Think about it.

"It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit." - Harry S. Truman

I wish more people could live by this motto. What do you think the current state of our nation would be? Think about it and imagine it. Ideally we're all working together toward common goals. It doesn't matter which political party wrote the bill or who got to be in power, everyone could share the credit equally and enjoy doing so. That seems too good to be true and is highly idealized, but it's a wish.

Internationally this would be a dream. War - meh. Climate change - combated. Nuclear weapons - racing to do what? I guess that's why I always struggled through those more intense war based discussion in some of my International Studies classes. Can't was all get along? It seemed so easy and the natural solution to so many problems. Sadly the complexity of the world and people's egos don't allow that to happen.

I don't have much of an opinion on Harry Truman or what type of president he was and the quote isn't really tied to the man at all. I think I stumbled upon it one day when I was looking up leadership quotes and in every leadership position I've held, I have tried to live by it. Junior year I repeated it to my RHA Exec Board over and over again and we won a national award because of it. It was never about individual glory or ho specifically did what, but looking at the bigger picture what we could accomplish together as a group working towards a common goal. To be honest it was beyond amazing.

Now, faced with overwhelming issues of poverty on a daily basis, I find myself thinking of this quote a lot. So many actions have been taken that have put my clients in these situations just to make a point. Their unemployment running out? Part of a larger policy decision because someone wanted to screw someone else over and get noticed for that. Imagine where we would be if they had worked together. If it was no longer about who got what, but instead what the collective achieved. Lately on a national scale it hasn't been that impressive. But scaling it down to the 40+ college students I have the honor to work with daily it's amazing. I work in a place where we are all working together towards the greater collective good. It is never about what one individual does and none of those students seek out credit, no matter how much they deserve it. I find it so inspiring and we're accomplishing a surprising amount in this epic fight against poverty. Something I learn more and more everyday that is less about one individual.

I don't know if I said much of anything just now. But think about it. Step back from your life and imagine how truly amazing it would be if everyone could honestly say "it doesn't matter who gets the credit."