You may have been through a crucible experience, a gut-wrenching, even humiliating experience. It may be a business or professional failure, or it may be a health or family challenge. Whatever it is, the course of your life has forever been changed. You have faced the fork in the road: whether to wallow in the pain of your crucible experience or to try to move beyond it. You have chosen to move ahead.
But how do you keep moving on after your crucible experience — growing, progressing even healing? It starts with reflecting on your crucible moment. Whether it was your fault or not, examine what happened. What are the lessons you can learn from it? Were you in the wrong position? Did you trust the wrong people? A crucible experience can also reveal something about your inherent wiring.
Coming out of a crucible experience, you need to understand your design. What are you good at? What are you not good at? Often our friends and family who know us well can give us helpful input. Once you understand your design, think about a vision, a calling that you are off-the-charts passionate about. It could come out of your crucible experience, perhaps something you don’t want anyone else to go through. Or it could be something you feel would be amazing if it existed. It is a vision anchored in your fundamental beliefs that you will do whatever it takes to make succeed. You even have a team around you of fellow travelers who are just as passionate about the vision as you are.
This type of vision, coming out of your crucible experience, that is in line with your design, anchored in your fundamental beliefs, which you and your team are passionate about, will have a much greater chance of succeeding. This vision, if it is a great vision, will help you and your team lead a life of significance, a life that is on purpose that helps others and, in some sense, makes the world a better place. Such a vision of significance will leave a legacy that your family and team will be proud of, and can often lead to some sense of healing — bringing purpose to the pain of your crucible experience.
This all sounds good. But is it as simple as it looks? In a word, no. As you get refined, get clearer on the lessons of your crucible experience, understand more how you are wired, and get clarity on your vision, you will find it is not a one-and-done event. It is a refining cycle that will likely take years. As you go through each refining cycle, which may be different jobs or career paths, you have the opportunity to learn more about yourself. You can learn more about the lessons from your crucible experience. You can learn more about your design. And your vision can be refined or even evolve — as can the exact form your life of significance will take.
So how does this refining cycle work in practice? Let me share the refining cycle I have been on.
Warwick’s Refining Cycle
In late August 1987, I launched an AUS $2.25B takeover of the 150-year-old Australian family business I grew up in. I had prepared my whole life to take a leading position within the family company, with an undergraduate degree from Oxford, working on Wall Street, and having my MBA from Harvard Business School. I had wanted to change management, see that the company was run along the ideals of the founder, and make our family business safe from corporate raiders. Despite bringing in new management that increased operating profits by 80 percent, the debt we needed to complete the takeover was so large that when Australia suffered a recession in late 1990, the company went bankrupt. This was my crucible experience. I felt like I had let my parents and family down. It was devastating emotionally and spiritually, as well as financially.
The first step in the refining cycle was to examine what happened and try to learn from the experience. I realized that I am a reflective adviser, not a take charge Rupert Murdoch-style leader. Running a large media company was a terrible fit for someone wired like me. The vision of restoring the company to the ideals of the founder and seeing that it was well run may have been a good vision, but it was not my vision. It was more my parents’ vision.
The first step professionally was to take a job at an aviation services company in Annapolis Md., where we live. I did financial and business analysis, and while I was not getting paid what my peers who had been at Harvard Business School were getting paid, I was happy for the work. I realized that I had an analytical ability that enabled me to perform the work well.
The next cycle began in 2003, when I began going down the track to become an executive coach. I felt that I had been playing small and not using all the gifts God had given me. I went to a woman who did mid-career assessments and was herself an executive coach. She said I had a good profile to become an executive coach. I found I loved asking questions and helping leaders bring their visions to reality. It was a good fit. I learned something else about how I was wired and what I loved doing.
Through coaching, often through the questions I asked, I found I had a leadership voice and a leadership perspective. I had not thought of myself as a leader after the disastrous takeover of the family business. Then in 2008, I gave a seven-minute talk at the non-denominational church we go to in Annapolis. The theme was about what I had gone through during the takeover, the mistakes I had made and what I learned. What amazed me was that in the weeks and months afterwards, people came up to me and said my talk had helped them. Yet I was the only one in the congregation who had been a former media mogul. How could they relate to my story? Somehow, they could.
This led me to realize that I could write a book about my story and the lessons I had learned from my mistakes that could help other leaders and other people. My confidence in the idea that I did have a perspective on leadership that could help leaders and people in general was growing. The 2008 talk in church and the resulting period when I started to write a book on my experiences and leadership perspective were key moments in my refining cycle. My vision had evolved and expanded to helping leaders become better leaders and learn from their mistakes.
As I was trying to get my book published, I came to realize that in order to do this, I needed a branding and marketing plan. This led me to a great branding and marketing team in Denver — SIGNAL.csk — and great public relations and communications advice through ROAR. The resulting brand and message is Crucible Leadership.
The vision has again evolved and grown to helping leaders at all levels get beyond their crucible experiences to enable them to lead lives of significance.
This is the latest refining cycle I am on. I now have a clear brand and message in Crucible Leadership, I write regular blogs, post on social media, have a video, and am in the process of launching a podcast, Beyond the Crucible.
A critical component to my vision evolving and growing, and even to understanding how I am wired, is the support that I have received along the way. This journey has been grounded in my faith that God loves me unconditionally as he does all of us, and the support of fellow people of faith. The support of my family, especially my wife, has been critical. Each step of the way professionally I have sought out help. When I was coaching, I had a mentor coach who helped guide me. With Crucible Leadership I have an amazing branding, marketing, public relations, and communications team with . They have helped me crystalize the vision of Crucible Leadership and have been with me each step of the way as we have made the vision become reality.
A vision does not come to reality without help, ideally from a team that is as passionate about the vision as I am. I am blessed to have such a team.
Each of the refining cycles I have been through, from the aftermath of losing the family business, to working for an aviation services company, to executive coaching, to writing a book after speaking in church, and now Crucible Leadership, have enabled me to learn more about myself and have clarified, crystalized, and even expanded the vision.
The key point is that the refining cycle is not a one-and-done process. We all wish we could do all this learning about ourselves and figure out a vision that we are passionate about in one long weekend. Well, that is not reality. It takes work and pain. It can take years. It takes being honest with yourself and allowing people to help you. It takes time, patience, and perseverance. But it is possible. As hard as it is, it is definitely mission possible.
Reflection
Where in the refining cycle are you?
What is the next step in your refining cycle of learning from your crucible experience?
Do you have the team you need to further refine and hone your vision and to help bring it to reality
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
A crucible is a cauldron where metals are thrown together and heated to very high temperatures. The metals combine to form an alloy, something that is different than it was before. A crucible experience is one that is life-altering. Who you are after your crucible experience is different than you were before. You are never the same.
A crucible experience can come in many forms:
Business Failure
Financial Failure
Health Challenge
Family Challenge
Abuse
Addiction
A crucible experience may or may not be your fault. Either way, there may be loss of self-esteem, loss of self-respect, and possibly even feelings of humiliation. You may feel marginalized and may even feel that no one could like or love you. You can feel incredibly angry at others, yourself, or even God. You often feel alone.
But you are not alone. In fact, Crucible Leadership recently surveyed more than 400 professionals, from CEOs to independent contractors, and found that nearly half had experienced something so traumatic or painful that it fundamentally changed their lives.
The commonality is that a crucible experience tends to be excruciating and devastating. The pain can last years, even a lifetime.
Three women who have overcome very different crucible experiences come to mind. These are women from different backgrounds with different personalities. But what they share is courage and a determination to not be defined by their crucible experiences.
Mary Kay Ash – The Cosmetics Trailblazer
Mary Kay Ash founded Mary Kay Inc. in the early 1960s to sell cosmetics through direct selling. As of 2018, Mary Kay Inc. generates $3.25B in revenue in more than 35 markets worldwide and is the sixth-largest network marketing company. The mission of Mary Kay Inc. is “enriching the lives of women and their families around the world.”
But Mary Kay’s company grew from a crucible experience. Mary Kay Ash had been in the direct selling business for 25 years. She was very good at making sales of in-home products. By 1963, she got tired of seeing yet another man that she trained get promoted above her and earn a much higher salary. Mary Kay sat at her kitchen table and drew up two lists. One was of the good things she had seen in companies. The other was of the things that she thought could be improved. When she looked over the lists, Mary Kay knew she had created a marketing plan for her dream company. So, in 1963, with $5,000 of savings at age 45, she launched Mary Kay Inc. with her first store in Dallas.
One of the keys to Mary Kay Inc.’s success is the strong vision of the founder. Mary Kay Ash launched Mary Kay Inc. to help women achieve their potential and bring their dreams to life. She founded the company based on the Golden Rule, treating others as you would want to be treated. Mary Kay’s principles were placing faith first, family second, career third. Mary Kay Inc. was a company “with heart,” as she would say. Mary Kay said, “Individuals sometimes feel insignificant and doubt they can really make a difference in the world. Well, believe me, one person can.” Mary Kay established the Mary Kay Charitable Foundation, which supports cancer research and efforts to end domestic violence.
Bethany Hamilton – The Inspirational Surfer
Bethany Hamilton is a champion surfer. She has had two movies made about her life, Soul Surfer in 2011 and a documentary Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable in 2018. From the youngest age growing up in Hawaii, Bethany surfed and dreamed of being a champion. At 13, her life changed. The morning of Halloween in 2003, Bethany went to surf with family and friends on Tunnels Beach in Kauai, the Hawaiian Island where her family lived. She was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark, which severed her left arm just below the shoulder.
Bethany had been a rising surf star and she was determined to not let her crucible experience stop her. One month after the attack, she returned to surfing and, within two years, she had won her first national surfing title. The key to Bethany overcoming such a horrific life-altering event was her faith and her indomitable courage. “I know life can be hard, but I’ve learned that we can rise above even the biggest challenges and fears,” she has said. No matter what you’ve come from or what you’re facing, you are loved by God, and you can overcome.”
Remarkably, Bethany sees the shark attack as a blessing. She says, “I definitely would allow the shark attack to happen. The thing for me is I know that God allowed it to happen because of all the good stuff that has come from this terrible experience. I’m still surfing, loving life, and being able to reach people a lot more than I would have probably with two arms.”
Bethany continues to give back through her movies and the Friends of Bethany Foundation. The Foundation says, “We believe there is a longing within every individual to overcome the trials, pains, and difficulties of life.” The Foundation’s most renowned program is called Beautifully Flawed, a retreat for young amputee women ages 14-26.
J.K. Rowling – The Best Selling Author
J.K. Rowling is the best-selling, world-famous author of the Harry Potter books and movies. J.K. Rowling, whose first name is Joanne, has sold more than 450 million copies of her seven-book series. In 2004, Forbes named Rowling as the first person to become a US dollar billionaire by writing books. Rowling has a charitable trust, The Volant Charitable Trust, which supports Scottish charities (where she now lives) to help alleviate social deprivation, as well as women, children, and young people at risk.
But Joanne Rowling’s life has not been easy and took a turn for the worse beginning in 1992, two years after she conceived the idea for Harry Potter. Joanne’s mother died after battling multiple sclerosis since Joanne was a teenager. She had a difficult divorce from her first husband, and was living in poverty on welfare in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her relationship with her father was strained, she had a young daughter to support and had been diagnosed with depression, being on the verge of suicide.
Joanne has said that she was “as poor at it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless… I think it is fair to say that by any conventional measure… I had failed on an epic scale… The fears that my parents had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.”
But Joanne Rowling refused to give up or give in. She wrote her first iconic novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in cafes in Edinburgh while walking her young daughter in hopes her daughter would go to sleep and Joanne could write. Joanne submitted the manuscript for her Harry Potter book to twelve publishing houses who all rejected it. The thirteenth publisher, Bloomsbury in London said yes, and the rest is history.
Joanne Rowling has said, “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” In a 2008 Harvard Commencement Address, titled “Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” she said that, “Failure was stripping away of the inessential.” She said that she stopped pretending to be anything other than what she was and began to direct all her energy to finishing the Harry Potter book. She said that, “Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea.”
When asked how she pushed through the book rejections and all that she had endured, Joanne Rowling said, “I had nothing to lose and sometimes that makes you brave enough to try.” She has said, “Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.”
These three remarkable women give us clues to how to come back from a devastating crucible experience. No matter how painful or life-altering, or in some cases humiliating, those experiences were, these women refused to give up. They used their pain as motivation to rise up. The seeds of their purpose — their mission in life — were found in the excruciating life-altering pain of their crucible experiences.
Reflection
Amidst the pain of your crucible experience, what is this revealing about the essential core of who you are?
What mission coming out of the devastation of your crucible experience may be taking shape that will chart your purpose in life?
Why does the world need to hear about and benefit from your mission?
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
‘Beyond the Crucible’ host Warwick Fairfax shares the lessons he learned from losing a $2.25 billion bid to take over the 150-year-old family media dynasty he had be groomed to run since birth. From that “crucible moment,” he discovered a new vision for his life, one rooted in helping others overcome painful setbacks in their lives. Sharing the stories of men and women who have bounced back from devastating hardship and failure to live a life of significance is a key focus of ‘Beyond the Crucible.” Other episodes will explore key facets of the Crucible Leadership model, including understanding how you’re wired, crafting a vision out of your gifts and passions and how to bring that vision to reality. Be sure to click ‘Subscribe’ on your podcast app!
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
One of the most cautionary tales in recent corporate history is how Netflix embraced change and Blockbuster didn’t. As of 2018, Netflix, barely 20 years old, had a stock market value of nearly $165B, with 130 million subscribers in 200 countries. Blockbuster was out of business by then, having filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after incurring more than $1B in losses the previous year.
How did this happen — Netflix’s stunning success and Blockbuster’s equally stunning fall? Netflix embraced change. Blockbuster didn’t.
When Netflix launched in 1997, Blockbuster had for years been the undisputed champion of the video rental industry. Between 1985 and 1992, Blockbuster grew from one location in Dallas to more than 2,800 rental stores worldwide. Netflix competing against Blockbuster seemed like a David vs. Goliath scenario. Hopeless.
But through a series of disruptions and changes to the video/home entertainment industry, the tables turned. In 1997, when VHS video was the industry standard, Reed Hastings, the CEO and founder of Netflix, saw an opportunity to introduce a monthly DVD subscription service by mail. Unlike Blockbuster, there would be no late fees. When customers were finished with their DVD, they would simply return it to Netflix and get another one. Blockbuster initially did not embrace the subscription service model, charging customers per video rental, including late fees. Blockbuster was wedded to its brick-and-mortar retail outlet business model.
In 2007, Netflix transitioned from DVD shipments to online programming. Faster bandwidth and greater download speeds made this new service feasible. But Netflix didn’t stop there. It continued to innovate, creating its own programming, including the highly successful House of Cards TV series. In 2018, Netflix spent $8B annually on new programing to keep its customers bingeing online. In 2019, Netflix received 14 Oscar nominations, winning four. This put Netflix on par with the other major studios for Academy Award wins. Netflix was now a significant player in movie and TV production.
The legacy of Blockbuster, on the other hand, is one of stubbornness and missed opportunities. In 2000, Hastings, head of the still small Netflix, came to Blockbuster, proposing a partnership. Netflix would run Blockbuster’s brand online, while Blockbuster would promote Netflix in its stores. Blockbuster, then the king of the video rental industry, turned Netflix down. Eventually, Blockbuster saw Netflix as a threat. But it was too little, too late. In 2004, John Antioco, then CEO of Blockbuster, proposed eliminating late fees and launching Blockbuster Online. These two initiatives would cost a proposed $200M each. But the Board lost confidence in Antioco. Eliminating late fees would damage profitability. Antioco was fired in 2005. His successor as Blockbuster’s CEO dropped Antioco’s initiatives, which were designed to help Blockbuster compete with Netflix. Five years later in 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy.
What are the key lessons we can learn from the Blockbuster vs. Netflix saga?
1. Embrace Change
Netflix saw a technological and marketing opportunity to compete with Blockbuster with a subscription by mail DVD service. The company — each step of the way from a DVD subscription service to online video streaming, to online streaming content creation — was continually willing to innovate. Blockbuster saw itself as the video rental king, with locations all over the world. They fell in love with their business model more than they did with satisfying customer needs. Their business model of charging their customers with late fees, while very profitable, was in part based on causing their customers pain.
2. Don’t be Afraid to Fail
Netflix has constantly been willing to try new things. Many have worked out — such as their DVD subscription rental service, online streaming, and online streaming content creation. But some initiatives have not worked out, at least not initially. Netflix made an unsuccessful attempt in the mid-2000s to enter the film-making business, long before it had a large enough audience to make this a financially viable strategy. In 2011, critics ridiculed Netflix for its plans to split steaming and DVD rentals into two services. Hundreds of thousands of customers cancelled their subscriptions in the following months. Blockbuster, on the other hand, was unwilling to take risks. When Blockbuster did decide in 2004 to enter the online video rental business and eliminate late fees, not only was it late to do this, but ownership soon reversed these moves.
3. Be Willing to Disrupt Yourself
While Blockbuster clung to its business model of being a video rental company, Netflix constantly disrupted itself. Netflix went from being a DVD subscription rental service, to a streaming of movies and TV series model, to being a creator of content. Netflix would always try to stay on the cutting edge of innovation, even if it meant disrupting its existing businesses.
4. Corporate Culture is the Key to Being able to Innovate
The key to embracing change, being able to innovate, and seeing disruption as an opportunity is corporate culture. In 2009, Reed Hastings delivered a PowerPoint presentation internally within Netflix about the company’s culture and HR policies. This presentation has been downloaded more than 18 million times. Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, says this document might be the most important one ever to come out of Silicon Valley (where Netflix’s headquarters is located). The title of Reed Hastings’ presentation was “Freedom and Responsibility.” In short, Netflix finds brilliant people, pays them well, and gives them freedom to take responsibility for their own work. Hastings said, “Responsible people thrive on freedom and are worthy of freedom.”
It is easy to say, who would want to be Blockbuster over Netflix? But the path Netflix took requires courage and clarity. Know what business you are in (home entertainment, not brick and mortar video rental locations). Be willing to fail, which means hiring great people and encouraging them to take risks. Be willing to hurt your profitability in the short term to stay ahead of the technology and innovation curve. Reward your team, give them a clear mission, and then get out of their way. Very few leaders and companies are willing to do the above. Fear, caution, and pride usually take over.
Reflection
Are you willing to disrupt yourself, even if it hurts your profitability for a time, to stay ahead of the curve?
Are you willing to fail, and have your team experience failure, to ensure your organization continues to innovate?
Do you have the right people on board — people who are willing to take risks — and have you created a climate that both rewards and supports risk taking?
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
Change is not easy, which is a major challenge for us because we live in a world that is forever changing. Technology is changing. The market is changing. The culture is changing. Not only is everything around us changing, but it seems that change is happening at an ever-increasing rate.
What makes change difficult for most of us is that human beings yearn for the familiar, so, in a sense, we yearn for things to stay the same. We are caught between a desire to grow and the fear of the disruption change will cause. For many of us, it leads us to stick our heads in the sand and try to let change pass us by while we cling to what we know.
One type of disruptive change is highlighted in Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen’s book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, first published more than 20 years ago. Christensen highlights how smaller companies with fewer resources are able to successfully challenge incumbent businesses with more at their disposal. While incumbent businesses serve the needs of their existing profitable customers, the entrant companies target newer customer needs with different functionality, often at a lower price.
One classic example is Toyota. Toyota entered the U.S. market in the 1960s with a cheap car for people who could not afford the models the big three U.S. automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) made. Initially, Toyota did not compete with the Big Three head on, but after building a following, it gradually made more expensive cars, including the upmarket brand Lexus.
Another great example is Kodak. In the late 1970s, Kodak owned around 90 percent of the photography market. But with the advent of digital photography around 2000, Kodak’s dominance slid until the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012. What is remarkable is that Kodak had patents for digital photography but did not utilize them. Why? While Kodak knew digital photography would one day have an impact, it was reluctant to sacrifice revenue it was enjoying in the present.
A business I grew up in, newspapers, is another example of the challenge of embracing change. For years there was talk of the threat and the opportunity of digital versions of newspapers. While most major newspapers currently have both print and online versions, they have largely lost their chief revenue stream. Newspaper revenues from advertising used to predominantly be from classifieds (real estate, automotive, employment). That is not the case today. In many instances, newspapers failed to launch robust online classified advertising, ceding the market to other companies.
The common thread in all these examples? It is hard to embrace change and sacrifice current profitability for future opportunity.
As a leader you have a choice. You can embrace change, or you can put your head in the sand and somehow hope to avoid the tidal wave that might be coming towards you.
The key to keep from winding up all wet when the wave inevitably hits is to change your perspective. Turn an impending challenge (or crisis) into an opportunity. Rather than being fearful or complacent, embrace the challenge. Change is inevitable, so why try to avoid it?
So, what are the keys to embracing change?
Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand – When you are faced with change, be it technological, market driven, cultural, or other types of change, address it head on. Don’t assume that the challenge to your organization will just go away if you do nothing. It won’t. If you are Kodak, recognize the threat and opportunity of digital photography. If you are a newspaper company, recognize the challenge and upside of online newspapers and online advertising.
Have Courage – Be willing to sacrifice some of your current profits to develop the new technology or new opportunity. Embrace the opportunity to disrupt and innovate. Take risks. Even if that means cannibalizing your own business. This is why people fail. They aren’t willing to take risks and possibly hurt themselves in the short term for massive long-term gains.
Innovate or Die – Continually experiment with new technology and new opportunities. See change as a good thing. Stay ahead of the curve so you won’t be left behind.
How do you do this, embrace change and be ahead of the curve?
Identify the Type of Change – Examine whether the change is technological, market driven, cultural, or another type of change. Then come up with a plan to address this change, examining how your organization can use this change to its advantage.
Get Your Team Onboard – Help your team understand that the mission of your organization has not changed, but how that mission will be expressed might change. It’s imperative to have employees who are risk takers and who understand the importance of having an innovative and disruptive culture. Kodak might still be in the business of capturing moments if it had entered digital photography.
Implement the Change – If it is a technological change like digital photography, you might need to set up a separate entity with people who are willing to experiment and lead the change. You will need to help your team realize that their goal is not just to survive amidst the turmoil but to thrive. Change should not be viewed as a threat, but as an opportunity.
Ensure Your Stakeholders Embrace the Change – It is essential that your leadership team and your board are willing to embrace the change. As the leader, it is your job to be the chief advocate and persuader, to ensure your team embraces the change. You have to let them know the real-world consequences to your organization of not embracing the change. Look at what happened to Kodak.
There is a fundamental law of business, and indeed life. You are either growing or declining. You are either adapting, or you are on your way to your organization going under. Don’t stick your head in the sand. Lead the charge. Embrace the change.
Reflection
Are you embracing change or putting your head in the sand?
Have you identified the type of change (technological, market driven, cultural, or another type of change) and developed a plan to take advantage of it?
Are your leadership team and key stakeholders on board with the plan to address and take advantage of the change?
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
Growing up in a 150-year-old family media business, my self-worth was inextricably tied to the family business and the family dynasty. I saw my role in life as carrying on the family business to the next generation, and to honor the legacy of my great-great-grandfather, John Fairfax, and my father, Sir Warwick Fairfax. My duty was to pass the family company to the next generation, stronger than it had been before. That was why I was put on this earth. My legacy and whether my life were well-spent or wasted would directly depend on the survival and growth of John Fairfax Ltd. (as the company was called) and the Fairfax dynasty.
When I see shows about royalty such as The Crown, or about English nobility such as Downton Abbey, I can identify with the characters. Being in a goldfish bowl, your every mistake magnified and publicized. The almost crushing sense of duty and above all not wanting to fail. The Fairfax family business and the Fairfax dynasty were my career, my job, my legacy, and my life. How I felt about myself — my self-worth — was directly tied to how I performed in this role.
Losing My Identity
When I launched the A$2.25B takeover in August 1987 of the family company, I set myself on a difficult road. With family members selling out and the October 1987 stock market crash hurting asset sales, we had too much debt. By late 1990, when Australia entered a significant recession, the company had to file for bankruptcy. The family business was over, and in a sense the Fairfax family dynasty was over, being no longer tied to the family business. My legacy of leading John Fairfax Ltd. into the next generation intact and stronger was also over.
My self-worth was shattered. My reason for being was gone. My legacy was gone. I had failed spectacularly in what was so much a part of my self-worth: preserving the family business.
How I Reclaimed My Self-Worth
Faith: My faith in Christ is the anchor of my life. It has been since my days at Oxford University. During those dark years in the 1990’s, after John Fairfax Ltd. fell out of family control and I moved to the US, I clung to my faith. Key concepts my faith taught me helped. God loves me unconditionally. He does not need John Fairfax Ltd. He does not need my accomplishments. God has a plan for my life and I have to trust that and trust his purpose.
Family: In particular, my wife, Gale, as well as my kids, love and support me unconditionally. Other than my faith in Christ, my wife and my family have been the greatest blessings in my life, to which I am daily so grateful and thankful. Never once have they said that they think any less of me because John Fairfax Ltd. passed from family control on my watch. They love and believe in me because of who I am as a person. It is who I am and my character that they value, not what I achieve.
Friends: I have been blessed to have friends, including friends at the non-denominational church where I am an Elder and the school board I have been on. They all value me for who I am. In fact, I rarely get asked about my past with the family media company. That is not the Warwick they know or the Warwick they care about.
Reflection: Gradually I came to discover what my skills and abilities are, as well as what my passions are. It has been a long road and not an easy process, but through the journey I came to realize that I am a reflective advisor. I enjoy writing. I enjoy asking questions and helping people through executive coaching and the two nonprofit boards I have been on. I enjoy being part of organizations whose missions I care deeply about.
What My Story Can Teach You
What can we learn from my story, about reclaiming your self-worth, for many who have been through tragedy or other hardships that may have seemingly crushed your self-worth?
You are not what you do. You need to chart your own course. Pleasing other people and trying to fulfill their dreams for you does not make sense. That is the path to despondency and sets us up for failure and disappointment.
Your self-worth is anchored in who you are, not what you do. What you do should flow out of who you are.
Who you are is based on what you value and believe. These values and beliefs should provide a touchstone of why you have worth; worth that is not tied to performance.
Your values and beliefs are meant to be lived out in areas you feel passionate about, and that fully utilize your skills and abilities.
We need to live our lives based on our fundamental beliefs and values. We need to pursue our dreams, not other peoples’ dreams.
Reflection
Are you pursuing your dreams or someone else’s?
Is your self-worth anchored in who you are or what you do?
Are you charting your own course in line with your values and beliefs?
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
For many of us, our self-worth is tied to our job and career. If we are doing well at our job, we feel good about ourselves. But if we are not performing well at work, life might not look so good. This may seem normal, so what’s the problem? Isn’t this just life?
The problem is that seeing your self-worth — your identity — bound up with the outcome of how you perform won’t just affect you, it will hurt those around you. It will affect those that work for you, your co-workers, your friends, and your family.
While it is all too common to see your self-worth tied to your career, life does not have to be this way. There is a better way — a way that includes separating your self-worth and your identity from how you perform.
What is Self-Worth?
Life is rarely smooth. So, inevitably, we will fail at times. Our life and indeed our careers are full of ebbs and flows. We might get promoted and advance, or we might get passed over or even fired. We can be held back by a boss that does not appreciate us, or we might be laid off because of the economy.
Webster’s Dictionary defines self-worth as “one’s own value as a human being.” It is closely related to self-esteem (meaning confidence in your own worth and abilities) and self-respect. It all boils down to how we feel about ourselves. Do we feel we are worthwhile, that we are valuable?
Feeling good about ourselves, whether in our career, our appearance, or other areas in our life, is critical to our ability to be happy. Feeling bad about ourselves and having little respect for who we are can lead to bad choices in our career and in our relationships.
Having a healthy self-worth, which sadly does not seem that common in our society, means we value who we are. We don’t accept behavior at work or at home that devalues us. We accept jobs that are in line with our abilities and do not settle for less.
We need to feel we are worth something because of who we are, not what we do. In a sense, we need to appreciate ourselves; our gifts, talents and abilities; backgrounds, heritage, everything. When we anchor our identity not in our performance, but rather in our own inherent value as human beings, we free ourselves from the natural ups and downs of our careers.
Finding Your Self-Worth Outside Your Career
My faith says that God loves us because of who we are, and that we are made in his image. Psalm 139 says that God created “my inmost being” and that we are “wonderfully made.” To me, this means our self-worth comes from who we are, not how much or little we accomplish — not our careers, not how much money we have in the bank, but of the person we choose to be, day in and day out.
So how do we begin to separate our self-worth from our career? A word of caution: this is not easy. But with some perseverance and belief, it is possible. Below are some initial steps you can start taking today:
Strengthen your innermost beliefs and values. Have a daily routine that reinforces and reminds you of your beliefs. This could be through prayer, meditation, or journaling.
Take inventory of the people you surround yourself with. It’s important that your innermost circle also carries the same beliefs and values as you. When we are feeling down, they can remind us of our beliefs.
Look outside your job. Examine who you are and what you care about outside of your career. What brings you joy and fulfillment? Look for outlets for your passions and beliefs outside of your job. Volunteering is a great way to express what matters most to you.
Examine your current circumstances. Take some time to evaluate whether or not your job and the people you work with are in alignment with your beliefs and values. If not, consider a change in direction.
Finding our self-worth outside of our career and performance will make us more resilient to life’s inevitable ups and downs. Life is not easy. We will face trials and challenges. When we separate our self-worth from our career and value ourselves for who we are, we will help strengthen our self-esteem and our self-worth.
Reflection
Do you feel that you have worth, that you have value?
How much is your self-worth tied to your career?
For what activities could you volunteer that would be outlets for your passions and beliefs?
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
Leadership is hard. We may have a vision that we are trying to pursue, but for some reason it’s not happening. We feel stuck. We feel despondent. We don’t want to give up, but what else are we going to do? We might even think it’s time to quit.
Great leaders don’t give up. George Washington and the American colonies fought an eight-year-long war for independence. Winston Churchill spent most of the 1930s as a lonely voice railing against the threat of Nazi Germany, eventually becoming prime minister during the six year-long Second World War. These leaders had huge, almost insurmountable, goals they were trying to achieve with the fate of a nation depending on them. Your goal might not feel as hard as winning independence for the American colonies or ensuring freedom for your country during the Second World War, but it still may feel extremely difficult.
What is perseverance?
Perseverance is the ability to keep going no matter what. Giving up is not an option. The obstacles may be large, but you are going to press on. The kind of tenacity that is required to keep going in the face of seemingly impossible barriers requires a high degree of commitment and a strong belief in the vision or cause you are pursuing.
How do you persevere?
Before you take more practical steps, you first need to both understand the nature of why you feel stuck and then what to do about it. In order to do this, it’s helpful to do an internal review as well as an external review of why you have hit a roadblock in accomplishing your vision.
Internal Review:
Why is this vision so important? Life is hard. So is leadership. Your vision should be important to you or it will have no staying power. You need to be able to articulate why it’s important to make your vision become a reality. And, by the way, this needs to be your vision, not your friends’ or your parents’ vision. As I have often said, you cannot inherit a vision.
Do you have the skills to accomplish the vision? You might feel like it would be great if your vision happened — someone should do it — but should that someone be you? Do you have the inherent wiring and the skills to make your vision a reality? A key part of accomplishing your vision needs to be related to your skills. Walt Disney was an animator. He was able to work alongside his fellow animators in the early days, guiding them to make such classic movies as Snow White.
Are you passionate about your vision? Your vision might relate to a crucible experience you have gone through. For those that have suffered abuse, you might want to help others who have gone through abuse. Ideally your vision would be fueled by your belief system. If your vision is anchored by your most cherished beliefs, that will give it a lot more staying power.
External Review:
Do you have the resources to accomplish your vision? You might not have sufficient financial resources to take your vision to the next step.
What are the external threats? Perhaps the economy is challenging, or you have significant competitive threats.
Do you have the right people? You might not have the right people on your team. Ideally you would have a team with skills and abilities that are complementary to yours. They should be totally committed to — and passionate about — the vision.
Creating an Action Plan
You might have a number of issues from the above lists or you might have only one. Identify the issue, reflect, and then consult with relevant advisers and/or your team to help you figure out the next steps.
Internal
For the internal side, often a group of people that really know you can help. They could be friends or fellow team members of yours. Ask them to ask you tough questions, questions such as:
Is this your vision or someone else’s?
How passionate are you about the vision?
Are your skills and aptitudes a key part of accomplishing the vision?
Is your vision related to and fueled by your core beliefs?
Between your own reflection and the input from your team and those close to you, you might have to face some tough decisions. If you are pursuing a vision that is not yours, that you are not passionate about, that you don’t have the key skills for, and that is not anchored and fueled by your fundamental beliefs, you are in a difficult position. You would be right in asking yourself some serious questions about the viability of pursuing your vision.
External
For the external side, in a similar vein, you need to reflect and consult the relevant people.
If there are financial issues, consult with people with financial expertise on what your options are.
If the issue is the economy or competitive threats, you might consider getting input from your core team and potentially outside experts.
If you don’t have the right people, first make sure you understand your own skills and aptitudes, and then determine the complementary skills that you need to hire. It might even be worth asking your team what, if any, skills and aptitudes are missing from the team.
The Bottom Line
The internal and external analysis of what is holding your vision back is valuable and can be very helpful. At the end of the day, however, the two questions you have to ask yourself are:
How passionate are you about the vision?
How much is the core of your vision tied to your innermost strongly held beliefs?
Passion and perseverance break through many walls. If the answer to these questions is a resounding absolutely, then you will have a much greater chance of making your vision a reality.
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
One of the great stories of perseverance is the American Revolutionary War and George Washington’s dogged determination to not give in. It was in large part Washington’s commitment to the American cause of independence and his refusal to give up amidst overwhelming odds that was the key to the birth of the United States.
Washington, the commanding general of the Continental Army of the American Colonies, was not a brilliant strategist or tactician. He was not particularly well-educated either. He was up against British generals with far more significant command experience and he lost more battles than he won. Thomas Jefferson later said that Washington often “failed in the field.” He was sometimes guilty of gross military blunders, such as when he placed his army on Long Island, New York, in 1776, exposing his entire army to capture. So why is Washington revered as the Father of the Nation and considered such a great leader?
The Greatness of Washington
The greatness of Washington lies in his character and in his capacity to learn. These were the two areas that led to the preservation of the Continental Army, the American cause and, ultimately, led to our country’s independence. One historian called the American Revolution “almost a miracle,” saying that “the war came much closer to ending short of a great American victory than many now realize.”
Washington was a wealthy man who did not take a salary and risked all he had for the cause. Through it all, he showed unrelenting courage and perseverance, never losing sight of “the goodness of our cause.” He truly believed difficulties were not insurmountable, saying “perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.” This inspired great loyalty among his troops.
Self-Awareness and Humility
Washington was also self-aware. He knew his limitations and his lack of experience as a military commander. In his formal acceptance of the command of the Continental Army in 1775, Washington said, “I am truly sensible of the high honor done me by this appointment, yet I feel great distress from a consciousness that my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive and important trust.”
Leaning in as a Learner
In addition to his self-awareness and humility, Washington’s great strength was his capacity to learn. Washington realized that trying to fight open-field battles against the might of the British Army was not wise. He turned to hit and run tactics — guerrilla tactics — that he had seen Native Americans use so effectively in the French and Indian War, a decade or so before the American Revolution.
Washington realized the key to victory was survival — survival of the Continental Army and the American cause. Eventually, this survival led to the French entering the war. This culminated in the combined American and French forces, aided by the French navy, defeating the British at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, which effectively ended the war.
What can we learn from Washington?
Never Give Up. Never giving up and being able to survive can be the key to ultimate victory.
Keep Your Ego in Check. Have an accurate appraisal of yourself. Arrogance will only hold you back and may end up depriving you of victory.
Surround Yourself with a Good Team.Surround yourself with a team that has complementary skills to yourself, even to the point of hiring people who you may feel are better than you in many respects.
Key Takeaways
Believe in Your Cause. Your passion has to be bigger than the obstacles you might face along the way. This will keep you going and focused on the vision you’ve set out to achieve.
The Strength of Your Character can Lead to Victory. Being humble and self aware can enable you to take advice you don’t want to hear and surround yourself with a great team with complementary skills.
Character and humility, combined with a fierce belief in the cause and the determination to never surrender, will inspire many passionate followers. These are the kind of qualities that will help a leader persevere and prevail amid the toughest trials and challenges. This was the key to American independence. The American Colonies were led by a man of great character and humility — who passionately believed in the righteousness of their cause.
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
We have spoken of how inspiring a group of people with a shared vision is one of the hardest challenges in leadership. Growing your vision is not easy. Having your vision impact the world for generations is perhaps the ultimate goal for a visionary, but such a goal can feel like climbing Mount Everest. Impossible! However, Jesus did it. The key is to create a growing wave of ambassadors for your vision across continents and generations.
One of the greatest success stories in spreading a shared vision is through the approach and method Jesus used. We may think of Jesus as a good man or the Son of God, but a visionary leader?
The reach of the Christian faith grew dramatically from Jesus’ death to a few hundred years later. In 40 A.D., a few years after Jesus’ death, there were around 1,000 Christians. By 350 A.D., just over half of the 60 million people in the Roman Empire were Christians. That is a growth rate of the Christian population of 40% per decade. Sociologist Rodney Stark outlines this in his fascinating book, “The Rise of Christianity.”
The Jesus Approach
Jesus was truly authentic to the vision he shared. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says the poor in spirit (i.e., the humble), the meek, and the merciful are blessed — Jesus was all these things. Aside from authentically living his vision, there were a number of factors that accounted for the dramatic growth in the shared vision of the Christian faith.
1) Jesus Consistently Shared His Vision
Jesus shared his vision with his team, his disciples, and with others. He embodied love and preached the good news of the forgiveness of sins and challenged the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day. He did not share his speech just once to a big crowd, but shared it often with small numbers of people, as well as with larger groups of people.
2) Jesus Entrusted His Message to a Faithful Few
The organizational model that Jesus used to spread his vision is worthy of study. There were three levels in his leadership model: The Three (Peter, James, and John), The Twelve (Jesus’ twelve disciples) and The Seventy-Two (a wider group of disciples). Jesus knew that his vision wouldn’t spread as well with just a big speech, but with faithful followers who would embody the vision and preach the vision. This is the theory of multiplication that is so critical for the exponential growth of any vision — the kind of exponential growth that the Christian faith had.
3) The Next Generations Lived and Spread the Vision
Two great epidemics illustrate the extent to which early Christians lived their vision and the power of people who live what they preach. The first epidemic occurred in 165 A.D. It lasted fifteen years and led to the death of approximately a quarter to a third of the population of the Roman Empire. The second epidemic was in 251 A.D. and was equally devastating. Caring for those with the disease was very risky, but the early Christians embodied the values of love and charity. Many Christians died caring for the sick. A contemporary observer stated that caring for the sick was very counter cultural at the time.
4) Early Christians Were Committed to the Vision
Early Christians were so committed to the vision that they were willing to die for it. While the number of Christians who were martyred for their faith was not great, their example had a powerful effect.
5) The Vision Was Different
In spreading a vision or a message, it helps if it stands out. The central message of Jesus’ vision was one of love, forgiveness, and mercy. In a time when the culture taught that humility and mercy were not rational, the early Christians’ message of forgiveness and mercy was striking.
Creating an Impactful Vision
While the growth of Jesus’ vision across continents and generations might seem daunting for us as leaders, there are some practical tips that Jesus’ approach can teach us about creating a vision that has impact.
Embody Your Vision: Let the way you live be as bold a message as the words you speak.
Consistently Share Your Vision: Sharing your vision does not happen in one big speech. Share it often in different places, with different people consistently and constantly.
Give Ownership of Your Vision to a Team:More than the big speech, having a core team that lives and preaches the vision is key. They will help spread the vision, ideally even after you.
The key to rapid exponential growth globally of your vision is multiplication. Spread the vision to a faithful few who will preach and embody the vision, who will in turn find others who will preach and embody the vision. Significant growth in your vision depends on this multiplication. Start small, with a faithful few, to grow big.
Reflection
How are you authentically living your vision?
Who are you giving ownership of your vision to that can carry the vision to future generations?
To explore Beyond the Crucible resources, including our free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment, visit beyondthecrucible.com.
Enjoy the show? Leave a review on your favorite podcast app and leave a comment at our YouTube channel and be sure subscribe and tell your friends and family about us.
Take the free Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment to discover where you are on your journey of moving beyond your crucible and how to chart your personal course to a life of significance: https://beyondthecrucible.com/assessment/
