the endless sea

There's this quote I like from Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

It is a sentiment I believe in, but find challenging to perform.

My initial impulse, after all, is to herd people together to collect wood - and I'll probably be there with them, collecting my own pile (because I'm on the mindset that I know best how to collect the wood I want collected).

But managing a company cannot forever be a matter of assigning tasks and work.

I long for the day when everyone feels they are part of one great whole and are motivated by the trackless sea.

After all, when the day comes for me to take a rest and do something new, who else will I leave the company to but to those who have helped tend it?