtering, but how you care about each of your readers and content providers

It’s not what you understand, but how you communicate that knowledge

It’s not what you say, but how you listen

A response inspired by Louis Gray and Mark Nielsen.

Be Sociable, Share!

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , ,
  • http://www.damondnollan.com Damond Nollan

    Mark, I like this. Good job!

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Thanks Damond, it's a product of a tight timeline today. Also a good reminder for myself

  • http://steamcatapult.com/ Dave Pinsen

    I would like to see you try your hand at a Haiku next. The ultimate in pith.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Poetry takes too much out of me.

  • http://www.iamronen.com iamronen

    Always inspiring to see self-inflicted-healing come after self-inflicted pain :)

    May this new week carry you into space and inspiration :)

  • lidmith

    What's not? The importance?

    In answer to each:

    I'm going to your wedding. I'm taking Spirit Airlines, and then the LIRR. To me, the important part is where I'm going.

    I can't answer on my invented tech, but how tech is used is closely related to what it is.

    Treating your team and customers is a big part, to be sure, but is you're building a pile of pine-cones, I doubt your treatment will carry you through it.

    money.. helps make your life rich. You can do some fantastic things with money that you couldn't without it. — poor man Lid

    automated filtering.. shows care for customers.. :)

    As for what you understand, sure, if you're a teacher, but if you want to use that knowledge, rather than pass it on, then the understanding itself seems more important.

    “It’s not what you say, but how you listen” What if you're a guest speaker in a lecture hall?

    Hehe, sorry to be mean about your post. I understand that it wasn't intended as an argument, but just some nice words. I guess I'm trolling a bit :)

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Hey if we agreed on our opinions all the time what fun would discussions be, troll on Eli :)
    The one liners represent style ideals I'd like to live by. Your life perspective has yielded a powerful counter view.

    Guest speakers that listen well are generally better speakers. Focusing on speaking alone wouldn't get them very far.

    Automated filtering detached from care about input sources and the attention of readers has little value.

    A pile of pine cones could be a profound statement if all the world leaders met to do so. But it's not about the pine cones. The focus is about working together in a healthy way. The wisdom of specific activities is up to each group.

    I agree that there needs to be a lower level of resource based wealth before the quality of our lives can be improved. But after a certain comfortable survival level financial wealth drops in importance compared to satisfaction and happiness. We quickly adjust to new wealth levels as the norm.

    How you get there refers to all the nuances of the journey. For your example, working as a census collector for a couple of weeks in order to fly out, is part of how you get here. It's important. On that note where & when are you flying in? Email me, don't take LIRR, I'll pick you up.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Thanks Ronen, this post centered my thinking pretty well.

  • Leland

    Your comment made me a bit dizzy lidmith. Can you make your ideas a bit clearer?

  • lidmith

    Not really, I was just being contrary. Consider each paragraph a non-serious response to each sentence in the original post, respectively.

  • http://www.woodylabs.com Woody

    Great post its certainly all about the journey

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Thanks Woody. It's embarassing to admit how often I lose sight of what
    matters. This post is a helpful reminder to me of the big picture.