I was once very close to a musician who played the blues.
No, that’s not really accurate… HE LIVED the blues.
It was all part of his desire to reach the lost through music… through connection… through ministry. He was going to the street… to look the people in the eye…
to lead them with authenticity.
At least that’s how it started.
However, it wasn’t long and HE was being led… into drugs… alcohol… theft… you name it. His somber plea for help came two years later in the form of a phone call from a homeless mission on the O.B.T.
Orlando’s Orange Blossom Trail is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous places to live in the nation, and he had become part of its culture. Chain smoking through the tears… he described his heroin and cocaine addiction… his depression… and the hepatitis that he had received from a friend.
Would I call his parents… would I send him money… would I help him get off the street?
The answers were yes… no… and yes.
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Another story… please.
When Augustine got out of the service after WWII, he took a job on the road as an insurance salesman. The travel was extensive.
As he spent more and more time alone, he began to drink heavily. What started as an issue… now became a serious problem. A short time later, he would be diagnosed with alcoholism.
This had three highly negative effects:
1) He lost his job
2) He lost his home
3) He lost his family
Imagine that… and all without the help of country music!
One winter morning at the height of his despair… he was on the street, in the cold… and had given up on his future. He considered taking his own life. That very day, while warming himself in a public library… he was inspired by the ideas in a book… ideas that would completely change his thinking, and the course of his life forever.
Augustine “Og” Mandino would become one of the greatest success authors of all time, writing such classic works as The Greatest Salesman in the World and A Better Way to Live.
These, along with twenty others, have sold more than 50 MILLION copies, and his leadership seminars and retreats still train thousands… almost 13 years after his passing.
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Questions:
Must a leader live the life of their followers in order to have influence with them?
What is the difference between, “Been there… done that,” and “Still there… doing that,” and what impact would each scenario play in a leaders ability to lead.
More in Part III… tomorrow.
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