Chris Hadfield was the astronaut who became a media sensation a year or so ago for his images from the International Space Station and his recording of David Bowie's "Spacey Oddity". In his book, "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth," he conveys a sense of humility about the Earth- having seen its fragility and beauty from thousands of miles away.
One of the points he mentions near the end of the book is the need for "stewardship". It is perhaps this stewardship mindset which could be adopted for business today replacing the short-term shareholder model. For example, creating a clear vision of ensuring you leave your organisation in better shape when the next people take over. There is real pride in doing this. It requires serious long-term planning.
Astronauts are undoubtedly the most incredibly bright, committed and competitive bunch of people and yet they operate within a flat structure because they understand that the performance of the lucky few who actually make it to space (become media stars etc) is entirely dependent on thousands of other bright, committed and competitive people who help to put them there.This in itself is quite humbling. Within this very competitive environment they all have a single, cohesive vision that of making space exploration happen and a detailed and committed understanding of how the operation works and comes together.
Space exploration is an inspiring story of creativity, problem solving, dedication and duty and there is no reason why this kind of ethos cannot be applied here on earth if we can just get our heads above the clouds and start to think big: really big.
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