Goals Revisited

“Our emphasis is not on goals but on culture.

David Kennedy

CEO, University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union

2015 Annual Meeting Address

The point was well taken.  The UKFCU had beaten the averages of major benchmark Federal Credit Unions in every performance category for more than 13 years running.  Had they lined out goals – e.g., for membership, total assets, growth percentage, etc. – they could no doubt have met them all.  But the core emphasis would have gotten lost in the numbers.  Above all, they are a service organization, not a numbers accumulator.  Perhaps simply “Minding their ‘Ps’ and ‘Qs’” is the better path:

I personally became suspicious about hard and fast GOALS in my late teens.  I had heard reports of goal setting and goal attainment … like the report of the fellow who set the goal to make a million dollars by the time he was 35, and actually did it.  But I didn’t even have half a running start on that path, and couldn’t imagine it being realistic for me.  And, I had to ask, THEN what?  Second of all, I had too many ancillary interests – like music, sports, literature, and just sheer wonderment.  However, I most didn’t like the thought of setting myself up for failure!

Nonetheless, I tried to give a decent account of myself.   It was expected.  And I enjoyed the affirmation.  Then, too, very early in the going, I realized I didn’t like being hungry, cold or without significant negotiability in the world.  I had also witnessed a broad spectrum of imbecilities and moronic behaviors I did not want to emulate.  And sustainability became a haunting preoccupation, as I became increasingly aware of the limits of options available in Appalachian Pennsylvania.  I was not yet aware – in the late 1950s – of Abraham Maslow and his formal pyramid-based hierarchy of needs, but it seemed the urge to fulfill such was already embedded in my marrow (which, I guess, was Maslow’s whole point!) Perhaps it suffices to say I had “aspirations”.  Not necessarily GOALS, per se.  But I knew what it was like to WIN … and I sure as Hell didn’t like losing!

Along the journey, I had the luxury of being exposed to opportunities and challenges that got me thinking about things farther up the pyramid … such as wondering, along with Burt Bacharach,  “What’s it all about, Alfie?”  Of course, that didn’t put food on the table, and I fully understood the importance of practicalities.  But a sense of mission and purpose – some kind of “meaning” was also important.  Goals were fine, and I was willing to tackle my fair share.  But the Grander Purpose … core values … and principles were more compelling pursuits in the mix.  I also wasn’t too keen on perseverating about things I “coulda” done or “shoulda” done.

With all of the above as background, my interest spiked when I ran across the book entitled Living Without a Goal by James Oglivy.

To my great disappointment, Oglivy strained to make a much larger point than necessary about the disappearance of absolutes in religion, politics, science and cultural mores – which he refers to as “Grand Goals”.  His central theme is that generations past could reasonably aspire to achieve some sort of “salvation” [Grand Goal] through any or all of these channels.  But, now that they are obsolete, we have to find different ways of vectoring through life.  [I thought it would have made much more sense – and would have been an even more compelling read – had he used the title “Living Without Guidelines and Guardrails”.]

His first premise is still valid: Destinies previously charted by external forces have now become the province of the individual, meaning that we’ve got to develop a much keener personal sense of where it is we want to go … or at least have a direction in mind; if not “Goals”, then at least “Headings”.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

So I’ve become an ardent advocate of “Headings” … and it’s companion pursuit, “Betterings”.  Tangible goals are still fine [even Oglivy admits].  But, while achieving them can be exhilarating and motivating to keep us pressing on, they can be artificially high, low, arbitrary or irrelevant to the grander scheme of things. In place of the credit union example above, one could inaugurate a new season in sports with any of the following goals:

But for any one or all of these goals, one has to ask “Then what?”

The more relevant consideration is: Why do you play the game?  The goals are irrelevant if you’re in the wrong game for the wrong reason.  If the game you’re in resonates with the innate talent you have and the skills you’ve developed, then that’s where you belong … and you’ll do whatever “belonging” allows or requires.

“Whether it’s on defense or at the plate, I grind out every pitch and just play as hard as I can.  When my career is over, I want to be happy with what I did and say that the effort was there.”  Ryan O’Hearn, first baseman for Lexington Legends

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write,

What one can be, one must be.”

Abraham Maslow

So what drives us on if not the Grand Goal or the next goal?  Perhaps it’s the passion to BE whomever it is we ARE.  Beyond that … Mere engagement. Creative exploration.  Path Finding.  Discovery.  Wonderment.  The “thrill of the chase”.  Or, perhaps, the fear of being left behind.

Disappointments and regrets have been a lot fewer for those who, while reaching for the stars, judiciously mined the depths inside themselves along with the world around them.  Quartermaster