Everyone has an agenda of some kind. We may not recognize it, we can often deny that it exists, and we often say it is one thing while it is another. However, the fact that agendas exist is a fact not requiring acknowledgement. At times it is a matter of definition; a personal agenda is the true process by which you intend for your priorities, values, and principles to be played out so a particular destination is achieved. At any given moment one may only see one piece of the equation. A personal agenda may look like a group of priorities or values. On other occasions it will be how these play out in the relationships of the day. In most of our lives we will face the occasional “ends justifying the activity” version.
There is a tendency to think that any agenda is evil. In my experience most of the time, we repeat of dwell on this because the agendas we recognize and comment on are ones that service one person at the expense of another. More specifically the person in question agenda does not help us so it must be bad, right? Nowhere is this more evident than when the person in question has authority over us or responsibility for something that touches our life.
I know what I think my agenda is, but how do others see it? I know that I see in my peers; am I the same way? The fact is that “a good leader motivates, doesn’t mislead, doesn’t exploit.” (Proverbs 16.10) That is the process, agenda, of one with responsibility in leadership and management. No ends justify the means. No goal is so important that self-serving techniques apply.
Today is a fresh opportunity for a clean agenda. I get to determine what mine is, as do you. What is important? I want those around me to experience compassion, mercy, and acceptance. My goal is to help others on their journey, to communicate my vision clearly, and perhaps, if both parties are willing, to help each other along the way.
