Where is your wonder today?
Nick Tasler
Org Psychologist | Leadership Speaker ?? Embrace Change. Grow Faster. Win Bigger.
Fifty-five years ago, Louis Armstrong sang his now famous lines “I see trees of green, red roses too/I see them bloom for me and you/And I think to myself what a wonderful world.”?
Before going on stage to give my Year of Wonders talk to a large health system last month, the CEO reminded me that Louis Armstrong recording What a Wonderful World while his nation was reeling from the collective traumas of the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, severe racial strife, and -- not to mention – his own failing heart.? Less than a year later, a second Kennedy and a King, Jr. would also be assassinated.?
America was in a really bad mood.
In spite of topping the charts in the UK and Australia, What a Wonderful World barely made a ripple in the US.??Many Americans had no interest in wonder. Others were outraged by the mere suggestion of it.
In a re-release of the single in 1970, a year before Armstrong’s death, he responded to the criticism heaped on him for playing such an upbeat tune in the midst of so much struggle.? “It seems to me,” he said “it ain’t the world that’s so bad, but what we’re doing to it.? All I’m saying is, see what a wonderful world it would be, if only we’d give it a chance.”??
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Louis Armstrong wasn’t suggesting that we turn a blind eye to the very real problems around us. He was only asking us to open our eyes to the very real possibilities still in front of us.???
In the same way, great leadership is not about ignoring problems. But great leadership is about exploring possibilities.
Seeking wonder isn't naive. It is transformational.
If we heed Armstrong’s wisdom–as leaders mapping out a strategic plan; as parents discussing a report card with our kids; as neighbors strolling down the sidewalk after work this evening–you and I might just stumble onto a few wonders of our own today.? And the world might look a bit more wonderful tomorrow than it did yesterday.