Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO of Coca-Cola in the 1980s, a time of huge competition between Pepsi and Coke. Executives from Coke were trying to increase their market share by just 0.1% to be able to say that they were ahead of Pepsi. Roberto decided to do something different. He called a meeting of all his executives. In that meeting he said, "Tell me, what's the average fluid intake of an American per day?" The answer: "Fourteen ounces." Next question: "What is Coke's share of that?" They answered, "Two ounces." Then Roberto said, "That's our answer. We're not going after Pepsi, we're going after the other 12 ounces. Our competition is water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit juices that Americans consume in the remaining 12 ounces." Coke never looked back after that, putting up vending machines at every street corner, making their products easily available, and won that particular battle hands down.
There are times in our lives when defining moments are called for. As somebody said, "There's a defining moment in every person's life. Within that moment, everything that that person is, shines its brightest." And for Roberto, this was the defining moment. A defining moment is one that is not just taken by an extrovert or somebody who is outgoing. It's a moment in time, whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, rational or intuitive, whatever your personality type is, when you feel that there's something that has to come out of you, that needs to be said, and which will make a difference. That's a defining moment. It defines the situation, defines the people; it defines who you are in terms of leadership.
All through history, defining moments have come and gone and defining leaders have stepped into those defining moments. Consider this: Many years ago, in the late 60s, Scott Paper was the leading company in paper-based consumer products. Then Proctor & Gamble decided to get into the paper-based consumer products business. What did Scott Paper do? They just folded up and gave in, saying, "We were #1, but I guess we're going to be #2 from now on." They just gave up.
But, another company, Kimberley-Clark, whose CEO at that time was Darwin E. Smith, decided to take a completely different approach. He called a board meeting and when the entire board was present, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I want everyone here to rise in a moment of silence." Everybody did but were stunned because they wondered what Darwin was up to. Who had died? Who was this in memory of? After a moment of confusion, but silence, Darwin spoke, and said, "That was the moment of silence for Proctor & Gamble." Insiders who were there said that the place went bananas and everybody was pumped up, right down to the plant manager. Everybody realized that they were going to take on a Goliath; they were not going to roll over and get taken over. Defining moments!
In the movie, 'Facing The Giants', there's a line that says, "God gifted you with the ability to lead. Don't waste it." Wherever you are today, God has placed you there with the ability to take these defining moments and do something about it. Don't waste it. Great speeches, great inspirational moments at times like this, move and make a huge difference to people while making sure they remember you for a long, long time.
Consider this: He was Chairman of ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization. It was the year 1979 and he must have stood in the background and watched the consternation as four minutes to launch, all the screens started flashing red. He watched the conference going on between his project manager and his expert panel of scientists; he sees them go to a manual launch. Something's wrong, but a decision has been taken. They launch the SLV, it goes up and 317 seconds later, crashes into the Bay of Bengal. That was Professor Satish Dhawan, Chairman of ISRO at that time. (By the way, as an aside, today September 25th would be his 95th birth anniversary.) What did he do? He walked into the press conference with a very reluctant Abdul Kalam, the man responsible for the failed launch. He didn't let Dr. Kalam, who was the project manager at that time, say a word or be blamed. He just said these wonderful words. "We have failed in our first attempt. But this failure makes us believe that we have to give more technological support. Our team has worked very hard and in a year from now, we will launch successfully." And they did, on July 18, 1980.
Dr. Abdul Kalam says that he has never forgotten Professor Satish Dhawan because at a time of failure, he stood up and took the blame. One year later, when it was a successful launch, he invited Dr. Kalam to go and meet the press—without him. He let the team take the credit. Inspirational moments, thoughts and messages leave an indelible mark on the hearts and lives of people, and you are in positions of leadership to create those kinds of defining moments.
Our Holy Scriptures say, "In a world that is so complex, we ought to shine as lights." We ought to be ones who will shine like stars in a world that seems to have lost so much of hope, where there's so much of despair, so much of wrong – in the midst of this, we are called to be defining leaders.
My challenge to you, is to take these defining moments and be the inspiration you're supposed to be. Don't just inspire people to do something; inspire them to be different, improved, individuals or just better human beings. Inspire them to think lofty and noble thoughts. Help them imagine beyond cynicism and their own confining boundaries and challenge them to rise above their own self-limiting expectations. There's a defining moment in every person's life and within that moment, everything that the person is, shines its brightest.
Defining moments define leaders.
May I offer this prayer on your behalf?
Almighty God, may everyone who reads this, be inspired by You to seize their defining moments, to rise to the occasion and be moments of inspiration to people all around them. I pray this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Endnotes:
• Roberto Goizueta, ncr.mae.ufl.edu/funstuff/Teamwork.ppt
• Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap..and others don't. (pp. 80-81). New York, NY: HarperCollins.
• Facing the Giants, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facing_the_Giants
• Prof. Satish Dhawan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-OYt-rTqk
• Defining Moment quote, http://thinkexist.com/quotes/like/there-is-a-defining-moment-in-every-persons-life/347477/
• Bible quote: http://biblehub.com/philippians/2-15.htm
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