by Dr. Cecil Clements (4th September 2012)
I was trying to gather my thoughts to see what I could share with you when an interesting article caught my attention. It may have nothing to do with the corporate world, yet I think we can glean some principles from it. I don’t know how many of you are into Broadway shows, opera and musicals, but bear with me as I try to use one of them to make a point that I think is very pertinent for each one of us.
It’s the story of a musical that came out last year Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark. When it came out last year, it had devastating previews. Everyone said it wouldn’t work. They had to stop the previews for the press 5 times mid-act; Spiderman was hanging there, some glitch in the wires holding him. The press wrote them off, saying that it was the worst thing. In fact, they likened it to the Titanic, that it was just going to sink.
But the producers went back and said, “What are we going to do? Are we going to listen to the reviews and just dump it or are we going to do something about it?” The producers say that 2 things happened:
I was trying to gather my thoughts to see what I could share with you when an interesting article caught my attention. It may have nothing to do with the corporate world, yet I think we can glean some principles from it. I don’t know how many of you are into Broadway shows, opera and musicals, but bear with me as I try to use one of them to make a point that I think is very pertinent for each one of us.
It’s the story of a musical that came out last year Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark. When it came out last year, it had devastating previews. Everyone said it wouldn’t work. They had to stop the previews for the press 5 times mid-act; Spiderman was hanging there, some glitch in the wires holding him. The press wrote them off, saying that it was the worst thing. In fact, they likened it to the Titanic, that it was just going to sink.
But the producers went back and said, “What are we going to do? Are we going to listen to the reviews and just dump it or are we going to do something about it?” The producers say that 2 things happened:
- They decided to take the reviews as criticism but they also believed that this was a good work and they needed to carry it forward. So they decided to begin to work again. As one of the guys, Harris explained, “Our dynamic was one and one equals three. We were able to work together as a team.” Both Harris and Cole were extraordinary producers, having done a lot of work with Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, U2. They had great credentials till it came to Spiderman. But they said, “We’re not going to dump it. We’re going to do something about it.”
- They ignored the outside noise. They said, “Let’s tune out everything people are saying. Let’s look at the product again. Is this a good product? If it is, then we need to look at how we can re-present it to the market.”
Once they decided that they were going to re-present it to the market, then they decided to go back and listen to the voices and be discerning about them. So they had focus groups that invited people to share what they felt about the show. They took all of that back to the drawing board, put in another extra $15 million and then brought it out again. When they did, this particular show has now grossed $160 million. It’s a blockbuster by any standards on Broadway. This was documented in an article in Harvard Business Review entitled ‘The Turn-around that kept Spiderman on Broadway’ by Joe Frontiera and Dan Leidl. But they did 3 things – they worked together, they ignored the outside noise and they listened to their customers.
As I read that article, I was challenged. It’s so difficult sometimes to overcome some of the criticism that comes our way especially when we’ve put in a lot of effort. Two things must be absolutely foundational for us to go forward when negative vibes come back at us.
As I read that article, I was challenged. It’s so difficult sometimes to overcome some of the criticism that comes our way especially when we’ve put in a lot of effort. Two things must be absolutely foundational for us to go forward when negative vibes come back at us.
- We need to believe in ourselves
- We need to believe in our project
BELIEVE IN OURSELVES:
For us to believe in ourselves, we must never let outside voices diminish who we are; not the things that we’re doing. We shouldn’t think that we are less because other people didn’t like the work that we did.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” If we begin to let other people think we are inferior, then we will begin to act inferior.
An anonymous writer said, “It’s not who you are that holds you back; it’s who you think you’re not.” Self-belief is so very important. What does self-belief do? It makes us act on the fact that we know who we are and we know what we can do.
Mark Victor Hansen says, “Your belief determines your action; and your action determines your result. But first you have to believe.” You have to believe in yourself, your abilities, what you’re able to do with yourself, your gifts, your talents, your relational skills, with all your innovation and creativity – you have to believe in yourself. Never let outsiders diminish who you are. Remember, every adversity that comes, is an opportunity for us to grow stronger, to learn new lessons. But never let them diminish who you are.
Remember the story of the butterfly. When the butterfly is trying to break out of its cocoon, a little boy felt sorry for the little butterfly and he opened the cocoon so that the butterfly could emerge easily. But the result was that the butterfly couldn’t fly because as a butterfly breaks out of a cocoon, as it uses its strength to break out, it’s actually strengthening its wings. So when it finally comes out it can fly. Adversity, difficulty situations, allows it to do what it was meant to do.
It’s the same with you and me. Be able to take the criticism, be able to be discerning about positive criticism and negative criticism. Take away the negative criticism but look at what is positive and say, “That’s something that I can take and learn from and do something better.”
I remember when I was doing my doctoral work, I had somebody who had just passed out and wanted to give me some advice. He said, “Don’t think that your thoughts, as you put it down in your dissertation, is the ultimate. If you think that, you’re in grave danger. The first time you get that draft back from your mentor, your professors, you’ll feel like your world has collapsed around you. Handle it lightly; look at that criticism. Don’t think that it’s the cat’s whiskers. Be able to look at positive criticism and see how you can use it to make yourself better.”
BELIEVE IN THE PROJECT:
Both these producers, Harris and Cole, knew that they had an incredible production in their hands. It was not yet at the point where it would be received by audiences, but it had the potential for it. So often, we have projects that have great potential, but when we get the first reviews and they’re bad, we think that we need to abandon the project. But we always need to look objectively at the project and say, “Okay, is this a good project? Maybe it could be tweaked a little, it could be marketed a little better and it would be a great project.” Before we can even launch anything, we need to be able to believe that this product is a good product.
I think it’s the same as loyalty. I remember a quote by Colin Powell who said, “When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.”
It’s the same with a project. If we’re going to believe in a project, when we’re first given the project, if we have certain apprehensions about it, we need to voice our opinions. But after that has been dealt with, then we need to work on this project like we completely believe in it. If we don’t act like that, then we will short-change ourselves. We need to believe in ourselves. We need to believe in our project.
Two words in Latin that are so encouraging for me when I think about believing in myself or believing in the things that I do. The word is ‘Imago Dei’ which means ‘Image of God’. Our scriptures say that we are made in the image of God. We have those abilities; God continues to pour His creativity into our lives. Innovation, our self worth – God hasn’t made any trash. He makes good things. We are made in that image.
The second thing that always encourages me is a verse in our scriptures that says, “He is always with us. He will never leave us; He will never forsake us. If God is with us, then who can be against us.”
I want to give you those two, as you look at this whole idea about what it means to be able to believe in yourself and believe in the things that you do.
Let me pray for you. Almighty God, on each and every one of these precious ones, pour out Your Spirit, remind us that we are made in Your image, that we are good, capable, we have the ability to do incredible things because You have put within us creativity and innovation and self-belief. Lord, I pray that those qualities will be in the forefront of everything we think today and through this week, that each one of us will be able to reach for the stars. I pray a blessing on each one on this call, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
For us to believe in ourselves, we must never let outside voices diminish who we are; not the things that we’re doing. We shouldn’t think that we are less because other people didn’t like the work that we did.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” If we begin to let other people think we are inferior, then we will begin to act inferior.
An anonymous writer said, “It’s not who you are that holds you back; it’s who you think you’re not.” Self-belief is so very important. What does self-belief do? It makes us act on the fact that we know who we are and we know what we can do.
Mark Victor Hansen says, “Your belief determines your action; and your action determines your result. But first you have to believe.” You have to believe in yourself, your abilities, what you’re able to do with yourself, your gifts, your talents, your relational skills, with all your innovation and creativity – you have to believe in yourself. Never let outsiders diminish who you are. Remember, every adversity that comes, is an opportunity for us to grow stronger, to learn new lessons. But never let them diminish who you are.
Remember the story of the butterfly. When the butterfly is trying to break out of its cocoon, a little boy felt sorry for the little butterfly and he opened the cocoon so that the butterfly could emerge easily. But the result was that the butterfly couldn’t fly because as a butterfly breaks out of a cocoon, as it uses its strength to break out, it’s actually strengthening its wings. So when it finally comes out it can fly. Adversity, difficulty situations, allows it to do what it was meant to do.
It’s the same with you and me. Be able to take the criticism, be able to be discerning about positive criticism and negative criticism. Take away the negative criticism but look at what is positive and say, “That’s something that I can take and learn from and do something better.”
I remember when I was doing my doctoral work, I had somebody who had just passed out and wanted to give me some advice. He said, “Don’t think that your thoughts, as you put it down in your dissertation, is the ultimate. If you think that, you’re in grave danger. The first time you get that draft back from your mentor, your professors, you’ll feel like your world has collapsed around you. Handle it lightly; look at that criticism. Don’t think that it’s the cat’s whiskers. Be able to look at positive criticism and see how you can use it to make yourself better.”
BELIEVE IN THE PROJECT:
Both these producers, Harris and Cole, knew that they had an incredible production in their hands. It was not yet at the point where it would be received by audiences, but it had the potential for it. So often, we have projects that have great potential, but when we get the first reviews and they’re bad, we think that we need to abandon the project. But we always need to look objectively at the project and say, “Okay, is this a good project? Maybe it could be tweaked a little, it could be marketed a little better and it would be a great project.” Before we can even launch anything, we need to be able to believe that this product is a good product.
I think it’s the same as loyalty. I remember a quote by Colin Powell who said, “When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.”
It’s the same with a project. If we’re going to believe in a project, when we’re first given the project, if we have certain apprehensions about it, we need to voice our opinions. But after that has been dealt with, then we need to work on this project like we completely believe in it. If we don’t act like that, then we will short-change ourselves. We need to believe in ourselves. We need to believe in our project.
Two words in Latin that are so encouraging for me when I think about believing in myself or believing in the things that I do. The word is ‘Imago Dei’ which means ‘Image of God’. Our scriptures say that we are made in the image of God. We have those abilities; God continues to pour His creativity into our lives. Innovation, our self worth – God hasn’t made any trash. He makes good things. We are made in that image.
The second thing that always encourages me is a verse in our scriptures that says, “He is always with us. He will never leave us; He will never forsake us. If God is with us, then who can be against us.”
I want to give you those two, as you look at this whole idea about what it means to be able to believe in yourself and believe in the things that you do.
Let me pray for you. Almighty God, on each and every one of these precious ones, pour out Your Spirit, remind us that we are made in Your image, that we are good, capable, we have the ability to do incredible things because You have put within us creativity and innovation and self-belief. Lord, I pray that those qualities will be in the forefront of everything we think today and through this week, that each one of us will be able to reach for the stars. I pray a blessing on each one on this call, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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