Building On What We’ve Learned (Hopefully)

If the only thing we ever pull from a bad situation is a story we can share in the next woe-is-me competition, at least it was good for something. Just kidding, no one wants to hear that crap. Well, almost no one. I’ve often heard that a small percentage does indeed want to hear how tough we have it - but those are the ones who are excited to know they’re not wallowing in crap by themselves; misery loves company, as long as that company is just as miserable.

To have any real shot of ever taking ownership of the “equal or greater benefit” Napoleon Hill alluded to, it’s 100% our responsibility to find the seed within it. Then we’ll have to plant it, care for it, and harvest it. None of which will ever happen by accident! We’ll work through that process step-by-step soon enough. Now, though, let’s just stick with laying a foundation for why it matters.

I’ll never pretend that I’ve had to carry the toughest of burdens or that I’ve learned as much as I possibly could have from any one of them I’ve had to fight through. Truth be told, I’ve watched plenty of people deal with far worse - often, over and over and over again. In looking closely at some of those scenarios, I’ve realized that at least part of the reason lightning seemingly struck in the same places more than once was that the person never put down the lightning rod. While I’m sure I could have learned far more from every bad situation I’ve been through (and likely sooner), I can say that I’ve worked tirelessly to identify whatever possible seed of greater benefit could be found to have a shot at realizing the equal or greater benefit somewhere down the road.

In my life to this point, I can’t point to any specific earth shattering moment that changed everything - with the possible exception of the phone call that resulted in me being Cindy’s bodyguard on January 30, 1998. I can, however, list a host of small lessons I pulled from years of challenges which have since compounded into remarkable results. All the years of being held accountable for driving productivity and profitability improvements while being a role typically geared at cost-avoidance taught me how leadership skills are not intangible and can drive measurable bottom-line results. That served as a premise for What’s KILLING Your Profitability? Hearing one of my heroes in life share a feeling of burnout helped me realize how much we all need to be working toward something that matters, and that led to Leading With A Clear Purpose. The Covid shutdowns in 2020 (into 2021) stopped the momentum we were building in our business dead in its tracks, forcing me to take on any work I could get related to human resources and safety, just to keep our heat on. Reluctantly agreeing to help a couple I had never met as they took over a local business resulted in one of the most amazing friendships I could have ever asked for and provided the example behind The Values Advantage. And despite having very little formal education after high school (some may even say that I didn’t get much during high school), I’ve been blessed to work beside some incredible mentors, which gave me the idea for Leveraging Leadership Growth (coming in 2027).

Just surviving a bad situation doesn’t equate to finding the seed, and even then we’re not guaranteed the equal or greater benefit. We absolutely have to learn everything we can from each, then build on that as we go. We’ll look at that chain of preparation next. Until then, think about your own journey. Which of these “pillars” (profitability, purpose, values, relationships) has a bad situation already strengthened for you? We’ll explore the full chain soon…