Obligations and Opportunities

Happy New Year! As we pin up our fresh calendars and begin a new year our minds often turn to resolutions and promises that we want to make to ourselves and our loved ones. We naturally desire to make the new year a better one than the year we just bid goodbye to. We make plans to lose a few extra pounds that snuck onto our waistlines during the extended holiday celebrations or we set our sights on projects that have been lagging and need to be attended to, or new heights in our work that we wish to obtain. I suppose that this is a normal part of the human condition. There is a certain hopefulness that comes with each new dawn and each new year. It is always good to get a fresh perspective and recalibrate our plans and strategies in order to achieve the objectives of our mission and to pursue the desires of our hearts.

It is incumbent for the leader in us to set the tone for the renewed vision and objective for the team. If the leader does not set the standard, the bar will not rise by itself, but instead stay at the status quo at best, or continual a gradual slide downward at worst.

As leaders we have certain obligations that we must attend to and be faithful to. The journey to success can be long and arduous and we must be built of the enduring character to fulfill our promises to others and to ourselves. When others want to quit or abandon a tough goal, it is the leader who must set the tone and create the passion within the soul of the team that they can, and that they will indeed be successful.

With great leadership, often time the obligation to fulfill a promise is actually overshadowed by an even deeper desire to accomplish something great. To be part of something bigger than oneself, and to be part of a great team that accomplished goals that other teams marvel at, or make excuses for why they are unable to do the same. These leaders see opportunity with every challenge presented with the fulfillment of our obligations.

Below is a motivational clip depicting the difference between obligation and opportunity. Give it a view and see if it does not get you charged up to attack your mission with a new sense of energy and passion.

That video really helps illustrate the difference between obligations and opportunities. As a leader we can help our teams see the great opportunities that are there to be grasped and owned. We can demonstrate the concepts of “extreme ownership” that will set the great teams apart from the good ones. As good as that clip is, I think that the following quick link of Columbia President Emeritus Robertson McQuilkin’s resignation speech does it even better.

Robertson McQuilkin served as the third president of Columbia International University from 1968 to 1990 and distinguishing himself as a great leader of the university. Under his leadership, CIU advanced their accreditation standing and faculty development programs, lead growth in the graduate and seminary programs, and initiated a radio ministry as well as expanding the campus facilities. He resigned from the presidency to care for his wife, Muriel, when she entered the stage of Alzheimer's disease in which she needed full-time care. His powerful resignation speech has been heard by tens of thousands of people around the world.

Notice that President McQuilkin acknowledges his obligation to the promise he made to his wife, to care for her until death do them part. He also states that his care for her is only fair; being that she cared for him for so many years. But the power of his decision to resign his post from the University he loved comes not just from his commitment to his obligations, but to the opportunity that he grasps as a great leader. He ends with the thought that in caring for his ailing wife, “It is not that I have to. I get to!” He understands that even in this period of his life, he is going to experience an aspect of love for his wife that he never could have in any other way. Robertson McQuilken demonstrates great leadership. May we enter 2016 with an amazing commitment to lead our teams with all of our heart, to fulfill our obligations freely, and to seek and grasp the opportunities that lay before us.

Happy New Year my friends!

Stay Strong,

Terry