Call Me a Trim Tab

I've encountered two types of people in this world, those who believe they can make a difference regardless of the environment and those who believe the outside world dictates that for them. Those who tend to believe they are in control of their actions and environment tend to be more on the positive side, proactively working to change their environment.  They are the first who say we can, instead of solely looking on what we cannot do. These optimists are intent on facing problems head-on, taking active and constructive steps to solve their problems; while the “pessimists” are more likely to abandon their effort to attain their goals. One of my favorite engineers, Buckminster Fuller, explained it this way…

“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary—the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab.

It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it's going right by you, that it's left you altogether. But if you're doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go.

So I said, call me Trim Tab.”

Regardless of position or authority we all can make a positive difference in our community and organizations…  We are all “Trim Tabs” !   Please share your stories.