I took my daughter to see the film Avatar the other day. In some ways it’s a predictable film, given the director. His film Titanic was about how much happier the poor are, dancing round their fire - I ask you? A fire on a transatlantic liner? Whereas the rich are portrayed as nasty and with petty problems.

Avatar is about how much happier people are when they live in harmony with the forest, than the “other” people constantly chasing money.

But that’s only part of it. It is a fantastic film about industrial man finding himself; the hero of the story, an ex-military and marine, is taken into a family of the gentle, nature-loving people. He learns about their traditions, their interaction and respect with all living things, and the way they say a prayer each time they kill an animal. It’s a metaphor, and a blatant one at that.

Be careful what wish for

So what goals are you pursuing, and have you checked whether they are worth pursuing?

What targets do you try to comply with? Are they relevant to what you doing? Are you sure? So often, we pursue the detail, but we have forgotten about the overall strategy: we can't see the wood for the trees. Our overall strategy is public good, public service. Of overall aim is health or social care free at the point of use. And yet we charge for car parking; put up barriers to stop people getting the care they need; we permit people to drink themselves silly or smoke until they get cancer, with the promise that we will patch them up. Then we can hit some short term target, but forget the long term aim.

Everyone wants to make a difference, nobody comes to work to do a bad job. But we think these targets, these rules and regulations, have to be met, regardless of how the impact people's real lives out in the real world.

I have already commented that the difference between mediocre and high performance is in the leadership. Are you that leader? One who knows where you're going, clearly, and could help other people see your destination? Is your destination a worthy goal? One that other people want to join you in?

If you sometimes have trouble distinguishing the wood from the trees, then you may benefit from a bit of help. Contact Minney.org at the contact details below.