Overcoming our immense differences at work
CBS's Sunday Morning program offered a lesson from an elephant and a dog that us humans can learn a lot from at the work life merge. The immense differences between a giant pachyderm and doggy weren't enough to keep them from their daily duty of peacefully hanging out on a sanctuary in Tennessee. Might seem like a light reference to overcoming obstacles to our immense differences at work, but I think the fable is so eloquently told by brilliant storyteller Steve Hartman, that it is a great commentary on life itself, as we endure the rat race.
We've all got baggage. And our baggage wears so many different labels. We bring concerns about family, children, retirement, the future, the middle east, and the economy to work. Those concerns are then seen through our individual lens of culture, gender, relationship, economic status, social status, etc. It is nearly inconceivable to fully comprehend the true personal dilemma that a co-worker might be going through. But we're all uniquely qualified to be empathetic and/or compassionate toward that person, although we are immensely different as people, because we've all been there. Hell in some form.
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