In August of 1996, I had an opportunity to meet with Viktor Frankl at his home in Vienna. It was there that I proposed the idea of writing a book that would apply his core principles and approach explicitly to work and the workplace --- to the world of business. Frankl's response remains burned in my memory. He was more than encouraging when, in his typically direct and passionate style, he leaned across his desk, grabbed my arm, and said: “Alex, yours is the book that needs to be written!” At that moment, as I later wrote in my book's introduction, I felt that Frankl’s words had been branded into the core of my being. It filled me full of determination to make the book a reality. I did.
One of the most gratifying experiences since writing Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl’s Principles at Work, has been watching its message spread around the world. It has been translated into eight languages and achieved international exposure quickly, which was somewhat of a surprise for this type of book. It has also been rewarding to see the book being used in ways that reach far beyond the workplace, including training voluteer aid workers (UNICEF, UNESCO, other NGO's) as part of the aid effort to assist survivors in the Province of Aceh, Indonesia, after the Asian Tsunami. It seems fitting that a book applying Viktor Frankl's core principles would be recognized across the world, because if you look at the life and work of Viktor Frankl himself, he was a global citizen. His work was never intended to be just within his profession, or his country, or even his region of the world. He was always somebody who was incredibly international in his perspective.
There is a story that illustrates this point. Once Viktor Frankl was scheduled to be the keynote at the International Logotherapy Conference in Toronto, Canada. It was during the time when there were still great struggles with apartheid in South Africa. He had been asked to come to talk with a youth group comprised primarily of young people in South Africa, who obviously represented the next generation in a post-apartheid world. They had no money to pay him. He felt the calling to respond, so as the story goes, he told the conference organizers in Toronto, "You can get one of my prodigies to speak on this topic; the young people in South Africa need me more." He and his wife flew down to South Africa and in doing so, Viktor Frankl's clearly said, "...if I can apply these principles in a different context and in places where there is great need, that's where I am going." This is what it is all about for me, too.
This personal reflection is timely. In just a couple weeks, I will be delivering The Eighth Annual Viktor Frankl Lecture in Toronto. I am humbled by this opportunity and know that I too have the honor of passing on Viktor Frankl's meaning-full principles, from still another perspective, at a time when the world deeply needs his enduring message.
You are invited to join me in Toronto for "Discovering the Meaning Difference" on Thursday, May 25. To learn more, click here.
All the best,
Alex
Alex Pattakos, Ph.D.
author, Prisoners of Our Thoughts
founder, Center for Meaning
Santa Fe, NM USA www.themeaningdifference.com
Come visit the Viktor Frankl Collection at the Global Dialogue Center
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