Three Minute Leadership: Learnings from Life’s Journey

In his June 2011 Commencement Address at Dartmouth University, Conan O’Brien, TV host and writer, with an introduction filled with fun and humor, shared a lesson that he had learned the year before when he experienced “a very profound and public disappointment.” 

He had failed.  He said: “I did not get what I wanted, and I left a system that had nurtured and helped define me for the better part of 17 years. I went from being in the center of the grid to not only off the grid….” He spent the next year wandering, doing things that were “silly, unconventional, spontaneous and seemingly irrational.”  His commitment to his purpose in life was being redefined and he felt liberated.  From this he realized:  “There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized.”

He spoke of Johnny Carson who wanted to be a Jack Benny, famous 1940’s and 1950’s comedian, and failed; of David Letterman who wanted to be a Johnny Carson, and failed; and of comedians of his own generation who wanted to be David Letterman, and who failed.  Of this he said: “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention….The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.”

What magnificent rewards that disappointment offers: the clarity to see one’s purpose more clearly, the conviction to have a greater commitment to accomplish it and the gaining a greater realization and understand of our own beautify uniqueness.  Eliza Tabor, author, writes: “Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.”  May your disappointments be few, but when they come, may you treasure the beautiful gifts they give and become greater with their departure.

Have a beautiful day and a fantastic week!!!

Mike