Counting Up?

This is an interesting period in the Jewish year. The period between Passover and the holiday of Shavuot is literally called "The Count (sefira)." Passover recalls the wonderous story of our exodus from Egypt and all the miracles that accompanied that journey. Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah and the beginning of our national relationship with God.

For many years the idea that these two holidays are inextricably linked by the period of "counting" has intrigued me. Each day we count toward the commemoration of the events of Mount Sinai. We leave the slavery in Egypt only to look forward to binding ourselves to the law of God. There are many commentaries and philosphical ideas (well worth your time if you haven't thought about it recently) dintinguishing between freedom from and freedom to. Passover represents a freedom from slavery and the oppression of others. Shavuot represents a freedom to live your life with meaning and commitment to something greater than yourself, a relationship with God.

But what of the counting? As I watched the Masters (golf tournament) this past weekend - and no I was not one of the Tiger-gawkers -- although as an aside, how awesome (and ironic?) was it that Phil Mickelson won this year - a year in which his wife battled cancer and he stood by her through all the rough stuff??-- but back to counting. As I watched the Masters, I was struck by all the counting they were doing. Golf is a game of counting. It all comes down to the number of strokes. You win, not by besting the course, but by besting the other player's stroke count. The lower the better.

Golf is about counting down - the further negative you go as you near the final destination (the 18th hole), the better your chance of winning.

Our counting period counts up. We start at Day One and count all the way to Day Forty Nine. The higher we have counted, the closer we get to our destination. We aren't losing numbers, we keep gaining.

Leadership lesson: When a goal is truly valuable - when you are inspiring people to attain the goal - work your way towards it. Let everything you do and say build toward the goal. Counting down points in the other direction. True, we are so used to it sometimes we don't think about the psychological impact of our counting direction. New Year's Eve we count down to the new year. But what are we saying? We are saying "goodbye". Goodbye to the old year. We are looking back expressing that we are happy to have it over. It's complete. It's finished. We got to zero. No where left to go. Counting up indicates just the opposite. We are looking forward. We have reached the target - but that target is not necessarliy the end. There are always more numbers - more places to go. We achieved this goal - let's celebrate - but let's also inspire each other to continue growing. What's the next goal?