C'mon! You Can Do It

I have just returned from vacation and wanted to share with you something from the Global Leadership Summit that I attended, which was very informative and inspiring. It had a plethora of good speakers – Melinda Gates, John Maxwell, Alan Mulally who is CEO of Ford Corporation, Patrick Lencioni who Wall Street says is one of the most sought-after business speakers, Henry Cloud, Horst Schulze, founding President of Ritz-Carlton group, to name a few. A wonderful array of speakers and each one came with some wonderful inspiring talks

 

I would like to talk to you about Henry Cloud who has written a new book called, "The Power of the Other." By the way, I picked up a lot of books that are current bestsellers that you might want to add to your library. If you would like a list of the names, send me an email (cihclements@gmail.com) and I will be happy to send you the list.

 

Henry Cloud in his book 'The Power of the Other' talks about his brother-in-law who was a navy seal. He says that to be a navy seal, after all the exhaustive training, the last thing that they have to do is to swim through the sea in very challenging circumstances. That week is called 'Hell Week!' His brother-in-law had just come through that test and he was standing on top of the rock watching his colleagues coming through. One of his friends Bryce (not his real name) was having difficulty and finally couldn't make it. Everything was beginning to shut down on him – his body would not respond, his arms were done. He had no will left to come through.

 

And as he was about to sink into the cold water, out of fuel and unable to go another yard, getting ready to call for help and signal that it was all over, his eyes looked up and he saw Mark standing on top of the rock with his arms outstretched in a fist, willing him to come through. Bryce would later say that something happened when his eyes locked with that of Mark and he felt the adrenaline kick in again and he somehow found the strength to move. His legs began to move, his hands reached out and he finished. That eye-lock with Mark was enough for him to be able to finish even though everything in him had given up.

 

That really grabbed my attention. It doesn't talk about looking around and seeing people who need to be inspired, or people who are not doing what they want and trying to motivate them. It's talking of the best of the best. And even the best of the best have moments when they are ready to go down. It made me think about all of us. We work with people who are bright and people who are willing to push beyond and do what is good and honorable, yet they have their moments too…

 

You have often heard me talk about the eagle story; where an old man is trying to get an eagle that has been living with chickens know that it ought not to be just puttering around with the chickens, but can soar. So he gets it to that point where it understands its potential and it flies. I like that! That is what God does in our lives. He wills us to get above our situations and circumstances and realize our dormant potentials. And more often than not, uses people around us to do so. This is highlighted in Henry Cloud's book, 'The Power of the Other'. There is a tremendous amount of power that is communicated from people around us.

 

One of the reasons that Corporate Capsules was started and I wrote the book "Corporate Capsules: Three Simple Steps for Corporate Success." was that I truly believe that the Almighty God is in our corner. We never sit alone in our cubicles or wherever we are, and make decisions in isolation. The Almighty God's wisdom is available to us and sometimes it comes through people who are around us. Today I felt such a strong sense that there may be strong people, people that we know are good people who we rarely think that we need to inspire. But it could be that they are floundering today in water, that they have reached the end. Somehow, something has happened to make them feel that they have hit an almost insurmountable wall. Maybe what they want today is for somebody to lock eyes with them and say, "You can do it."

 

God consistently works through people. In our Scriptures we find that He spoke to Moses' father-in-law Jethro to help him understand what he needed to do in leading people. Or else he would have burned out. I wonder whether there are people around us today who just need that eye-lock from you, for you to be able to just see whether you can reach out to somebody today – a colleague, a friend, or even a boss – and communicate "You can do it! You can rise above that situation and get beyond it and finish well."

 

I just wanted to encourage you with that. Sometimes we get caught up with ourselves. We do our thing and we sign out. But today, let's scan our offices, our places of work, the people that we work with. Let's look for that one person who seems to have the look that he or she is ready to give in. Let's be the one to be able to help them to get over it, for them to get that second wind and to complete the course well. Let's do an eye-lock today, my friends.

 

May I pray with you?

 

Almighty God, so often You come along side of us and You show us that we have more strength than we think we have, or the wisdom that we think we don't have, or the energy that we have spent. You show us that there is second wind in us. Today Lord, turn our gaze and our attention to people all around us and help us to be ones who will bring that second wind into play for those who need it today. Direct us to the people that You want us to touch today so that we can be ones who can help a brother or a sister, a friend, a colleague, somebody, to get that extra wind, that second wind and rise about their situations and be able to make it. We ask this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

 

•       Speakers at the Global Leadership Summit: Melinda Gates, John Maxwell, Patrick Lencioni, Alan Mulally, Henry Cloud, Bill Hybels, T.D. Jakes, et al.,

•       Henry Cloud, "The Power of the Other," Harper Collins, p.4-5

•       Moses & Jethro: Bible, Exodus ch. 18