By Bob Fish
I was out for my walk this morning and felt compelled to write a post on the idea of ‘Blame.’ I joke with my wife Michelle all the time and say in the most sardonic way ‘the most important thing is to find out is who to blame.’ Followed by a big smile. Because, of course I don’t believe that. 🙂
Me and Michelle in San Sebastian, Honduras, in May of 2023.
In fact, I believe that the act blaming or finding blame is simultaneously destructive, divisive, and doesn’t solve anything. That is not to say that understanding history isn’t important. It is. But even then, it kind of depends on who is writing that history.
One of the Core Operating Values of BIGGBY COFFEE revolves around the statement ‘You must have Faith, Confidence, and Courage.’
I believe in each these tenants strongly as a larger set of beliefs for success in life and business. I can speak to any of them individually in an extemporaneous manner, and I do. Although each of the tenants are interdependent on the other, I feel most compelled to talk about is ‘Confidence.’
Now confidence, many would believe, is an acting job, where your project your assurance upon somebody in business with a firm hand handshake, squared shoulders, and a smile.
Meeting the Farm Manager at the Becker Coffee Farm in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia in October, 2022.
Those things don’t hurt, but I believe that is just faking it.
Those that can claim confidence will need both faith and courage as their friends. But independent of both of those, confidence is when you can righteously claim self-reliance. And by that, I don’t mean to suggest that you will not need others in your life. You will. Self-reliance to me, means that you do not hold others responsible, for the decisions, that you make. Period.
Once you are free of the shackles of holding others responsible for the condition of your life, I guarantee you will have the freedom to grow you, the system you are in, and the world around you. And, you will be confident in what you do, and what you are up to, in this world.
This doesn’t mean we can ignore the truth of the past and it’s impact on us as individuals, and therefore as a society. But, I go back to my assertion that blame is simultaneously destructive, divisive, and doesn’t solve anything.
I believe that, in my heart, and have seen it play out in a negative way so many times in others close to me. Blame is just a black hole that sucks the energy and life out of progress and the ability to create change.
Substantial, meaningful, positive impact is what I think we should be up to as individual human beings and a society as a whole. Don’t let blame distract us, divide us, and waste our time.
If you can, please remove blame from your vocabulary. and your way of thinking. Instead of finding ‘who to blame’ lets find ‘ways to solve.’ Lets get together, work on something, and make a real difference.
The world needs all of us, looking forward, creating change, and solving the issues and problems of tomorrow.
Michelle and I with our partners Maria Esther Saut and Pascual Castillo (right), and Kathya Irais (left), posing with the Pascual Hernandez Guzman, one of the small producers providing coffee in our Farm-Direct partnership with Finca la Fortaleza in Chiapas, Mexico, in March, 2023.