Peace! Is It Really So Elusive?

There is a strong need for us discuss the issue of peace today. If we look around us, not many of us find peace, but conflicts and war and strife and violence in abundance all around us. Two seasonal aspects brought this topic up to the top of my mind.

The United Nations asks its member nations to celebrate September 21, every year as the International Day of Peace[1]. We could dismiss this as just another international day that the global body has recommended, or treat this as the most important day. Whichever side we are on, it is sure that all of us hope for at least one day of peace without any conflicts or wars or violence. Is it possible? I was trying to ascertain whether Ukraine and Russia observed cease fire on that day. The results were disappointing. On the International day of peace, (21^st September 2022) Russia pounded Kharkiv, (Ukraine’s second city) with missiles. President Putin called for a mobilisation of 300000 reservists, a first time after WW II[2]. So much for celebrating the International day of peace!

Much before the UN’s declaration of International day of peace, there was one day that the world recognised as a day of peace and cease fire was practiced on that day. That day is Christmas. Despite one’s world views or faith, we all have heard and probably believe that the overarching theme of Christmas is “Peace on earth and goodwill towards men”[3]. This is the season of Christmas and it is appropriate for us to mull over the topic of peace.

Why do we crave for peace? It might be a rhetorical question. Chris Hedges in his book “What Every Person should Know About War” presents a chilling statistic that out of the last 3500 years of human history, only 258 years have been without any wars[4]. That is a measly 8% of total human history. In other words, we live in a world where more than 90% of the time, there are active conflicts and wars happening around us. That should tell us why we crave for peace. Because it seems so elusive, going by today’s standards.

The sad part is that this problem is not just at the global level. This percolates down to our homes, between parents and children, between siblings, between spouses, between neighbours, among community members, among religious groups, among political parties, among colleagues in offices, between organisation leaders and employees. The list can go on. War is everywhere.

As individuals, we might be right in thinking that we cannot avoid political and military conflicts that take place at global levels. But we can certainly experience peace in our hearts. We can certainly work towards peace in our organisations, peace at home. Peace in the immediate society that we live in. And if this catches on and becomes a movement, it might impact nations.

So how do we experience peace in our hearts? In the book, The Anatomy of Peace by Arbinger Institute, the authors highlight the need for replacing a heart at war with a heart at peace[5]. The book offers several suggestions on how to do that. Not so surprisingly, all of them are based on one premise. Do not look at people as objects, but as people.

This was our topic of discussion in an earlier article about the VALUE framework (also here). If we build relationships based on the VALUE framework, it will resolve a lot of conflicts we face on a day to day basis. Our 3-7-10 framework provides a strong foundation for converting this desire into a reality. Starting with the three imperatives of Vision, Character and Relationships, the model maps them to our DEEP BHC behaviours and then to the ten attributes that help leaders demonstrate those behaviours.

Our experience has shown that implementation of the 3-7-10 model helps organisations deal with conflicts in the most productive manner, and helps everyone’s heart be at peace.

Let us start at our level, and may be one day, the ripple effects of such small changes in ourselves will impact the world! Join the Servant Leadership Movement!

__________________________________________________________

The Author, Dr. Madana Kumar is the Servant Leadership Evangelist at Leadyne. You can connect with him here or contact him here.