Also, thanks because I used an excerpt of your post in my new site, but give you full credit of course!

Two things I want to say related to my experience as a Buddhist practitioner.

1. There was a term in Buddhism (at least the sect I belonged to) that addressed what you were talking about with “too much compassion”. We called it “idiot compassion”. Basically, compassion without wisdom wasn’t necessarily a good thing. As you pointed out, self-sacrifice to the point of having nothing to sustain yourself, or giving when it hurt more than helped, etc, are all examples of “idiot compassion”.

2. I lived and worked at a meditation center for about a year and a half, and I saw many times over how messed up people get around issues of money. There would be these people who were long term meditators, and they were all love and light about everything, but when it came time to pay their bill or donate they would revert right back to confusion and chaos. Money may not be the root of all evil, but it sure is cause for a lot of neurosis and confusion.

You are so spot on with this post, and thank you for putting this out there. Bravo!

Consider it shared

The only constant right now is change.

“Ring out the old/Ring in the new/Ask not for whom the bells toll/The bells toll for thee,”wrote a poet once. Prescient.

Meaning: the command and control paradigm is giving way to lean, mean and hungry. And flatter structures and cross-functional skills are in demand too.

Look at the smaller start-ups in Silicon Valley; the rise of the entrepreneurial class; and the emergence of freelancers, coaches and consultants. That seems to be the wave of the future. And it is our future, folks.

Will we find a strategy to align with this new model based on compassion without sacrificing our humanity and turning into a drone/zombie/robot/machine?

The good news? So what if you can’t find a job? The notion of a job is dated anyway.

Figure out a way to find clients who want tailor-made, customized products/services?

People who are tired of Wal-Mart want to buy from an entrepreneur who speaks to them personally and subjectively.

They want to know you care. That you speak from the heart. That you mean well.

They want to meet you in person and will trust you only if your tone is friendly. And you deliver results. This is the new workplace. Are you a happy camper?

Or do you feel more comfortable wearing a three-piece suit, carrying a briefcase, and working out of a cubicle?

Do you want a boss hovering over your head like a helicopter or do you want to be your own boss? Answer: “Know thyself.”

Your post gave me so much to think about, I really like the framework you used here.

Over the last nine months or so, I’ve been slowly working out what my ‘Thing’ is and how it’s going to work in real life. I’ve spent a huge amount of mental and emotional energy wrestling with these two areas.

My preferred choice is, like most well intentioned people, to operate from a compassionate base, but I notice that when I’m feeling insecure that can take a bit of a hit. (I have babies to feed and my compassion goes to them first then moves outward.)

The great thing I got from your post is that as long as I’m at least holding the intention to operate with compassion, then strategy becomes the tool that allows me to make that a reality, while supporting myself and my family.

It seems a great insight to hold onto for the next time I’m feeling insecure and overwhelmed.

Thanks for the great post.

It’s way too easy to focus on the money making tasks and leave the development tasks – the things that could take you from good to great – in the to-do pile. If you need to – attach a dollar value to these things and ‘pay’ yourself to do them. If you track that over time and see the value it ultimately adds to your business, you see it pays off in every way. Takes discipline, but it gets results and you end up happier – at least I know I do….

This post was mentioned on Twitter by CharlieGilkey: Today’s post: “Aligning Strategy and Compassion” http://ow.ly/1q6aeq Believe it or not, they’re not mutually exclusive….