Getting Unstuck at the Temple
Margaret is a businesswoman in her mid-sixties who delivered a most valuable reminder 10,000 miles from where I call home.
A 5-foot firecracker, Margaret started as a typist. She steadily climbed the ranks before embarking on a 20+year run as Group Chairman of Leo Burnett China, a division of one of the world’s largest and most respected advertising agencies. When you listen to her speak, it’s easy to see why her photo can be found next to the word ‘powerhouse’ in any dictionary or language.
Margaret’s pre-session speech was delivered in Chinese Mandarin. Listening through an interpreter, her fiery words landed deep in the heart of this visiting Canadian who didn’t realize how lost he had become.
Sometimes bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.
To be completely honest, these last several months have had more than their usual share of vexations and frustrations. Without getting into specific details, anyone who has carved out a career in professional speaking will nod and agree that there are times it can be an incredibly exhausting emotional roller-coaster. Despite many thrills and highs, some slumps and valleys can be downright dangerous to both you and the audience you are there to serve. If you are not careful, losing patience and perspective is easy. Even become weary and cranky when outcomes don’t match your intentions and expectations.
In less than 15 minutes, Margaret’s opening remarks before our full-day program for BIG LITTLE LEGENDS changed everything. Through a simple, powerful story, she articulated what I had been feeling myself and noticing with business audiences across North America.
In a word, Margaret’s message to a gathering of business leaders in Taipei focused on the power of BELIEF. Why it’s the leader’s job to BELIEVE more than anyone. In her experienced, battle-tested mind, the more BELIEF you possess, the more reality travels in that direction. Once unwavering, unyielding BELIEF is fully engraved in your heart, your mind will move mountains to attain that mental image. Through persistent, perpetual effort victory becomes inevitable.
After traveling 9,953 km from Calgary, Alberta to Taipei, Margaret eloquently captured what I have witnessed these past 8 or 9 months in North America:
Many of us have become afraid to believe.
To believe in ideas bigger than ourselves.
To believe we have the ability and capacity to turn our beliefs into results.
Between the pandemic and polarizing politics, it’s easy to see why many of us have become more tangled in mental and psychological knots. Is it possible you are feeling a little more skeptical, cynical, and jaded than usual? Worn out and beaten up by daily and weekly battles against unseen forces and invisible enemies? The emotional cloud you may be living under is completely understandable in the wake of a post-war hangover and a social media climate filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
Understandable but not acceptable.
Not if you are a CEO, entrepreneur, or business leader responsible for the enterprise and people you are committed to. Navigating your ship through darkness and light. Through good days and bad.
Thoughts by themselves have no power. Nor does strategy or action plans. Marget’s message was a much-needed reminder. Nothing great happens until you pour buckets of gasoline on the fire of your beliefs. Her convictions on this topic will endure for centuries and, in many ways, reflect the incredible story of Taipei’s iconic Lungshan Temple. Located in the heart of the downtown Wanhua District, this 18th-century temple is a perfect metaphor that speaks to the power of belief and things in our lives that will never change.
“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream” LAO TZU
Upon returning from Taiwan, many friends and colleagues have been asking, ‘What did you learn’? In a nutshell, three things stand out.
1. THIRST
The members of the WAVE Leadership program demonstrated an unusually high level of curiosity and hunger to learn. Despite English being their second language, many had already read BIG LITTLE LEGENDS and were genuinely eager to learn some of the deeper messages contained in the book and how they can be applied to grow their businesses and brands. Now more than ever, it’s good to be thirsty.
2. PERSPECTIVE
You can’t see the picture when you are stuck inside the frame. Traveling to a foreign country and leaving your state, province, or nation behind offers you a rare opportunity to see the things you can’t. So much in life and business can be boiled down to perspective and how you look at something. Ultimately, it’s good to zoom out. The joy of sampling different cultures is the broader perspective it provides.
3. MAGIC
On this first-ever visit to Asia, it became abundantly clear the world is still full of magic, especially when you least expect it. Pay close attention to those precious, slender moments in time when you discover those sparkling, priceless gems that can’t be studied or learned. These are the things that can only be felt. This entire spinning planet we occupy is one big ball of magic. Without magic how could there be big blue skies, gorgeous landscapes, majestic Rocky Mountains, colourful rainbows, the gentle whisper of the Chinook wind, the silence of the stars, and the beauty found in the unrelenting power of the human spirit.
p.s… Many thanks again to the organizers of WAVE and we are now looking forward to hosting the entire delegation from Taiwan for a 3-day conference in both Calgary and Edmonton during the first week of May. As you might expect, we are counting the days until when Margaret, Amy, Wei Wei, Hans, Joanna, and the entire crew make their way from Taipei to Alberta and get a first-hand look at how companies like Calgary’s Charlesglen Toyota and Edmonton’s Raptor Mining are creating their own BIG LITTLE LEGENDS.
If you are curious to learn more about our programs, including the all-new MASTERCLASS, click here and we can schedule a time for a chat.
p.p.s…. Now published on the second Wednesday of every month, Leaders & Legends is dedicated to sharing untold stories about Icons & Trailblazers who dare to ignite positive change. If you have a spark of an idea about future story possibilities or personalities you think should be profiled, send a direct e-mail: gair@gairmaxwell.com.
PLANNING A SPEAKING EVENT?
The wheels of business turn faster each quarter, and your company or industry association may be anxious to stay ahead of the lighting-fast relevance curve. In that respect, we are now scheduling many in-person programs for 2022 and 2023, sharing the universally-applicable message of BIG LITTLE LEGENDS: How Everyday Leaders Build Irresistible Brands.
Please send us a note to schedule a Keynote or Workshop for your event.
“Heroes get remembered. Legends never die” BABE RUTH.
Thanks to Vancouver-based Page Two Publishing, the little black book with the magical cover is steadily gaining traction with a global audience. The latest to join this groundswell of support is Forbes contributing writer Rodger Dean Duncan who published this interview on October 13th. Read here.
BIG LITTLE LEGENDS – How Everyday Leaders Build Irresistible Brands - is available 24/7/365 thanks to wonderful distribution partners like AMAZON, AUDIBLE and Wal-Mart.
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