“ The thing always happens that you really believe in; and
the belief in a thing makes it happen .”
- Frank Lloyd Wright
October 17, 2004
It is a gray, dismal Sunday in October. Our beloved Red Sox are down
three games to none against the dreaded Yankees in the American League
Championship Series, and the thought of watching yet another night of humiliation
at the hands of the Evil Empire is repulsive. But just a little while ago
I had a hunch. I haven't told anyone how I feel, for fear of jinxing the
situation, but I am fairly certain that the Sox are going to make the comeback
of all time, and that Curt Schilling will lead with a display of awesome
courage.
October 21, 2004
Well it happened. Last night we beat the dreaded Yankees.
It was certainly the wildest moment in Boston sports history. I'm still
not telling anyone about my hunch, although I've been tempted. You see
I still have this feeling about the World Series. I think this is the year
for the Red Sox to win it all, and I don't want to jinx them. By the time
you read this we'll know how it all ends.
October 27, 2004
Red Sox World Series Champs
Now We Know!
Events that change the course of history, even if it's sports history,
deserve analyzing. Where did Curt Schilling find the courage to have his
tendon stitched in place in order to pitch to victory? What enabled hitters
like David Ortiz to deliver when it counted most, or pitcher like Derek
Lowe to shrug off a season-long slump? Where did they find the strength
to overcome a deeply negative situation? When did the first glimmer of
possibility emerge into synergy and finally unstoppable energy?
My hunch was born of possibility on that gloomy Sunday. I sensed a great
though improbable story developing, one that would excite generations of
sports fans. Within the Red Sox organization that glimmer of possibility
was incubating. We may never know the leader(s) who first imagined it,
but one thing is sure, once the collective imagination of the team locked
onto the possibility of living a great story, there was no stopping them.
I was listening to talk radio on the afternoon of game four in St. Louis.
Curt Schilling called in to talk about the amazing Sox comeback. He spoke
of driving to Fenway to pitch when the pain in his ankle was so bad he
could hardly walk. He talked about how the signs from fans alongside the
road gave him strength to keep going against all odds. One quote I especially
remember: “I've learned that the best way to find out what I'm made of
is to push beyond where I think I can go.”
What great story do you have to live?
When I work with
clients I always ask them what the end of their story would look like if
it were projected on a movie screen. “When they make
the movie about your life,” I ask, “what will you have accomplished? How
will your movie character respond in difficult situations? What will make
the best story to inspire your grandchildren?”
Watching the Red Sox respond to their desperate situation, one word kept
coming to me - courage. How often we all need courage! I asked myself how
I would respond if I were Johnny Damon early in the series, and I had to
keep coming to bat among the jeers of the crowd, striking out time after
time.
When things aren't working out as we'd hoped; when nothing good is coming
our way; when we're stuck in a hopeless situation, it is courage that sees
us through. Without courage we are crushed. There are many lessons to be
learned from a great team like the 2004 Red Sox, but the simplest is simply
this: When you give your all, when you believe in yourself and a Power
greater than yourself, when you persevere, anything is possible.
Take a leadership role in your own life.
Sometimes we
need to stand back to gain perspective on what is going on in our lives
and businesses. Sometimes the best way to get objectivity is to imagine
the result we want, the improbable story with the heroic ending. Then we
can live into the ending. We can imagine what the hero of our story would
do to make the story happen.
Right from the start this didn't feel like another Red Sox year. Yet
there we were, down to the Yankees 3-0. When presented with the awesome
possibility of rewriting the end of the story, each player gave the performances
of his career. Virtually every player transcended his personal foibles
to produce an amazing result. Each lived into the role of world champion.
Here are some questions to get you thinking about your own story:
- What would make the most satisfying ending to the movie
of your life?
- What might stop you from living into that ending?
- As Curt Schilling
would say, where do you need to push to find out what you're made of?
- What
changes do you need to make?
- What do you want your children and grandchildren
to learn from your life?
- What one action can you take now that will get
you started?
Our great-grandchildren will relive the story of the hated Yankees, the
Curse of the Bambino, and the October when it ended. Movies will be made
and books written. But the story isn't over, not yet, not as long as we
keep alive the courage and belief and true grit that make us winners. I
have this hunch that when you take a step back and look at your story,
you'll see that it's full of possibility.
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