Day 2: If Not, Why Not?
I've spent a few days in Washington, DC over the last week. I've done a ton of walking and definitely hit my target step count. From the Library of Congress to the White House, the Holocaust Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Air and Space Museum there's been much to take in.
At the National Air and Space Museum, I stopped in front of a letter. Dated 20 April 1961, it's from President John F. Kennedy to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, just weeks after the Soviet Union had put the first human into space. The letter asked five questions about America's space programme. The third caught my attention. “Are we working 24 hours a day on existing programs. If not, why not?”
It felt both extraordinary and ordinary. Extraordinary because I can't imagine a leader asking that question today without prompting a conversation about work-life balance, wellbeing and burnout. Ordinary because the questions haven't really changed. What are we trying to achieve? What will it cost? Are we doing enough?
Our understanding of what's reasonable has moved on. And rightly so. I do also wonder what we risk leaving behind.
There's something in Kennedy's letter about the clarity of purpose and the willingness to ask more of ourselves when something matters that made me stop. It reminded me what is possible when we believe the work is worth doing.
Cultures change. And they should. As we rethink what we're willing to give to our work, I hope we don't lose sight of what makes some work worth giving ourselves to in the first place.
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