I was recently helping my 9-year-old neighbor with her homework. She’d had a long day at school, and we’d been studying for an hour and her brain was tired! As I pulled out the last book we needed to study she said, “I can’t do this!”
Immediately I interrupted, “Oh honey, don’t say that! Because…
[Tweet “Whatever your mouth speaks, your ears hear and your brain believes!””]
She immediately plugged both of her ears and said, “I can’t do this!”
In September of 2012 I launched a book with 20 other co-authors that are deeply passionate about the overwhelming need for Character-Based Leaders to Instigate A Leadership Revolution in our world.
However, it was a first book for most of us and there was so much we didn’t know.
One of the biggest learning’s was that after more than a year of collaborating, writing, and editing our book… Getting it published and celebrating wasn’t the end of the story – it was only the beginning.
A variety of conversations over the past few months have me focused on expectations.
As a result I’ve historically struggled to be on the receiving end of poor service, and really struggled to work with titled leaders that don’t care about anything but meeting minimum standards.
So imagine living life in a place where:
I was recently on a call with a friend that is dealing with at situation that is impacting her family and needs to change. She’s done everything she can think of to communicate their needs, to ask for consideration, and to influence that change but nothing seems to be happening.
As we visited I thought of a story I heard years ago about two children that were teased every day at school by a bully. In spite of their pain, their families encouraged them to be courageous, to speak truth and to be kind and loving in in their responses.
After an especially challenging day at school the two children were hurting, frustrated and discouraged.
So the little girl’s father took them on a trip to a construction site. They sat at a distance and watched as a man hammered on a large boulder. Repeatedly he hit the massive stone with no apparent results.
…And then in one sudden blow the boulder crumbled into hundreds of pieces!
The children were amazed, and wondered why that one blow broke the rock and the others didn’t.
The father explained that with each blow the rock was breaking inside – even though the exterior showed no evidence of what was happening inside.
Today we honor the life of a man who consistently modeled that change can be obtained with persistence, thought, discipline and love.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words AFTER his home was bombed…
We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know that you love them.
As we honor his life I can’t help but to think about…
Below are links to tools to help you be that change and prepare for the boulders you will face:
Image credits: iStock, Historical Stock Photos
Ever since I read the book Good to Great this quote by former Pitney Bowes Executive Fred Purdue has resonated with me…
“My job is to turn over rocks and look at the squiggly things, even if what you see can scare the h_ll out of you.”
My definition of a squiggly thing is this: Anything that is breaking down people, relationships, organizations, processes, systems and/or results.
[Tweet ” Have you ever tried to ignore, hide from, or argue with a squiggly thing?”]
