Luke Kallberg
When I was studying for a business degree, I took a course titled “Organizational Behavior,” in which the class learned that there are major differences between the ways cultures approach problems. People from some cultures tend to look for the solution by changing or improving something in themselves, while others tend to look for the solution by changing or improving something around them. The American culture falls into the latter group. Our mindset tends more toward conforming the outside world to what we want.
One place I’ve noticed this mindset is in the development of Internet searches. Google in particular has advertised the model of the perfect search engine: when you only get one result–the exact thing you were looking for. This goal helps us to efficiently get what we want, but we also need to remember the value of encountering a world that adds to and changes us. We can change and control many things, but the more we change, the more vital it becomes that we recognize what must remain stable.
We need to avoid becoming like children who get their own way too often. There is great value in encountering a world that is not just what we desired; but that adds to and changes our desires. As we continue the onward march of discovering how to affect and improve the world around us, we must retain openness to things like character–things that define how the world works. Even as we seek to change the world for the better, we must allow the realities of the world to change us for the better.
- What areas in your life do you hope “good character” will help you in? Are you sure that what you want in those areas is what is right?
- As you read the key concepts for each quality, are there things that surprise you, or new thoughts that appear?
- Look at the In Balance section. One perspective is rarely sufficient for a right choice–we naturally need multiple factors informing us.
Luke Kallberg manages website content for the Character Training Institute.
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