Cuál es tu cayado? Tribu. Volcán

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?

ⓘ This post has been automatically translated from Spanish using DeepL API.

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“What do you have in your hands?” he asks us at the end of the message Rick Warren, and immediately adds, “talent, background, education, freedom, connections, opportunities, wealth, ideas, creativity.”

And yes, it sure hasn’t been for us. In an adaptation of Warren’s words in his best-seller “A Purpose Driven Life” I would say that the purpose of a person or a group of people, like Tribe in our case, must be far greater than for our own satisfaction or that of our families and friends, rather than for self-halagogue or the celebration of an award or two. It must be for much more than our greatest dreams and ambitions. In fact, if we want to know Him we must start with God, for I believe we were born for His purpose and for His purpose.

The success of a company, as well as the success of a person, a family, a tribe or a whole nation, surely cannot be solely for its own material or emotional retribution. Otherwise, like the space for Jodie Foster in “Contact”, our existence would be a huge, gigantic and regrettable waste. This is why we at Tribu DDB have decided to achieve meaning as a starting point and through influence as a focal point.

To understand in context the origin of this proposal, I invite you to listen to the following video of Rick Warren at TED, not without first recommending you to take advantage of the subtitles option.

The direct correlation that Warren proposes between affluence and influence is not a coincidence but a confirmation, because I don’t think it is for us. And he adds: “the purpose of having influence is to defend those who do not have it”. He concludes in a proposal of unreserved service and dedication, in the context of a relationship with God rather than in that of a religion. In his book he specifies, for those who believe that Jesus was who He said He was, that “it is in Jesus that we find who we are and what we live for.” Even in my doubts and concerns, I have chosen to believe it as well.

Because of this, my personal vision of an agency that aims to be the most influential in Central America is one of service, seeking to make a contribution to making our region a little better place every day. If we are going to invest a dollar or a thousand for a brand, let’s make sure that it influences it to sell more, because that is its business sense, so that its brand becomes more and more valuable. However, we do not have to give up the possibility of making a contribution, influencing in a good direction, proposing a transformative idea or generating a positive change in others.

“Suda el jamón, pa que te pongas bombón,” Nike proposed to the Latina woman instead of cosmetic surgery. “Life messes you up,” Sedal reminded the woman, inviting her to keep going. The difference between dream and reality is only one step, as Johnnie Walker graphically reminds us, as Sprite’s “Things as they are” came to exalt the value of truth. And of course, to speak of values is to recall BAC and the campaign with which we celebrate the courage of ordinary people to make a difference.

Influence can be to inspire as well as to amuse, to motivate as well as to entertain, to never pass up a chance to make a contribution, as well as to remind us that we can be successful and yet believe in a Higher Self. Like many I have known, I influence to bring true freedom and that is only found under the authority of the Bible, that incredible compendium of ancient documents written by people inspired by God.

Today I believe it is possible to live a single integral life. Today I believe that I don’t have to be one at the agency and one at home, one at church and one at the gym, one on the road and one with my brothers, one as a creative and one as a reader. In integration and consistency comes the opportunity to align with purpose. That of our reason to exist.

So, in closing, (or did you think I’d never get tired of it?) 🙂 I think the photo in this post reminds us today of what we have in our hands at Tribu DDB — influence — for our clients and their brands, and most especially to serve others.

I transcribe Rick Warren’s message at TED, especially for those of you who have accessed the blog from your cell phones, followed by the text of Warren’s talk in a transcript taken from his page.

I am often asked, do you know what surprises you most about your book? I always answer, that I got to write it. I would never have imagined it, not even in my wildest dream — I don’t even consider myself an author. And I get asked a lot, why do you think so many people have read your book? It still sells about a million copies a month. I think it’s because spiritual emptiness is a universal disease. I believe that at some point in our lives, we put our head on the pillow and ask ourselves, “Life can’t just be this, there has to be so much more”. We get up in the morning, go to work, come home, watch TV, go to bed, wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, watch TV, sleep, go to parties on the weekends. And a lot of people say, “I’m living.” “No, you’re not living, you’re just existing.” Just existing. I really believe there’s an inner desire. I firmly believe what Christ said. Your existence is not by chance. Your parents may not have planned you, but I believe God did. There is no doubt that there are people who become parents by accident. But I don’t believe in children coming into this world by chance.

I believe that you are very important. I think you matter to God, I think you matter to history, I think you matter to this universe. And I think the difference between what I call a life of survival, a life of success and a life of meaning is, understanding, what is the reason for my existence? I’ve met a lot of very smart people who say, “Why am I still so incapable of solving my problems?” And I’ve also met a lot of successful people who say, “Why don’t I feel more fulfilled?” Why do I feel like a phony? Why do I feel like I always have to be pretending to be more than I really am?” I think this boils down to the issue of leading a life of meaning, of transcendence, of purpose. I think it all comes down to this question: why am I here? what am I here for? where am I going? These are not religious issues — these are human issues.

I wanted to tell Michael before he spoke that I sincerely appreciate what he does, because it makes my life so much easier. As a pastor, it is very normal to see a lot of lunatics but at the same time I have come to realize that there are lunatics in all areas of life. Religion does not have a monopoly in this area, although there are countless religious lunatics. There are the secular lunatics, the intelligent lunatics, the ridiculous lunatics One day a lady came up to me, she had a blank sheet of paper–Michael, you’re going to like this–and she asks me, “What do you see on this sheet of paper?” I glanced at it and I said, “Oh, I don’t see anything.” And she says to me, “Well, I see Jesus,” and she immediately started crying and walked away. I say, OK, you know. Okay. Hum. I’m happy for you.

When the book became a publishing success around the world for the last three years, I had my little crisis. At that time I was wondering, what’s the purpose of all this? Since a huge amount of money started coming in. When you write a worldwide publishing success, you get a lot of money, plus you get a lot of attention and, to tell you the truth, I didn’t want either. When I established the church at Saddleback, I was 25 years old. I started it in 1980 along with another family and at that time I made a decision never to appear on television because I had no desire to become a celebrity and I didn’t want to become, quote unquote, “an evangelist or a television evangelist” — it’s not my thing. And all of a sudden, I’m getting a lot of money and attention. I don’t think that — Now, this is my worldview, and I’m telling you, everybody has a worldview.

Everybody’s betting their life on something. You’re betting your life on something — and you better know what you’re betting on what you’re betting on. So, everyone is betting their life on something. In my case, when I made my bet, I believed that Jesus was who he said he was. And everybody bets — and I believe in a pluralistic society — everybody is betting on something. When I started the church, I hadn’t anticipated that it was going to become what it is today. And when I wrote this book years later, all of a sudden it just took off, and I began to wonder, What is the purpose of all this? Because at the same time I started to say, I don’t think you get so much money and so much fame to feed your own ego, ever. And when you write a book that starts with the phrase, “it’s not about you,” and when it suddenly becomes the best-selling book in history, I guess it’s not really about you. it’s obvious, let’s not make a big deal out of it. so what’s the point of it all?

It was at that point that I started thinking about the stewardship of affluence and the stewardship of influence. I believe that leadership is essentially a stewardship. That if you are a leader in any area — whether in business, in politics, in sports, in the arts, in academia, in any area — you are not the owner of it, you are, rather, a steward of it. For example, I believe in protecting the environment. The earth does not belong to me. It wasn’t mine when I was born either, and it’s not going to be mine after I die. I will only be here for 80 years.

A few days ago I participated in a talk show, in which one of the attendees by way of a challenge asked me, “What does a pastor do protecting the environment?” I then asked him, “Well, you think human beings should take responsibility for making the world a better place for the next generations…do you think we have the stewardship to take the environment seriously?” to which he replied, “No.” “Oh, you don’t think so?”, I asked, “then let me clarify the question for you. You believe that as human beings — and I’m not referring to religion — you believe that as human beings, it is our responsibility to take care of this planet and make it a better place for future generations?” And he replied, “No. We have no more responsibility than any other species.” By mentioning the word “species,” he was revealing his worldview. and he continued, “I have no more responsibility to take care of the environment than a duck.” Sure, I know that a lot of times we do act like ducks, but you’re not a duck. you’re not a duck. and you are responsible — that’s my worldview. You have to understand what your world is, your worldview.

The problem is that most people never think about this issue fully. Most people never codify it or qualify it or quantify it, so that they can say, “I firmly believe in this or that. And I believe in this for this or that reason.” I personally don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. But maybe you do. Your worldview is going to determine everything in your life, because it determines your decisions, it determines your relationships, it determines your level of trust. It really determines everything in your life. What we believe, obviously — and you know this very well — determines our behavior, and our behavior determines what we will be in life.

So money started pouring in, as well as a lot of fame, so I started asking myself, what am I going to do with all this? My wife and I made five decisions as to what to do with the money. We said, “first,” we’re not going to use it for our own benefit.” We didn’t buy a bigger house. or a guest house. I still drive the same old Ford from four years ago. We simply said, we’re not going to use this money for ourselves. The second decision we made was to stop earning a salary from the church I pastor. Third, we calculated the total of all the money the church had paid me over the last 25 years, and we paid it back in full. I did this because I didn’t want anyone to think that what I do I do because of the money — it’s not so. In fact, I personally have never met any priest or pastor or minister who works for the sake of money. I know it’s a stereotype, but I’ve never met even one. Believe me, there are many other much easier ways to make money.

Pastors are like doctors, they must be available 24 hours a day. I left my house late today. I was planning to come here yesterday, but I couldn’t because my father-in-law is probably going through his last 48 hours of life before he dies of cancer. He is a person who has lived a long life — He is already in his 80’s — and is now dying peacefully. The test of your worldview is not how you act in good times. The test of your worldview is how you act at your funeral. Having presided over hundreds or even thousands of funerals, I have come to realize that it does make a big difference. your beliefs make a difference.

So, we gave it all back, and then we set up three foundations to help solve the world’s biggest problems: illiteracy, poverty, epidemics — particularly HIV/AIDS — so we created these three foundations, and we invested the money in them. Eventually we became “reverse tithers”. When my wife and I got married 30 years ago, we started tithing. Tithing is a biblical principle which says that we should set aside 10 percent for charity, and give it to help other people. So when we started tithing, we also decided to increase the tithe by 1 percent every year. That’s how in the first year of our marriage we managed to give 11 percent, in the second year, we tithed 12 percent, and in the third year 13 percent, and so on. Now, why did I decide to do this? Because each time I give, the more I free myself from the control that materialism exerts on my life. Materialism is only about acquiring things — acquiring as much as you can. It is about amassing wealth and sitting on it without caring about anything else. It is about possessing more and more. We think that the most important thing is to look good, to feel good and to have a lot of possessions. But that is not the good life. I continually meet people who have these things, and they are not necessarily happy. If money could really grant you happiness, then the richest people in the world would be the happiest. And I know, personally, that’s not the case. It’s simply not true.

The good life is not about looking good, feeling good or owning a lot of goods, It’s about being good and doing good. It is about sacrificing your life. Meaning in life is not about status, because you are always going to find someone who has more goods than you. It also doesn’t come from sex. It doesn’t come from salary. It comes from serving. Giving our lives is how we find meaning, we find significance. We are made that way, I believe, by God. So, then, we started donating, and now after 30 years, my wife and I are reverse tithers — that is, we donate 90% and live on 10% And this, in fact, was the easy part. The hard part is, what to do with all the attention I got afterwards. Because I started getting all kinds of invitations. In fact, I just came back from a speaking tour of almost a month in three different continents, which I’m not going to comment on now, but I can tell you it was extraordinary. So I asked myself, what do I do with all this, with the notoriety that the book has brought me?

And since I am a pastor, logically I started reading the Bible. There is a chapter in the Bible called Psalm 72, which is a prayer made by Solomon to gain more influence. When you read this prayer, it seems to be incredibly self-centered, he seems to say, “God, I want you to make me famous”. And that’s precisely the prayer that he makes. He says, “I want you to make me famous. I want the fame of my name to be spread throughout the whole earth, I want you to grant me power, I want you to make me famous. I want you to give me influence. It would seem that this is the most selfish request that anyone could make when praying. That is, even when you read the whole psalm, the whole chapter. Then he says, “That the king” — he was the king of Israel during the heyday of this nation — “that the king may care for the widows and orphans, give comfort to the despondent, defend the oppressed, care for the sick, help the poor, advocate for the strangers and those in prison.” Basically, he is referring to all the marginalized in society.

And as I read this passage, I thought, well, the purpose of having influence is to advocate for those who have none. The purpose of having influence is not to build your ego, or increase your net worth. And, by the way, your net worth is not equal to your self-worth. Your worth is not based on the value of your assets, it is based on something else entirely. So the goal of influence is to advocate for those who don’t have it. And I had to admit that I can’t remember the last time I thought about widows and orphans. They are not on my radar. The church I pastor is in one of the wealthiest areas of America–an area full of private condominiums. My church is attended by scientists and CEOs and I could easily go 5 years without ever seeing a homeless person because they are not in my way. Even though they are 21 kms away in Santa Ana. So I said, “well, I’m going to use all the affluence and influence I have to help those who have neither.”

In the Bible there is a story about Moses. whether you believe it to be true or not — the truth doesn’t matter much here. If you saw the movie “The Ten Commandments,” you will remember that Moses one day sees a burning bush through which God speaks to him. God asks him, “Moses, what is in your hand?” That is one of the most important questions you can be asked. What is in your hand? Moses answers, “A staff. It is a staff for shepherding sheep”. And God says, “Throw it on the ground”. If you saw the film, you know that when he throws it on the ground the staff turns into a snake. God then says to him, “Pick it up.” And when Moses picks it up, the snake becomes a staff again. As I read this passage I wondered, what does it all mean? What is the significance of this story? There are two very important points here. First, God never does a miracle to show off. He doesn’t do it just to make us say, “Wow, that’s impressive!” And, by the way, my God doesn’t need to show up in a loaf of cheese. Because if He’s going to show up, He’s not going to show up in a loaf of cheese.

(laughs)

Don’t you think so? That’s why I love what Michael does, because if he’s going to demystify something, then I don’t have to do it. But God — my God — doesn’t need to show himself in images of water sprinklers. He has other, much more powerful ways to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. However, He does not perform miracles simply to show off.

Secondly, if God ever asks you a question, He already knows the answer. Evidently, if He is God, that means that when He asks you a question, He does it for your sake and not for His. So, God asks Moses, “What is in your hand?” And what did Moses have in his hand? He had a staff to shepherd sheep. Now, I want you to pay close attention to me.

This staff represented three things about Moses’ life. First, it represented his own identity. He was a shepherd. It was the symbol of his occupation. He was a shepherd. It is a symbol of his identity, of his profession, of his work. Second, the staff is a symbol not only of his identity, but also of his income, because all his assets were tied to his sheep. At that time no one had bank accounts, or American Express credit cards or hedge funds. Their assets were connected to their flocks. The staff was a symbol of their identity as well as their income. Third, the staff is a symbol of their influence. What is the staff for? Well, in the first instance, you use it to move sheep from one place to another, either with a hook or with a perch. You either pull them or you push them, or one or the other. What God is saying here is, “You’re going to strip yourself of your own identity.” What’s in your hand? Your identity, your salary, your influence? What’s in your hand?” And God says, “If you strip yourself of it, I’m going to be that it will come alive. And I will do unimaginable things.” And if you watched the movie “The Ten Commandments,” all those great miracles that happened in Egypt were done through this staff.

Last year, I was invited to give a talk at the NBA All-Star game. When I was speaking to the players, as most of the teams in the NBA, NFL, among others have practiced the “40 Days of Purpose” based on the book. So, I would ask them, “What do you have in your hand? What do you have in your hand?” And I would tell them, “It’s a basketball, the basketball represents your identity, who you are. As NBA players, the ball also represents the salary you earn. And you earn a lot of money through that little ball. The ball also represents the influence you have. And even though you’ll only be in the NBA for a few years, you’ll still be an NBA player your whole life. And that fact gives them enormous influence. What do they plan to do with everything they’ve received?”

And that’s the main reason why I came here today. I want to ask all of you brilliant people at TED, “What do you have in your hands?” What do you have in your hands that was given to you? Talent, background, education, freedom, connections, opportunities, wealth, ideas, creativity. What are you doing with what you have received? To me, that’s the most fundamental question in life, and that’s what it means to be people of purpose in life. In the book, I talk about how we are made for certain things. This little cross requires spiritual gifts, heart, ability, personality and experiences. These things shape you. And if you long to know what you should be doing in your life, you must look at yourself, your shape. What was I designed for? Why would God design me for something without allowing me to fulfill it in my life? If you were made to be an anthropologist, you will be an anthropologist. If you were made to be an explorer beneath the surface of the sea, then you will be such an explorer. If you were designed to do business, you do business. If your calling is painting, then you paint.

Did you know that God smiles when you are yourself? When my children were very young — they’re all grown up, and now I even have grandchildren — I used to sit by their beds, to watch them sleep. And I’d watch their little bodies go up and down, up and down, up and down. And as I watched them, I thought, this is no accident. Up and down. It gave me so much joy to see them sleeping. Some people have the misconception that God is only satisfied when we do, quote-unquote, “spiritual things,” such as attending church meetings or helping the poor or going to confession or things like that. Bottom line, God is pleased to see you being yourself. Why? He made you. And when you do what you were designed to do, He says, “That’s my child. That’s my child. You are employing the talents and abilities that I gave you.” The advice I give you is, Look at what’s in your hands — identity, influence, salary — and say to yourself, “This is not just for me. This is to make the world a better place.”

Thank you

ⓘ This post has been automatically translated from Spanish using DeepL API.

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