How do You Want Your Obituary to Read?
Will Your Obituary Read “Relentlessly Helpful?
Lux Narayan, CEO of Unimetric posed the following question in his March 1st TED Talk: “What if more people lived their lives trying to be famous in death?”
At first I thought, WHAT? But as I continued watching his talk, it began to make sense. Lux studied 2000 unpaid obituaries written by friends and family. These obituaries were published in the NY Times over a two-year period. He was seeking to find a common thread in the comments written about the deceased. What he discovered is worth sharing.
Have you ever created a “Wordle”? A wordle is a compilation of words that appear in a jumbled format. The more times you put a word in, the larger it will appear. Here is an example of a wordle I created from Lux’s talk. Obviously the words I put in more times were “Famous in Death and Help” as they appear larger than all the rest. So, what’s this got to do with Lux’s Ted Talk?
When comparing famous and non famous people, and doing the same type of wordle exercise, Lux used words describing the deceased individuals. Surprisingly, after entering thousands of words, he discovered that one of the top
words in both lists was HELP. Whether you were famous and words like “Titan of”, “Groundbreaking” or “Pioneer of”, were used, or you were lesser-known, the one word that appeared the most frequently in the famous and non famous obituaries was HELP.
When I was a leader at Southwest Airlines, then-CEO Herb Kelleher once challenged us to , write our obituaries. That put it into perspective for me. Did I want to be known as someone who spent more time at the office, or did I want to be seen as someone who made a difference by helping others?
After that exercise I began to involve myself in charitable organizations, mentoring younger leaders and becoming “relentlessly” helpful.
Ask yourself, “How am I using my talents to help society?” My friends Dick and Horacene Daugird and Scott Gordon took their talent for backyard barbecuing and, together with 200 dedicated volunteers, turned their efforts of “cooking
for a cause” into a $20 million contribution to their community, one meal at a time. Read their story in their just-published book, “Cooking for a Cause”. They are a good example of how to live your life being “relentlessly helpful”.
http://lighthousecharityteam.com/cooking-for-a-cause/
So, be a person, as Lux says that “made a positive dent in the fabric of life. “ Think about becoming famous in death so that when someone “wordles” your obituary something positive will stand out.
Lorraine Grubbs is an author, public speaker and business coach helping businesses create “Happy Workplaces”. Read more at: www.lorrainegrubbs.com