This is one of those instances where we are fans of the author and the subject. The author is Deepak Jayaraman, a leadership coach and author of the lovely book ‘Play to Potential’(see here for our podcast with him on the book). The subject is the legendary Sir David Attenborough, the English natural historian and an Emmy award winner for his documentaries on nature. He turned 100 last week (we also recommend Deepak’s podcast with Lynda Gratton on her book – The 100-Year Life).
In this blog, Deepak uses the life of Sir David to reinforce some of the lessons from his own book. Indeed, in the book, Deepak referred to Sir David as his role model and how our choice of role models informs us about what matters to us. Here he talks about the three things about Sir David that inspires him to lead a fulfilling life:
“1) Awe with which he looks at the world
When you see Sir David doing his work, you can see the awe with which he experiences nature and how he painstakingly ensures that his creative work (filming, editing etc) ensures that the audience experiences it when they see his work. A simple question to ask ourselves is “What gives us goosebumps?”. For me, among many things, it is listening to some of the songs from the South Indian composer – Ilayaraja. I notice that especially in urban cities, we get so caught up in the rough and tumble of daily life that we forget to ask what gives us goosebumps?
If you took a pause and reflected on the various moments that you were in awe, what would those be?
2) Committing to a core
In my work with leaders who are often trying to find a canvas to paint, I use the metaphor of oil drilling (the jarring dissonance with the nature based theme of this note is not lost on me!). I tell people that if you find a spot where you are at the intersection of passion, purpose, skillset and opportunity, just keep drilling to eternity!
Sir David’s fascination with the natural world began as a boy in Leicester, where he obsessively collected fossils and kept creepy-crawlies in tobacco tins. As he notes, he simply never lost that boyish enthusiasm. He discovered early on that natural history film-making is a rare medium that can simultaneously appeal to a 17-year-old and a 70-year-old, providing them both with something deeply sustaining. Ultimately, he has remained in this space because he views the natural world as fundamental to human survival. He notes that without the natural world, humanity would suffocate and starve. In his later years, his commitment is driven by a profound sense of responsibility to younger generations; having spent a lifetime documenting a pristine world that is now in decline, he feels a moral obligation to sound the alarm about the “crime” that has been committed against the planet.
As things stand today, I define my core as helping people play to their unique potential based on my understanding of business, leadership and human development. The shape of what I do might vary but I hope to stay true to this core. How do you define yours?
3) Staying relevant over time
Staying committed to a core does not mean that one stagnates. One needs to keep reinventing oneself along the way. As I mention in the book, he is apparently the only person to have won a BAFTA award for programmes in black and white, colour, high-definition, 3D and 4K. Talking about evolving with the times and staying relevant as the world shifts.
For much of his career, Attenborough deliberately avoided being a political activist or campaigner, preferring to inspire audiences by simply showing them the beauty of the natural world so they would inherently want to protect it. However, as the climate crisis worsened, he reinvented himself into a fierce environmental advocate. He leveraged the unparalleled trust he had built with the global public over decades to issue stark warnings about climate change, the extinction crisis, and plastic pollution.
It is lovely to see how he has evolved organically with time and has made his voice count in the last few decades of his life.
We all have heard the quote “We overestimate what we can get done in a day but significantly underestimate what we can get done in a decade”. Sir David is a great case study on what is possible over a century!
Happy 100th birthday Sir David Attenborough! Over the years, you have shown us how Millions of Species lead their lives. More importantly, you have also shown Billions of us human beings what a 100-year-life, if lived well, could look like!”
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