Attending the Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois was always a delight for me. It allowed me to enjoy perspectives on leadership from both within and outside the parameters of the church, including the marketplace. The non-Pentecostal leaning of the host church also provided broader outlooks than I experienced in Pentecostalism. I enjoy wider horizons than my immediate space and sphere can afford me.
One of the sessions that interested me the most was Bill Hybels interviewing Melinda Gates, co-founder of Microsoft. She and her husband, Bill, were the richest couple on earth before they started a foundation to which 90% of their wealth had been pledged. I wanted to know why they came to such a decision.
“Bill and I did not set out to own so much wealth,” she explained. “We were only interested in solving business problems and creating solutions that made business processes simpler and easier. When so much money came to us than we would ever need, we knew God must have sent the money to us for a purpose.” (Paraphrased)
Hybels then prodded her to share how her Catholic faith had guided her to learn to spend time daily in quiet meditation to hear God’s voice in her heart. This process helped her come to terms with the purpose of God for their wealth, which has been focused on solving the health problems of the poorest children in the world, especially in Africa.
This story fascinated me because it’s not a typical rags-to-riches story, nor is it a prosperity story that resulted from self-help motivational speakers or the Gospel of Prosperity often propounded in church. It’s the story of a Jew married to a Catholic who used technology to solve business problems.
This story fascinated me because it’s not a typical rags-to-riches story, nor is it a prosperity story that resulted from self-help motivational speakers or the Gospel of Prosperity often propounded in church. It’s the story of a Jew married to a Catholic who used technology to solve business problems. With their creative minds and God-given intelligence, they fulfilled their desire and were abundantly rewarded financially beyond their wildest imaginations.
Their story is unusual and defies most motivational books and their theories of success, including vision, goal-setting, planning, teamwork, building organizational structures, systems development, evaluation, and effective marketing. Some of these elements became additions after their technological breakthrough. They were not a poor couple who desired to be rich and intentionally employed specific principles of success to conquer poverty or become market leaders.
They did not become rich by choice or by their smartness. Most intriguing about their story, however, was the fact that they were not fulfilled by riches but knew there was more to their existence than wealth.
The Gates’ unique story brings me to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which depicts levels of human need. The five-layered cone begins at the base with physiological needs, such as breathing, food, water, sleep, and shelter. Humans strive to meet these needs instinctively.
The second layer is safety and security, including the need for family, property, health, and employment. The third layer is love and belonging through family, friends, intimacy, and social networks. The fourth is the need for self-esteem derived from the respect of others, confidence, achievement, and a sense of uniqueness.
Finally, there is self-actualisation through a sense of morality, creativity, release of potential, sense of purpose, significance, and meaning. This five-layered cone is widely known in economic theory. However, unknown to most people, Thomas Maslow added a sixth layer to the cone before his demise: self-transcendence.
Simply put, the self can give itself to a cause outside of itself. It is the ability to conquer self-focus and live for a cause beyond selfish desires. It conquers ego, the enthronement of self, and the pursuit of personal ambition to live for a purpose or calling that gives meaning to existence.
This is where the yearning in the heart of Bill and Melinda Gates makes sense. To the poor trying to survive, the lonely looking for a sense of belonging, or the one pursuing self-esteem, the ability to meet the next layer of need holds the promise of happiness and fulfillment. Even those who have experienced self-actualisation still feel a hollow within them that can only be filled by a sense of fulfillment derived from committing to a cause outside of themselves but bestowed upon them by God.
The pursuit of happiness is an endless journey from one layer to another of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Each level brings added joy, but the journey remains endless until self-transcendence. That’s why many people commit suicide despite wealth, fame, power, and great achievements.
Realizing we were created and formed for a purpose is the beginning of true happiness. Purpose is found in the mind of the manufacturer of a product and is therefore ours in the mind of God. We must connect with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on the cross of Calvary.
Through our connection with Him will come that sense of calling within each of us to something beyond ourselves that meets the needs of others and then brings us a sense of wholesomeness and happiness.
Victor Adeyemi