He sat on an old chair - hunched over - softly whistling a tune I had never heard.  Old Henry – was what us kids called him, and he was sitting in the same chair, behind the same building, that he had been sitting at, as far back as I could remember.   He held an old ragged chunk of wood that he had found on the ground along the way.  Around him were the wood chips that had already fallen by the wayside. 

I sat down and watched him.  He didn’t say a word and I didn’t think he knew I was staring.  After all, no one notices an 8 year old.  I watched his old scarred fingers appear to dance over the burl.  At first, I couldn’t tell what it was he was carving, but as he turned the wood repeatedly, and as the knife point cut a slice here - then there, I could see a form taking shape.

Somewhere during this time, I managed to ask him what it was he was making.  He simply said – I don’t know yet.  That prompted me to ask, “then how do you know where to cut,” to which he relied “the wood – it tells me.” And then he fell silent again.  I followed his silence and simply watched.

Soon after, he reached off to his right and picked through a small wooden box full of what appeared to me to be firewood.  Later I would find out these were his “treasures.”   

Tossing one to me, followed by a small carving knife, Henry simply said – “here try it” I quickly pointed out that I didn’t know how.  He said, “Do you have two hands?” When I replied “yes” – he said, “then you know how.”   When I told him I didn’t know what to carve, he replied, “don’t worry about it, you will.  It will come to you.  It’s in there - the wood – she has a soul, you just have to find it.” 

I still carve to this day, in between writing and consulting.  It’s a hobby and a means of relaxation for me.  I give some away, some lie in half finished states, others lay unfinished, as I couldn’t find the soul that day.  Perhaps another time.

You are probably asking yourself by now, what this has to do with business.   I think the biggest problem with most of the business plans I read now, is that very few of them have soul.   Perhaps I look too deep into them, but as old Henry told me, everything has a soul.  If a human being has a heart, then everything he or she touches, writes or builds, is as a reflection of the soul within that heart.  

I remember talking with the owner of an old neighborhood hardware store one day.  The floors of the old building were creaking; the shelves bowed from years and years of weight having been placed upon them.  Some of the items in the store had dust that I was sure had been part of the last cattle drive that went through the old towns streets fifty odd years ago.   

The old man talked about how he was going to have to give up the old girl as he called it. I asked him why.  He seemed happy there.  He said he was, but at 63 he was just getting too old to stock it, too old to clean her up, and too old to service her.    I asked him if he was going to sell the store.  He said no – he could never sell her.  She and him were one and she would die with him.   

“Oh,” he said, “my son will take over the business, but when I leave, the old girl will die with me.  My son wants to move the goods to the new building down the road – and that’s ok.  “This old building will be torn down, but that’s ok as well” he added, “as the old girl will have died long before the first brick hit the rubble pile anyway.”   

I remember thinking; this is what it was like to live a business.  Some people would consider the old man out dated, and in some respects, I am sure he was, but he had heart.  He knew what it took to succeed in business.  It had all to do with how he approached life itself and the respect he had for the people who bought from him. 

When it comes to passing on values to future generations, what are our leaders passing on?  What does the president of Enron tell his kids when they sit around the table at night, (assuming they even meet for dinner,) and ask about their father’s involvement in the stock scandal?  Does he tell them it’s all a lie, or does he remind them that they are eating the food his greed brought home?   There’s a legacy for you. 

I have read the histories and life stories of the Vanderbilt’s, the Rockefellers and the Kennedy’s.  They built their empires on the backs of others.  Their era died off, only to be replaced by the modern day senate investigated group we have now.   

Is this the legacy of the 80’s and nineties?   Today we live in an era of high-speed communications, rapid prototype development, and computers.   Some people have no time to slow down, think, plan, or to take a walk.  Their relaxation periods lie between the seconds on a 24 hour clock.  They look ahead by the minute, instead of by the year, and think this is how life is supposed to be.   They are also dying young. 

We can take heart however, because what we read and hear about represents only a small segment of our true society.  Somewhere in Middle America, there is still that soul.   Many people are still teaching their kids the value of life, and of business, and of living with others.  These people are not caught up in the rush to make a million over night.    

Their bank accounts may be empty, they work from day to day, and they are happy to do so, not because they are trying to create wealth, but because it gives them a reason to exist.  They found their level of happiness and they are satisfied.  They resist all attempts by others to get them excited about making tons of money in the stock market, because as far as they are concerned, they have all the wealth they need.   

The world evolves and runs in cycles.  Perhaps we are coming back to good old fashion values again.  If not, then we need to. 

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Gary Clark is the Managing Director of The   ( http://educ-net.net ) and ink stained owner / writer of Write4Me Writing Services ( http://www.Write4Me.net ) He is the co-author of “Stepping Over The Line, an E-book on Small Business – Theory & Practice” and hundreds of articles on Small Business Growth and Development. His practice as a Contingency Planner , small business instructor, consultant, content writer and copywriter has spanned over 21 years.  He can be reached by e-mail at Info@Write4Me.net , or 719-536-0505   9-5 MST