Monthly Archives: March 2011

Legend has it that the motel chain Ramada Inn built its business plan base upon what its competitor Holiday Inn was doing.   Wherever Holiday Inn built a motel Ramada would build one across the highway or next door.  I don’t know for sure if the legend is valid or not, but if there is an ounce of truth in it, it was a brilliant plan.  What I do know is that the founders of both companies recognized the great need for higher quality motel accommodations along America’s highways, thus a business opportunity.  Ramada simply let their competitor go first, identify the strategic locations, and then they would buy the property next door.  Ramada Inn, in other words, was not capitalizing on what their competitor was doing wrong, but on what they were doing right. 

What is it that if you had the opportunity to do it all over again you would do exactly the same?  Ever think about that?  Most of us can think of lots of things we wish we had done differently, the mistakes we have made, but what about those choices and decisions that turned out right?  Those are the things we can capitalize on, providing insights as to how we can be successful in other endeavors. 

In my experience of coaching leaders and business executives a common oversight occurs when in our zeal to fix something that is broken or correct a dysfunction we often neglect to consider the things that are actually working quite well – either directly within the operation, in another area of the organization, or outside the organization such as a competitor.  The result is that we often overlook an idea or solution that is right under our noses. 

The things we do right are not accidents.  They are the result of our diligence and hard work for sure.  But more than that the things we do right – however many or few they may be – provide insights about ourselves, our strengths and abilities, our passions, and our potential for being successful in other endeavors. 

So what has come to mind for you these past few seconds as you’ve read this?  What would you do exactly the same if you had it to do over again?  How might you capitalize on the things you have done right that could make you successful in other endeavors?

We once had a track coach when I was in high school who tried to convince us that there is no limit to how fast we can run, that the only barrier limiting our speed is in our minds not in our physical capacity.  He’s got to be kidding I remember thinking, not with these short legs, that’s why I was a long distance runner, not a sprinter.  But even among the fast guys as I recall no one ever went on to become a record-breaking Olympic gold-medalist, so my teammates must not have believed the coach any more than I did. 

He was right, though, I’ve since learned.  Most of the barriers that hold us back from tackling a challenge or achieving success exist in our minds not because of our limited capacity.  I thought about that recently when we received the exciting news that our third grandchild will be arriving sometime in late September.  It reminded me of the self-doubt I experienced when our second child was on the way.  How can I love the second one as much as the first, I wondered?  Can I provide for a larger family?  Will I be able to devote as much time to the second child as I do with the first without neglecting the older one?  Of course, all those struggles with self-doubt completely vanished the moment I saw the little guy – and the rest is history.  The capacity I had to love and provide time and energy was so much greater than I ever imagined.  The only barrier that had limited me from realizing that in the first place was in my mind. 

On May 6, 1954 in Oxford, England Roger Bannister became the first person on record to run the mile in under four minutes.  Prior to that time the world had deemed it an impossible feat – that there was a limit how fast the human body could run such a grueling distance.  Not so, the coach was trying to convince us. 

On November 9, 1977, the day our second child was born, my capacity to love exploded into a new dimension – not just for our newborn son, but equally so for his older brother, as well as their mother.  And now I have no doubt about my capacity to love our new grandchild every bit as much as his or her older sister and cousin – all three, and their parents, even more!  Coach was right; our limited capacity is all in our minds.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 

On a trip to Mississippi this past weekend we had a chance to take a brief tour of the Vicksburg National Military Park, the site of a long series of significant and bloody Civil War battles.  Being on a tight schedule we did not have time to linger as we would have liked except when we came upon the Vicksburg National Cemetery.  There, it claims, nearly 17,000 Union soldiers are buried, 13,000 of whom are unknown.  Can you imagine?  We did pause there for a while and what I did imagine besides the thousands of slain young men were all the mothers who must have grieved the rest of their lives having never known for sure what happened to their sons and why they never returned home. 

What do you think it means to lay down one’s life for his friends?  For certain it would mean dying in order to save another, but in the scheme of things the large majority of us will never be faced with such circumstances as jumping in front of a bus to save a child or falling on a grenade.  Yet, Jesus seems to be speaking to all of us about laying down our life for a friend, not just the few who must actually choose death to save a life. 

What about parents who sacrifice on behalf of their children so they can have a better life?  Does that count as laying down one’s life?  Or, a teacher committed to the profession of teaching, a doctor or nurse dedicated to healing, an employer endeavoring to keep his company profitable in order to provide jobs for others, or an employee serving his employer to the same end?  What about those who fight to preserve freedom or the ones who strive to conserve the environment?  What about simply living life in such a way that has a positive influence on another?  Are these not examples of laying down one’s life for another?  And surely the grieving mothers of those thousands buried beneath the soil at Vicksburg would have, given the opportunity, died in place of their beloved sons so they could live.  

Laying down one’s life on behalf of another, however that occurs . . . it is indeed the greatest act of love there is, and the only thing that will ever truly give our lives meaning.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?”  Psalm 121 

For the most part I’m a pretty sore loser.  That’s not to say I’m not gracious about it, it’s just that I don’t like to lose.  So what’s wrong with that, you ask, shouldn’t we all strive to win?  Perhaps, except I hate to lose so much that too often I refuse to accept challenges at all when it appears the odds are stacked against me.  If it doesn’t look as if I’ve got a good chance of winning I just don’t play. 

Now, that’s probably smart when it comes to things such as investing in the stock market.  Who, for crying out loud, would be foolish enough to buy a stock if the odds are stacked against it ever going up?  No, when we invest in the stock market we do so based on the odds on that our stocks will go up.  But let me ask you, have you ever taken on a challenge where logic says you have no chance to win, yet even under the slimmest odds you did it anyway because it was so worthwhile or you simply felt called to do so?  To be so undaunted by fear of failure or losing requires conviction and courage, doesn’t it? 

Here’s the point.  Sooner or later each and every one of us is going to be blindsided with some sort of overwhelming challenge anyway.  Disaster will strike, a crisis will emerge, and we will find ourselves face to face with Goliath – a giant twice our size.  So why not instead pick a few insurmountable challenges of our own rather than waiting for fate to choose for us – things that matter, that make a difference, that make the world a better place for others as well as ourselves?  Ask yourself these three questions.  What are my dreams that seem out of reach?  What passions do I keep locked away?  What footprints do I want to leave behind from my walk on this earth?  How you answer these questions will determine which insurmountable challenges are worth taking on. 

So then the question of courage arises, from where is it to come?  The psalmist wrestled with the same thing.  “I lift my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?” he asked. Then he answered his own question, “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”  You’ll find your courage there, too.  Believe it – and go for it!