A song to sing out loud

In any human context, social one or business one, the greatest challenge is defeating this sick idea “scarcity” rules the world.

Whem you see things through the scarcity glasses, your behaviours will be directed to look out for you own interests.

Politicians who steal
executives who abus of their power to “take” more than they deserve
Normal people ho take advantage of their colleagues, customers, neighbour, and think they’re smarter and more clever

This is the direct result of the idea of scarcity. For example, I can hardly make people understand that “The more you give, the more you take” is the result of a series of experiments which showed how kindness, selflessness and abundance are the key to individual and social wealth.

When I tell this story in my classes, I’m discouraged by the ones who say this cannot be real:

A man who sells donuts at the corner of a street in New York, lets the customers take their change from a jar, while he keeps serving other customers in line. He speeds up the service this way, with an adavantage for everyone. On balance, he earns the amount he loses because of some dishonest customers, multiplied by 10.

• He sells more donuts
• The service is faster
• His customers have more time to enjoy their break

These is the trust balance. For this man from New York there’s a positive outcome. What about everyone else? Could this work everywhere?

I am an eternal optimist (someone could say “dumb”), and I keep trusting and giving opportunities to anyone. On balance, I had a positive outcome in 2018 until now. So, I’m sure this can work.

But it’s really hard to break distrust wall. I ask myself how much wealthier everyone could be if:

• We would do more than other people expect from us
• We would give more than we take
• We woul give as much value as possible for free

In the meantime, I try to teach this with our membership and with the new generations, and I sing out loud with my 3-year-old son this wonderful song from the film “Joseph, King of Dreams”.

Maybe he will follow the advice one day.

A single voice is joined by multitudes in song,
With every verse they’re finding harmonies
That rise to Heaven sure and strong.
Richer and richer the soil on which they thrive,
and higher a hymn of what it means to be alive
You’ve got to give a little more than you take,
You’ve got to leave a little more than was here,
You maybe prideful of the strides you will make,
But keep one thing clear,
You’re just a player in a much bigger plan,
And still you have to give it all that you can,
The very measure of your soul is at stake,
You’ve got to give a little more than you take,
The seasons fly, a man stands where a boy once stood,
His path unfolds and unafraid he walks
in service of a greater good,
Deeper and deeper the lessons he has known,
Over and over the message he is surely being shown
You’ve got to give a little more than you take,
You’ve got to leave a little more than was here,
You maybe prideful of the strides you will make,
But keep one thing clear,
You’re just a player in a much bigger plan,
And still you have to give it all that you can,
The very measure of your soul is at stake,
You’ve got to give a little more than you take.