Journal of Sacred Work

Life is not a question of what others owe to us, but of what we owe to others.  -Louise Abigail Wright, wife of Mayo Clinic co-founder Dr. William Mayo. 

   It catches my eye, embedded there in the asphalt of a parking lot, it’s copper outline of Lincoln distinguishing it from the black tar. But it’s only a penny. Is it even worth the effort to lean over and pick
it up?
   My son, taken with the enormity of Bill Gates’ wealth, calculated once what the value of a penny would be to this world’s richest man as compared to the value of a penny to someone with a net worth of fifty thousand dollars. I think the answer he came up with was that a penny for Gates (left) was comparable to over a hundred thousand dollars for the rest of us. Imagine seeing a hundred thousand lying on the ground and wondering if it was worth the effort to lean over and pick it up. People as rich as the Microsoft founder can spill millions each day and never notice. 
   What creates real value in this world? It’s a fascinating question…

    At the beginning of the 1960s, the swamp land southwest of Orlando, Florida wasn’t worth much. By
the end of that decade, its worth was in the millions. Today, its worth is billions. But that’s only it’s dollar value. As for the value of the memories created in Disneyworld they are, as the Master Card commercial says, priceless.
   What about healthcare? If you were going to create the finest model of caregiving in the world, where would you build it? New York City? Los Angeles? Boston?
   Near the end of the 19th century, a pair of brothers named Mayo focused their dreams on the small town of Rochester, Minnesota. Today, Rochester is home to the greatest medical center in the world.

   How did the Mayo family create value in healthcare? Dr. William Mayo (left) was married to a woman who believed that "life is not a question of what others owe to us, but of what we owe to others." Following this advice, the Mayo brothers gave away their assets twice – to establish a graduate school of education and to create the Mayo Clinic Foundation. The Mayo brothers created value by building a system dedicated to a clear and over-arching principle – that money earned from curing the sick should be dedicated to helping others who fell ill.
  The Mayo brothers non-profit model is the world-class ideal of the best in medical care developed in an organization that emphasizes, to use their words, "the highest quality care delivered with compassion and trust." They call this The Mayo Model of Care. I’ve never encountered anyone that thinks any other health care organization does it any better than Mayo.
   Have you ever wondered why no other company has ever been able to create a theme park as popular for children as has Disney? Why doesn’t everyone follow the Mayo model? Why is it so hard to copy Southwest Airlines or Microsoft? And why can’t other healthcare organizations create value the way the Mayo brothers did?
   The answers lie in the remarkable human tendency to tolerate the average. It takes high courage and deep persistence to create exceptional value in an organization. In most cases, success is thwarted by an excessive focus on money. Southwest founder Herb Kelleher loved fun and wondered if you could build a successful airline by combining fun with efficiency and low prices.
   Walt Disney loved kids and was passionate about family entertainment, Bill Gates was fascinated by computers and worked obsessively (as did Apple founder Steve Jobs) to constantly improve. These people were never satisfied with the mediocrity of the
average.
   The Mayo brothers were in love with the idea of creating a model of healthcare that emphasized an ideal mix of science and compassion. They didn’t build their Clinic model (left) on money. Money was simply one of the tools used to build a healthcare center grounded in love.
   What creates true value in this world? The only thing that matters is Love. Without love, nothing has value. When we live Love, everything counts.

-Erie Chapman