Turning the World Upside Down

Well, they did it again. I am not sure which of my grandchildren did it, but one of them flipped the globe in my den upside down … again. It was the first thing I noticed when I entered the room; I have an eye for such things. It could have been Ember. She loves to look at the globe and find states she can identify, and she always leaves the scene giving the world a good spin. Revel, likewise, seems fascinated with this ball that is perched at eye level and is always ready to be exercised. Master Briggs is constantly on the move and exploring every corner of the house, seeing how he might be able to rearrange it. Regardless which of these rascals pauses by the globe, they all want to spin it, which I am fine with as long as they don’t exceed the reasonable RPM limits of the design. What drives me a bit nuts however, is that they not only spin it about the equator, but they also seem compelled to spin it top to bottom, exchanging the north and south poles with wanton disregard for the devastating havoc such motion would create in our world! Then as if to say, “Deal with this Chief”, they leave the world in some random orientation.

Now I could easily go off on a tangent and absolutely begin a RANT belittling and exposing the ignorance of certain professional athletes and celebrities who are insisting that the earth is not round, but instead is flat. However, given this is a quiet, peaceful morning I do not want to ruin it by thinking about such things. Instead, I will focus my thoughts on the simple reminder and illustration my grandchildren left me: leaders often “turn the world upside down”.

Leadership, at its best, is the ability to see the world in a different way. To be able to challenge the accepted paradigm of what we mentally accept as a normal, or inevitable model of being and to be able to envision a better model. The average person sees things as they are in their current state and adapt their perceptions so as to calibrate it as being “normal”. We quickly adapt to our current conditions and accept the world as it is, the good, the bad and the ugly. Leaders seem to have the ability to see the good and envision a better. They see the bad and say, “this is not acceptable”, the ugly and say “this needs to change”.

Multitudes lived on the streets of Calcutta among the devastating poverty and appalling living conditions. They accepted that as a fact of life in Calcutta. Indeed, “the poor you will always have with you”. Mother Theresa, a small, non-descript Albanian nun looked at the region and did not accept it as a given, but instead said in effect, ‘this is not acceptable. We need to change it’. Through her tireless efforts, she inspired and led countless efforts to address and bring aid to those who were unable to help themselves. This leader rose to great heights in bringing care, compassion, love and aid to those she could. Her efforts even led her to the opportunity to address U.S. Government leaders, including our President, at a joint session of Congress. She did not hold back in exposing the need, opportunity and duty to lead and make this a better world.

I have been inspired by Mother Theresa’s work, and her leadership perspective of not accepting unacceptable things as they are, but to work to make them better. To work endlessly and to inspire and motivate others to join in a just and worthy cause. That is leadership. It is said that the following inscription hung on the wall of her children’s home in Calcutta:

This is a great reminder that as leaders, don’t let yourself be lulled into the norm, the standard mental model of the way things are. When you are inspired and compelled to take action and correct a wrong, to raise the level of performance, to reduce the waste and errors that prevent greatness or to simply make people’s lives better, let that be our call to action. If you have the gift of leadership, it is a responsibility to use it in such a way that we leave the world in a better condition than we found it.

I have been intrigued by a small comment that is found in the Book of Acts, Chapter 17 and verse 6. The local city governors are about to start a riot and beat some of the new disciples when they accused the leaders of the church saying, “Paul and Silas have turned the rest of the world upside down, and now they are here disturbing our city,” they shouted.’ Interesting, these men, Paul and Silas were seen as “turning the world upside down.” Personally, I would like to think that they were actually, turning the world back to right side up.

As leaders, let us not tire of the task of righting the world and keeping it on its axis. Thank you, Ember, Revel or Briggs, for the gentle reminder this morning. May you all become great leaders in your own right.

Stay Strong,

Terry