Own Your Greatness

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

~Marianne Williamson

Is there something you are good at? Do you aspire to be better at it than you already are and strive to be better at it than anyone else? Do you find that your drive to succeed is also mixed with self-doubt and negative self-talk? If so, then it’s time to change the way you think.

Believe in Yourself

If you expect to succeed you must believe in yourself. Football fans everywhere learned this lesson in February 2008, after what has now become a historic Super Bowl game: The New England Patriots versus the New York Giants Giants. That season, the Patriots defeated every opponent they played, achieving 16 straight wins to become the first NFL team to do so since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Many, if not most, believed Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, a Super Bowl rookie, did not stand a chance against Super Bowl vet Tom Brady and his unstoppable Pats. In fact some had called for Manning’s ousting as they believed his performance was lackluster. Further, the Giants made it to the Super Bowl as a wildcard team.

On that infamous Sunday, it seemed the Patriots were closing in on yet another Super Bowl win. With one minute and fifteen seconds left in the game, the Giants trailed the Pats by 4 points. Manning narrowly avoided being sacked and completed a 32-yard pass to his wide receiver, David Tyree, who made an unbelievable leaping catch by pinning the ball on his helmet (see video). With the clock ticking and 35 seconds to spare, New York wide receiver Plaxico Burress caught the ball for a winning touchdown! The Giants were declared Super Bowl XLII champions and the game went down as one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets.

Manning had owned his greatness on the field. Later in an interview, Manning said about his team’s unbelievable win, “I never stopped believing in myself.”

Pairing Passion with Belief

As any great leader will tell you, believing in yourself also means being passionate about what you do. If your goal is to become a writer, then you must be passionate about writing. In the fact-based movie, The Soloist, Jamie Foxx brilliantly plays Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr., a gifted, albeit mentally ill, musician man with a profound passion for music. Despite being mentally ill and homeless, Ayers’ passion for music never dies and his talent as a cellist stays with him. After a reporter discovers Ayers and decides to do a story on him, the reporter declares, “I have never loved anything the way he loves music!”

Whether you are an athlete, a writer, or a musician, know that owning your greatness means being passionate about what you do and believing in yourself. In the words of Epectitus, a Greek philosopher, “What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are. If you think you are capable, you’ll act that way. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. As you think, so you are.”

The Power of Your Mind

One Sunday night I stumbled across an Albert Einstein documentary on the History Channel. Since it was late I decided to watch only the first few minutes of the documentary before going to bed. I realized I knew very little about Einstein except he was the genius behind the Theory of Relativity. And what exactly was his theory about, anyway?

I became riveted to the documentary and before I knew it, I had watched the entire piece. Besides learning about his Theory, I walked away with a newfound admiration for Einstein and his tenacity, the challenges he overcame, the disappointments he faced, the errors he discovered in his Theory, and the doubters he confronted. By the end, I was reminded of a very valuable lesson: we are all able to achieve so much by using the power of our minds.

As the narrator put it, "Alone in his studio, using only his mind and a pencil, Einstein made bizarre discoveries as intriguing to the public as the most talked about music and movies of the day." (History Channel, 2008).

There is so much we are all capable of doing when we put our minds to it. Yet we sabotage ourselves with thoughts such as "this won't work" or "I'm just a failure." Guess what? Einstein started out thinking he was a failure, too. Sometimes I find myself slipping into that belief system; the belief that I am not capable of achieving a specific goal. In those moments I remind myself of others like Einstein, who achieved goals by using the power of their minds. Think about it. Everything that touches our lives on a daily basis started as a thought in the mind of one person: The computers we use every day, the forks with which we eat, the pens we use, the socks we wear, or the cars we drive.

Imagine the obstacles and objections these inventors faced when they shared their ideas with others. In his book, Second Acts, author Stephen Pollan discusses how he coaches clients to overcome barriers as well as objections they receive from family and friends. Pollan says the most common barrier his clients cite is age because many believe they are either too old or to young to achieve a goal. (Pollan, 2003, p. 74). At age 42, Einstein became science’s first superstar, all the while his Theory of Relativity was being challenged, and we all know how that challenge ended! Other barriers Pollan’s clients cite are lack of money and lack of experience. In his book he provides plenty of real-life examples of others who moved past barriers to achieve goals.

Like Pollan’s clients, we sometimes seek the guidance of others to help us make decisions. Have you ever asked someone else’s opinion about how to handle a problem or what they think of your idea? The thought or perspective this person then shares with you is completely contrary to your own thinking. In the end, you dismiss their opinion and proceed with doing things the way you had intended. Some people may call you stubborn or maybe you have such belief in yourself and your ideas that you move into executing things the way you had planned or imagined.

The mind is a powerful instrument. Yet, not everyone really leverages their brain power. When Ben Carson, a young black neurologist, was interviewed for residency at the prestigious John Hopkins, he was asked why he wanted to be a neurosurgeon and why they get to accept him into their program. He began his response by talking about miracles and added that some doctors think only about the physical. He said he believes in miracles and that the brain "is a source of accomplishment."

For Albert Einstein his brain indeed proved to be a source of accomplishment. He was known to sit and ponder a problem for hours, months or even years. After fifteen years—which included setbacks and personal disappointments including a failed marriage—Einstein’s Theory was finally proven. And although he did not win the Nobel Prize for his Theory, his work and his genius live on.

"Here was a man because of the power of his intellect, the sheer power of his mind was able to rise above poverty, rise above war and strife to become one of the great figures in all of human history. And that was an inspiration because you don’t have to be born handsome, you don’t have to be born with muscles, you don’t have to be born that way. You can achieve it by the sheer power of intellect." -Michio Kaku

Sources:

Einstein (2008). History Channel.

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009).

Pollan, S. (2003). Second Acts: Creating the life you really want, building the career you truly desire.

Serving and Empowering Others

In the April 2009 blog some of the competencies of a real leader were listed. Among those competencies was servant leadership: the ability to serve and empower others. Servant leadership is one of those traits that have come to hold significance for me because I know few people who possess this quality. One of the best lessons I have been given on the subject of servant leadership is by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On February 4, 1968, Dr. King delivered his famous Drum Major Instinct speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme of this stirring and dynamic speech is the innate desire of humans to be important, to be put first; our quest for attention, recognition and importance; our need to be in front leading the parade like a drum major. As I listened to the audio version of Dr. King’s speech, he delivers it with his trademark eloquence and with an unbridled passion that make his words truly unforgettable:

If you want to be important-wonderful. If you want to be recognized-wonderful. If you want to be great-wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

Throughout my years in the workplace I have observed “drum majors” who overtly or indirectly belittled others by making them feel less smart or less capable than the drum major themselves. These are people who are boastful or arrogant; want to win awards; want to be well known; are always jockeying for attention; or make comments about the “stupid” question someone else asked. I once worked with a group that exhibited some of these traits. I felt I was not up to par with their smarts and bravado. I thought about it enough that eventually I began to believe I wasn’t up to par. Do you know what that type of thinking did to me? It prevented me from discovering and owning my own strengths. That is what happens to someone who is not empowered by servant leaders.

The truth is that oftentimes those who lack servant leadership skills come from a place of fear or inadequacy. They feel inadequate if no one gives them attention, they fear they may stop being important, they fear people will see them as nothing special, or they fear no one will respect them. Actually, the opposite is true: when you begin to serve and empower others you will earn their respect, you will reap the rewards of improved relationships, and you will gain loyalty and support. Servant leadership encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization’s values and integrity (Wikipedia, 2009).

If you are not being a servant leader you risk losing the benefits that this competency brings and you will become a Knucklehearted Leader. After viewing the Knucklehearted Leader slideshow decide how you will serve and empower those around you, then put those decisions into action, and you will be that servant.

What Are You Willing To Die For?

While at home one night I began thinking about my hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. what he stood for, what he believed in, and what he was willing to die for. I then asked myself, “What am I willing to die for?” The answer came in an instant: I am willing to die to make this world a better place. I know there is no one way to accomplish this purpose just as there is no one source of knowledge. Still, the first thing that came to mind is the epiphany I had in 2008 to lead a march for real leaders in this world.

A few days after asking myself that thought-provoking question I discovered the Horace Mann quote, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” That quote resonated with me and I knew my answer to the question, “What am I willing to die for?” was the right one. When I think of the current state of the economy and the misguided and unscrupulous actions that led to its meltdown, it is clear that this world is suffering from a profound lack of real leadership in government, businesses, communities, and families.

After mentioning my leadership initiative to a friend he commented, “We now have a new administration” referring to the Obama administration. I replied that it is not enough to rely on the government to create a better economy or a better country. Leadership is the responsibility of everyone. We must do our part to ensure a better future for ourselves and our children—children who are the future leaders of this world.

In reference to my leadership initiative, another friend said better leaders are not the problem. The problem, she said, is moral decay. She added that some of these people were good leaders; their morals simply began to decay. Her comments confirmed that more than ever we get to increase awareness of what real leadership means. Among a real leader’s competencies are: servant-leader mentality, integrity, empowerment of others, compassion, respect, and accountability. Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela are two such leaders who come to mind.

Stand up, and speak out wherever you see a lack of real leadership: dishonesty, absence of accountability, greed, injustice, poor judgment, lack of compassion, selfishness, and so on. And when someone brings these inadequacies to your attention: take action! In the recent Bernie Madoff scandal, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received overwhelming information, time and time again, that Madoff’s operation was an exceptionally elaborate Ponzi scheme. Yet, the SEC did nothing to intervene until it was too late.

As you move into the second quarter of 2009 ask yourself, “What am I willing to die for?” Not sure? Email me to start supporting the initiative for real leaders and a better world!