Have you ever encountered someone who you instinctively knew was going to be successful. You saw potential in them that was not yet realized? My question is why do we not see that potential in everyone?
The Colonel said, “You need to believe in and be able to see possibility in your team before they can see it in themselves. Trust me; if you believe in others before they have proven themselves, they will rise to the expectation.” The Colonel was a firm believer in stretching his daughters beyond what we believed were our limits, whether it was using the lawnmower when I was six or an ax to chop wood at twelve. He always challenged us to go further and do more than we believed we could. I won’t say we always appreciated his extreme faith in us (and we may have called him a sadist more than once!), but we always managed to go beyond our own expectations.
One of the last movies The Colonel developed a passion for was Facing the Giants (football, of course!). While the movie is formulaic and a bit sappy, it contains a scene I will never forget. The most memorable moment from this movie is when Coach Taylor challenges his star player to go 50 yards in a “death crawl” (only hands and feet, no knees) while blindfolded, with another player on his back. It is one of the most gut-wrenching scenes of sheer willpower I’ve ever seen. (Spoiler alert!) Because he is blindfolded, he can’t see how far he’s gone, and with his coach’s encouragement, he keeps pushing and pushing until he crawls a full 100 yards and collapses into the opposite end zone. I think Dad discovered that iconic “death crawl scene” before anyone else. He loved that grueling five and a half minutes of inspiration and watched it over and over again—as if each time he was unsure of the outcome. He would revel in pride each time the young Brock goes the distance because his coach believed in him more than he believed in himself.
If you never believe in someone before they show you what they are capable of, they will never stretch beyond what they think is possible. In fact, if someone has even the slightest fear of disappointing you, they will stay in their comfort zone so they know they can’t fail. Believe in others first, and then watch them rise to the expectation.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.
