I’ve heard of writing down goals and visions before, I’ve even done it myself. But before recently, I’ve never painted them. Yes, painted. I painted a vision for 2016. It was part of an experience we all participated in at eQ this past month for our yearly kickoff. It was a tremendously liberating experience for me.
Plutarch wrote that, “Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.” I’m no artist, by any stretch of the imagination. Actually, my greatest artistic achievement up to this point was color by number. But this was different. For us the exercise was all about impact. We were told to paint how we envisioned having an impact, in any sense of the word, in the year to come. My deficit of artistic creativity aside, it was truly remarkable, I could really feel the poetry of the exercise. I felt closer to my vision in a way I’ve never experienced. It was an expression of hope for 2016 that words just cannot capture.
What further resonated with me was everyone at eQ was tasked with this, because everyone is capable of impacting the world in a substantial way. It truly doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter where you stand in your company, whether you’re rich or poor, or even if you’re known as a charitable person or not. Impacting people’s lives is an intrinsic part of human nature. We may not always be cognizant of our behavior, which impacts lives, but it’s there. All those random acts of kindness – that’s impact on a small scale.
And it was impact on this scale that was the concept behind my painting. I have always been an ardent believer in the ripple effect. You know – one small act of kindness, one gracious deed can echo throughout the lives of multiple people. Internally at eQ, the ripple is a profound understanding that little acts can truly be great. To attest to the words of Mr. Dryden from the great movie Lawrence of Arabia, “Big things have small beginnings.”
That’s my vision for 2016, and it’s one I share with a lot of my colleagues. To cast stones and create ripples that impact the lives of people in any way possible. It’s imperative; absolutely imperative we start taking this stuff seriously. Meaningful change starts with all of us.
I think it’s time you put down the pen and paper, and start painting. Only then can you capture the silent poetry of how you can be an integral part in changing the world.
If you’d like to see an in-depth look at our impact paintings watch this video of the event, or see our Facebook page for more pictures.
