HEROISM: THE MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN AND MANY, MANY MORE

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Have you see the movie The Magnificent Seven? Perhaps you’ve seen the Japanese movie, Seven Samurai, on which it is based.

In both movies, the heroes, who are vastly outnumbered, rescue a village of “peasants” from marauding bandits who are stealing the peasant’s crops. And, at the end of both movies, the heroes declare that it is only the peasants who have really triumphed because only they have endured and will always endure while the heroes will one day, it is supposed, be killed.

I was thinking about this message of endurance as I spoke with a friend the other day. He was frustrated by his inability to sell his services in spite of his heroic efforts on the phone and in face to face sales calls. Many people I know are experiencing the same lack of results. And while we admire and even try to emulate the heroes of movies, it is in fact people like my friend who endure the day to day frustrations and keep going who are, I suggest, truly heroic.

In this regard, I read an interview with John Donahoe in the April 5th Business section of the New York Times. Donahoe has been the CEO of eBay since March of 2008.

In the interview, Donahoe admits to suffering from a fear of failure early in his management career. He got some advice from a mentor as he advanced in his carer. I think it’s great advice for us all:

“You know, John, you’re trying to bat .900. When you were in college, you got a lot of A’s. You could get 90, 95 percent right. When you took your first job as an analyst, you were really successful and felt like you were batting .900. But now you’re playing in the major leagues, and if you expect to bat .900, either you come up to bat and you freeze because you’re so afraid of swinging and missing, or you’re a little afraid to step into the batter’s box. Remember the best hitters in Major League Baseball can strike out 6 times out of 10 and still be among the greatest hitters of all time. The key is to get up in that batter’s box and take a swing. And all you have to do is hit one single, a couple of doubles and an occasional home run out of every 10 at-bats and you’re going to be the best hitter or the best business leader around.”

I’m sure you’ve heard a similar message, perhaps related to how many times Babe Ruth struck out on the road to 60 home runs.

In our day to day lives, unlike the movies, no music plays behind our conversations, we don’t have a script to follow that ensures we will always say the perfect thing, no audience applauds us. We’re simply doing the best we can and enduring. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, but we suit up for every game (I first heard this saying from my friend Pam Linton and it stuck).

That in my mind, takes real heroism and, if you’re like my friend, let me applaud you for it.

With best wishes,
Larry

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