Does life have no meaning?

Last week, I talked about the idea that two people can look at the same set of facts, come to different conclusions, and both be right. Does this mean we should all simply become nihilists? Does life have no meaning? Well, yes and no.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would say that life has no meaning. That is to say, your life does not have some preordained meaning, which was written amongst the stars.

To clarify the point, Csikszentmihalyi then says this does not mean your life cannot be given meaning. Indeed he says, "The meaning of life is meaning." By that, Csikszentmihalyi is saying it is incumbent upon each of us to discover, and cultivate, our own life's meaning.

To say we must each discover, and cultivate, our life's meaning is to say we must each define our own reality. And, this brings us back to the Max DePree quote from two weeks ago, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality."

In my life, one thing I have discovered is that leadership is largely a function of effective living. Effective living gets results. And, people tend to follow results.

The problem, of course, is that life is complicated. And, getting results ain't easy. Especially with entrepreneurship!

So, to the extent we are effective in our own lives, we are better able to lead others, because we know how to get results. As Carl Rogers said, "What is most personal is most universal." 

Life does have meaning. It has the meaning you give it. And, the same thing happens within organizations. Businesses are given meaning by people because leaders help define reality.

I think Csikszentmihalyi was on to something. The meaning of life is meaning.