Work – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

What kind of effort delivers the best results?

For years, a framed quote has hung in my father’s office: "To make things grow, you have to leave the office, go out into the field, get your hands dirty and sweat. It is the only language the soil and the plants understand." Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. I grew up in the countryside, on a farm. One of my great joys was riding along with my dad on his rounds of the farms he managed and was directly responsible for, soaking up nature and freedom to the fullest. As a boy I probably didn’t even see the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, because I was too caught up in the thrill of leaving the house and heading into the fields. Over time I learned who Dr. Borlaug was, how my dad came to know him and work with him, and that he gave the keynote address at one of my brothers’ graduations. What has struck me most about that quote, and marked my life deeply, is the idea of the language the soil and the plants understand: getting your hands dirty and sweating. The question I ask myself is whether that might be the same language the mind understands.

I’ve worked with many teams across different organizations, and one high-performance trait I’ve seen confirmed again and again is exactly that language: hard work, with passion and commitment, the language of dirty hands and sweat. That sweat runs deeper than perspiration. It comes from the soul and from the genuine engagement of everyone involved. The same applies to individuals who strive and sweat to reach their goals, people who know their only language is going all in for what they want and never putting off until tomorrow what they can do today. They care deeply about their goals, don’t leave them to chance and don’t blame anyone else for their failures. Here I want to highlight a leadership quality that sets apart anyone who holds that role, or thinks they do: owning the result, good or bad. That’s exactly where someone who doesn’t understand the language of hard work, of dirty hands and sweat, will always be the typical mediocre person who blames others for their failures and mistakes.

I try to surround myself with people who have a growth mindset and who give more than they’ve received. Look closely and one thing defines them: they’ve worked very hard all their lives. They’ve reached a point where what they’ve done simply doesn’t tire them. In fact, they always feel the need to keep putting their shoulder to the wheel to build and give more. They don’t take their talent for granted. Many grew up knowing they lacked a particular talent or set of talents, so they fought tirelessly to acquire them. Now that they have them, they don’t complain about their past or about the effort it took to get here. What defines them is grit and the drive to see the future as an opportunity, and to thank God for life and for the desire to keep building the future they want.

If life teaches us one principle, it’s that all work takes effort and every effort has its reward. Yet hard work, work with meaning and purpose, has a double effect, a multiplier that brings tangible and, above all, intangible benefits that only fuel our passion and make us want more. Hard work, done with commitment, effort and dedication and with every resource aligned to a purpose, builds capabilities. Those capabilities outweigh anything we were born with. All we have to do is focus on working to the fullest toward a single vision born of a purpose. As long as that focus governs our efforts and our attention stays on the capabilities we want to build, we’ll develop and achieve results that usually exceed what ordinary effort could deliver.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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