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The Laws of Love and the Laws of Life
I take that to mean that I could devote eight, ten, or twelve hours a day, five, six, or seven days a
week to the thousands of people and projects “out there” and still not have a deep, meaningful
relationship with my own spouse, with my own teenage son, with my closest working associate. And
it would take more nobility of character — more humility, courage, and strength — to rebuild that one
relationship than it would to continue putting in all those hours for all those people and causes.
In 25 years of consulting with organizations, I have been impressed over and over again by the
power of that statement. Many of the problems in organizations stem from relationship difficulties at
the very top — between two partners in a company, between the president and an executive
vice-president. It truly takes more nobility of character to confront and resolve those issues than it
does to continue to diligently work for the many projects and people “out there.”
When I first came across Hammarskjold’s statement, I was working in an organization where there
were unclear expectations between the individual who was my right-hand man and myself. I simply
did not have the courage to confront our differences regarding role and goal expectations and values particularly in our methods of administration. So I worked for a number of months in a compromise
mode to avoid what might turn out to be an ugly…