Free and Independent Wills

I’ve been thinking about independence lately—now I know you’re expecting some sort of red, white, and blue 4^th of July independence. But I am thinking of Charlotte Bronte and her novel, Jane Eyre.  Jane has a line I am quite fond of… she says to Mr. Rochester, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will”

This is the literary equivalent of, “oh no you didn’t.” It’s an emotional exchange, but one that can resonate with us because, yes, we too have passion. Maybe not for the random Mr. Rochesters of the world, but certainly for our businesses, for our community. As Chamber members, we carry that passion around with us knowing that we have choices and the free will to follow through with them.

You see that passion in action when our businesses are welcoming and inclusive, listening to each other, showing respect—even in disagreement, being open minded, taking responsibility, celebrating ideas, learning facts, and getting involved.

This is our Chamber membership. Our businesses work to be free of destructive, exclusionary tactics that can ensnare leaders, trapping them, like Mr. Rochester, in tragedies of their own making. Not so Jane Eyre. And not so our Chamber leaders.

We understand that, like Jane Eyre, sometimes you can also be trapped by what you love. And we love our businesses! But sometimes, as business and community leaders, we might be happily complacent with the way things are now. We might be caught in the net of ‘the way things have always been done.”

We might even love the people we are with and the work we are doing right now… that we stop looking to the horizon. And then we are ensnared-- birds unable to fly, mighty eagles longing to soar.

But at the Chamber, we have the courage to push through fear, to strategically embrace change and growth, to exert our free will as we work together for the greater good. And, after many plot twists, through good and bad, like Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, there is a future for us, filled with --SPOILER ALERT-- unplanned, unexpected… happiness.

It’s the kind of independent passion that brings the fireworks to our Chamber. Because we are humans with free and independent wills. And we know, that when you’re looking for the path to business success, all you have to do is Take the Federal Way!