People Power - May 2009

By Scott Humphrey

It’s hard to believe that I am entering my fourth year writing these articles for Floor Focus. The concept for People Power was a bit out of the box when we launched it back in 2006. The idea was that we would break the standard mold of business publications and focus on what I have always believed to be the primary component of success in business and in life—the people with whom you surround yourself.

Topics of previous articles have included: The Challenge of Change, How to Hire the Right Employees, The Power of Focus, Not Settling for Less than Your Best, Reading People, How to Thrive in Your Current Environment, and many more. But in this article I want to address a growing virus that I see spreading throughout our industry, our country, our communities, and our homes. What is this disease that spreads at the speed of the Internet and daily destroys lives, leaves families picking up the pieces, and threatens to take down the greatest country that God ever allowed to grace this earth? This disease is the loss of hope.

I’m known to be an optimistic person, but not falsely optimistic as some who make their living in the motivational world. As several members of the executive team at my company have recently noted in the midst of this unforeseen economic downturn, “I am not a pessimist, but a realist.” Many throughout the world would agree that these are unprecedented times. But it is just such times that allow greatness to flourish. And yet, even as I type these words, I am aware that the current state of things can seem very negative. I am not blindly choosing to ignore all of those who have lost their jobs, lost their life savings, and yes, unfortunately, lost their hope. With this framing in mind, I want to focus on the positives around us, those things we tend to overlook when we are breezing through life on cruise control.

Our current president has authored a book whose title I wish I had thought of first, The Audacity of Hope. As a child who grew up in poverty and heard “you can’t” for much of my early life, I can strongly relate to the premise of these words. The words themselves bring to mind the visual of some prudish, overly educated snob looking down their nose over their horn-rimmed glasses and sneering at someone as if to say, “Hope? What do we have to be hopeful for?” Well, I’m glad you asked.

1. You live in the United States of America. You are blessed to live in a land where the worst of times are comparable to the best of times in much of our world. It is a land whose freedoms are envied by most civilized nations. It is a land whose freedoms have been purchased by the blood of noble patriots willing to sacrifice their lives to secure your opportunity to succeed. It is a land of safety nets, where it is safe to take risk because our government’s social infrastructure buffers the landing should your attempts at success occasionally fail. Just remember that when you are in the lowest valley personally and professionally, you’re still at a peak far above where many others around the world will ever have the freedom to go.

2. You still are able to choose. I have been alarmed but not surprised to hear that the rate of suicide has gone up dramatically in the midst of this economic crisis. Hopelessness is a drug that dulls the pain of living to the point that crossing from life to death doesn’t seem to be that big a step. I would love to say that I just don’t get it, that I don’t understand how anyone could ever feel that desperate, but integrity and the desire to be fully open with you will not allow me to. Maybe it’s the reason I am so optimistic today. I get emotional thinking about what I would have missed out on had my cry for attention and vain attempt to end the current situation been “successful.” I was young and selfish. I never thought about how my death would impact the lives of those I left behind. Now, many years removed from what now seems the absurdity of that day, I am more aware than ever that life is all about choices. We choose to risk or hunker down. We choose to ride the coattails of others or bravely step out on our own. We choose to pursue our dreams or spend our lives watching others who dared to pursue theirs. And yes, we choose to spend our lives living or waste our lives dying. As the noble patriot of Scotland, William Wallace so well stated it, “Every man dies—not every man really lives.” We are still able to make that choice.

3. We are still able to climb. Okay, I have already shared one embarrassing moment from my life, one that happened long ago. This next one is much lighter and much more recent. I took my family to see the new Hannah Montana movie the other day. Okay, I admit it. It was pretty good and very wholesome, which as a father is of the utmost importance. Here comes the embarrassing part…I cried. That’s right, I cried in a Hannah Montana movie. At first my eyes just watered a bit, but then it happened. Tears began to trickle down my cheeks. I know. You’re right. It was not a sad movie. It was actually very uplifting. The overall message seemed to be saying: be true to yourself, be who you are, and be the best you can possibly be.

It took me a while to figure out why this movie got to me. It had been an emotional weekend with my pastor’s son dying on Friday and a heart-tugging service on Sunday morning. But though that may have caused a leak in my emotional stability, what caused the dam to break was that in a very real way, this movie got it. The emotion peaked when Miley Cyrus sang a new song called “The Climb.” (It hit me in the same way the Tim McGraw song “Live Like You’re Dying” hit me several years ago.) It clearly stated something that I have been attempting to say for the last four years in these articles. It’s not about the peak. It’s about the climb to get there. Sometimes we get so caught up in where we want to go that we forget to enjoy the process of getting there.

I realize there are people who physically can’t do what they once could. There are people who emotionally feel their life is out of control. They feel like they are on a free fall. They’ve lost all hope, and like our economy, they’re not yet sure they have bottomed out. I challenge you to stop, get a grasp of where you are, and start the climb. But as you climb, savor every moment, every experience, and every person you meet along the way to your next success.

Finally, I leave you with this. I received an email from a friend this week who was really struggling. Greg has had a rough life and been forced to face many challenges, both physically and financially. I have been blessed to call him my friend and walk with him through many of these challenges. His email was a cry for help as he explained his desire to get counseling to help him deal with his fear of growing old and dying, much of which was brought on by the death of his father. There was no doubt from our dialogue that he was losing his hope. My advice to him was the same advice I would give each of you. First of all, get help. Go to a counselor, trusted friend, pastor, etc…. Fear maintained in isolation is a prescription for despair, and despair is a difficult place from which to be rescued. But the second bit of advice just might be the catalyst that many of us need.

Don’t be afraid of when and how your life will end. Be afraid that it will never truly begin! Get out there and live…!

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