Three Minute Leadership: Looking Past the Limits
To: The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning
Speaking of the power of belief in self holds Mary Kay Ash, American business woman, wrote: “Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so it goes on flying anyway.” Ash’s words are reflected in the magnificent story that Caroline Casey shares about her life in a recent TED presentation, Looking Past Limits. Caroline was legally blind from birth. Her parents, realizing that they needed to prepare her for the day she would live on her own, when she was three, decided not to tell her that she was blind. From age three until seventeen she lived her life believing she could see, undaunted by any limitations – “No special needs schools. No labels. No limitations. My ability and my potential… They gave me the ability to believe, totally believe that I could (see).”
At age 17, she learned she was legally blind. For the next eleven years, with the strength of determination forged by the power of her belief in herself and her possibilities, she lived a life that no one would know that she was legally blind – from archeologist, restaurant manager, masseuse to being a global consultant with Accenture. Of what she accomplished she said: “It’s extraordinary how far belief can take you.” Finally, her eyes gave out. Her will was again tested as she struggled to find purpose and meaning to her life It came when she found something to again believe in – a thousand kilometer journey across India which started a new part of her life as a social entrepreneur in establishing Elephant Family dealing with Asian elephant conservation.
The learnings she gives us are captured in her words: “And I never needed eyes to see – never. I simple needed vision and belief. And if you truly believe – and I mean believe from the bottom of your heart – you can make change happen. And we need to make it happen, because every single one of us…must be the very best of ourselves.” Belief in ourselves – in our possibilities, our potential – has awesome power. It is the internal fire that illuminates and ignites our incredible gifts, exposing our incredible possibilities . It Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, psychiatrist and author, writes: “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.”
There is one other majestic gift that belief extends to each of us – it opens our eyes to see the beauty and greatness in others. We see their infinite possibilities, and in doing see, awaken within them a belief in themselves, a fire that will ignite and change their lives forever. Remember always, “You have everything you need, if you just believe.”
Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!
Mike