financial success was most likely
vastly different from everyone else’s
reasons. My approach to this would
take some finesse.
The marketing company I worked
for had been promoting a program
encouraging employees to reach a
specific level of achievement within
90 days. The aggressive timeline
and target were, respectfully, a crude
tool the company was using to try to
motivate employees to become super
achievers as fast as humanly possible.
I did reach the goal, although it took me
120 days. But then I hadn’t really tried to
reach it in the prescribed timeframe—I
wasn’t after the company’s prize. I
reached the goal only because I was
driven by a different motivation than
the other employees were: to increase
the number of rescued children.
As I researched the topic for my
presentation, I discovered the story
of U.S. Navy Vice Admiral James
Stockdale, one of the highest-ranking
U.S. officers captured during the
Vietnam War. He was kept as a prisoner
of war in the infamous camp known as
the Hanoi Hilton. Reading Stockdale’s
story, I saw a correlation between the
message I had in mind and the mindset
the vice admiral had maintained when
he was in captivity.
The day of the conference, I was next
to last to present to the room of about
500 serious businesspeople. All the
speakers before me were really good,
and as I sat listening to them, nervous
thoughts plagued me: I have to follow
these guys? They’re all professional
businesspeople, and here I am, a
minister who happens to be in this
business to make some extra money.
I’m not a businessman!
I reminded myself that I would be
talking about God and wouldn’t hide
anything. I would simply tell the people
what I believed. I had always been
comfortable speaking to thousands of
people in a church, but in front of a
group of intimidating businesspeople, I
felt totally out of my element. I gathered
myself, walked up onstage, and, after
congratulating the other speakers on
their remarkable messages, began.
“I don’t know if this is what you’re
looking for,” I said, looking out at the
expectant faces before me, “but I’ll
just share what’s on my heart, and
hopefully you’ll get something out of
it. I don’t know what your why is. I have
no idea why you hope to achieve this
specific level in the 90 days expected
of us.”
“Let me share a story with you,” I
went on, “about a man named James
Stockdale.”
Solutions • 7