I like Scrabble because its an excellent model for a fulfilling life.
The board has both clear boundaries and directions but remains open to whatever you can create with the resources you have.
Those resources are randomized and limited and your ability to make something valuable out of them depends on two critically important variables:
First, your own creative and experiential know-how. You have to use your head.
Second, how you apply that know-how in a connected and generative way. You have to use your heart.
In Scrabble as in life, the greatest satisfaction comes from combining resources to create something otherwise unattainable.
Yes, it’s competitive. And, healthy, positive competition among trusted colleagues challenges us to rise to our potential, to test our limits and to grow. In other words, it can give us safe and meaningful ways to bring head and heart together in service of something larger than ourselves.
That is and always will be a winning combination.
DAVID BERRY is the author of “A More Daring Life: Finding Voice at the Crossroads of Change” and the founder of RULE13 Learning. He speaks and writes about the complexity of leading in a changing world.
