I had an awesome opportunity today to be part of an audience in which Tavis Smiley shared some valuable wisdom and knowledge. Among a number of things, he talked about how you can turn failure into successes (taking pages from his own life). But one of the things I valued most was when he mentioned that you could either be a person in life who follows truth or you can be a power grabber. The truth part I'm sure you get but let me explain the power grabber. Power grabbers are those who may very well know/believe in truth but they don't remain steadfast in what they believe because they fear unpopularity...they fear loss of a position...loss of priviledges with holding to the truth. So, anyway, when he mentioned this truth versus power concept it really got me to thinking and self-analyzing because I'm always analyzing. What areas in my life have I had to feel like I was standing alone (so to speak) because what I believed was unpopular? How often have I missed certain opportunities because instead of me being silent about an issue I decided to speak up for what I believed? The honest truth is afterwards I have often wished I'd done the opposite. But would I have really been happy with myself?
Power is not just about status or leadership, it's about control. Think of it this way-- "truth at all costs" versus "getting what I want" (power). You can apply that to all of life. Do I respectfully talk to the boss about the mistreatment of certain employees in the office or do I remain silent because review or promotion time is coming up? Do I confront that friend about a situation or do I just go with the flow because I don't want to lose the friendship? Life is full of decisions and those decisions impact us more than we realize. We can choose to be people of integrity by remaining true to who we are or we can follow the path that will get us all that we want--the power (minus self-respect).
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