Resting, Retooling, Recharging and Reconnecting. We are daily immersing ourselves in these four stated goals of our sabbatical. Today, I watch a female Rufous hummingbird probe the flowers on the bank of the glacier-fed McKenzie River in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. The dopamine, serontonin and endorphin-producing sounds of the water rushing over the rocks and the sights of birds, bees and butterflies nearby, create an idyllic and picturesque place to reflect on last week.
Rufous Hummingbird @ www.GingerichPhotoArt.com
Last week was an opportunity to be intentional about leaving a legacy. A key component of our sabbatical was to reconnect with family and to connect our three children, their spouses and our four grandchildren to their family roots. So we started our four-month renewal period ten weeks ago with a visit to the villages of Switzerland where our ancestors lived. This past week, we rented an ocean-view home on the Oregon Coast and spent the entire time with our children and grandchildren.
When writing the grant proposal to fund this sabbatical, we desired to create some memories that would be carried for years to come in the brain cells of our descendants. We budgeted to fly them from Florida to my home state of Oregon for reconnecting with their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. And then, to spend an entire week together with their siblings and parents. But we planned so much more than just sleeping in the same house, eating our meals together, riding the sand rails on the Oregon Dunes, exploring the tide pools and watching the grey whales spout in the Pacific.
Although Linda and I have long been intentional about the legacy we leave for our children and grandchildren, we started planning this Oregon Coast legacy week 23 months ago. In addition to memorable fun together, we planned three evenings of intentional legacy-leaving activities.
1) An evening was devoted to giving a photojournalistic overview of what we know about our faith heritage and ancestral legacy from Europe. Our descendants needed to know of their adventurous, pioneering, risk-taking, courageous, and God-loving relatives of generations before them.
2) Another evening was dedicated to challenging them to be intentional about their own legacy. Six months prior we gave an assignment. Read “The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family” by Patrick Lencioni and be prepared to share the three answers you have come up with as a couple. We shared ours. They shared theirs. It was inspiring, beautiful and meaningful.
3) The third evening was committed to Linda and I verbally sharing pre-written blessings with each family member (inspired by The Blessing and Christian Grand-Parenting). From our one-year old twin grandchildren all the way up to our 38 year old son, everyone received a blessing of words, scripture and prayer. We concluded the evening with a reading of Joshua 4 (remembrance stones for future generations) and connecting it to communion together where Jesus invites all of His followers to remember His legacy of grace through the symbols of bread and wine. Each child and grandchild then chose a stone we had picked up in the Jura mountains of Switzerland near where their Anabaptist ancestors had expressed their bold commitment to Jesus Christ in the face of persecution and death.
As I sit here beside the calming McKenzie River, reflecting on this recent legacy week with our children their spouses and our grandchildren, I can’t help but be moved with the emotion of my own memories. I have no idea what kind of details our children and grandchildren will remember from that week together on the Oregon Coast. I doubt if they will remember seeing their first Peregrine Falcon in the wild at Yaquina Head, how many whales we watched feeding in the bay or even how fast the high-powered rails went up and over the sand dunes. But I do know they will remember. Here’s how I know.
I remember my grandfather, Orie Kropf, bringing my older brother Galen and I fishing on this very river–the McKenzie River, famous for spawning salmon. It’s been 50 years. I can’t remember how many fish we caught or even if we caught any fish. I just remember my Grandpa Kropf being surprisingly patient with a 10 year old who tangled lines with his brother and lost a lure through a wayward cast. Those are the memories that legacies are made of. I commit to be even more intentional in the years that remain.
For a photojournal of our six weeks in Europe, check out this link on Gingerich PhotoArt.
For a photo overview of the past four weeks of our USA Road trip, check out this link on my photography website.
Wow! Hard to grasp that my four-month sabbatical is half over. In many ways it seems like it has been so much longer than two months. We’ve been to so many places. Experienced many adventures. Met amazing people. Fallen in love with God more. I rediscovered why I married my wife nearly 40 years ago. Walked 551,160 steps. Driven thousands of kilometers and miles. Read several books. Taken thousands of photographs. And a whole lot more!
Sunset on the southern Oregon Coast
If there was one theme I had to identify from this first half of this sabbatical, it would be gratitude. Just plain old thankfulness. Deep appreciation. Feeling blessed. Full of gratitude. Every single one of the first 60 days, I’ve experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Sometimes it has been a tear producing, lump-in-the-throat, choked up, no-words-for-it, and emotional kind of gratitude.
I’ve been grateful for so many things it is hard to communicate them all. But here are a few highlights:
Faith Heritage – The first 6 weeks in Europe included visits to sites in Switzerland, Germany and Greece where our Biblical roots, our Protestant and Anabaptist history unfolded. I’m so grateful for deeply committed, courageous, risk-taking followers after God’s heart that have gone before me.
One of the smaller Redwood trees
Family Legacy – During our time in Europe, we connected to our family roots in Switzerland and Germany. We discovered adventurous, pioneering, lovers of God who were willing to lay it all on the line to live out their faith and chase their dreams of starting a new life in America.
Vocation and Calling – While in most settings these last two months I’ve not been serving in the role and capacity of a pastor, I’m more grateful than ever for the last 35 years as a pastor. While I have an identity as an individual outside of my chosen vocation, I’m most grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve God and His people and to impact the lives of so many through pastoral ministry. I’m especially grateful for the God-blessed fruitfulness of the past 28 years at Cape Christian.
Leadership Vision – I’ve been overwhelmed with gratitude that God gave me a clear vision for developing young leaders over ten years ago. Realizing that I can leave for 4 months and not have a single worry about what is happening in the church I founded has been amazing. I’m so thankful for the time and energy I intentionally invested in younger leaders.
Generous Givers – And finally I’m thankful for the generosity of folks like the Lilly family who created a foundation and an endowment to fund clergy sabbaticals like mine. I have profound gratitude for our Cape Christian lead team and church board who saw the value of me taking this sabbatical and generously gave me four months off. I so appreciate my wife’s boss who allowed her to take a leave of absence from her work so she could enjoy this sabbatical journey with me. We both feel extremely blessed.
As we enter the second half of our sabbatical, we have so much more to experience. Our four “R” goals are being accomplished. We are more than grateful for each day of this journey.
Links to my photo journal of this sabbatical: Europe and USA Road Trip. Enjoy!
Wow! It’s been a whole month since I last posted. When I’ve been in a pattern for the last years of writing at least two or more times each week, it feels really strange. But remember, I’m on a four-month sabbatical. And don’t forget the four R goals of my sabbatical plan–Rest, Recharge, Reconnect and Retool.
Upper Antelope Slot Canyon near Page, AZ. Copyright by Gingerich PhotoArt
So, here’s the deal. Over the past month, every time I said, “I should write a blog post,” my wife reminded me that if it felt like I “should” be doing it, then maybe it was too much like work and a sabbatical is meant to be a time away from my work. So, I’ve truly been experiencing rest and the other three R’s. But I sure have made multiple entries in my “Blog Potential” notebook in Evernote.
Bryce Canyon, UT. Copyright by Gingerich PhotoArt
One of the key points I made in my sabbatical grant proposal to the National Clergy Renewal program was that travel, adventure and photography all recharge me–emotionally, spiritually and physically. Therefore, in case you haven’t connected with our sabbatical photo journal through social media, I want to end this brief blog with two links.
The first link is the opening six weeks of our sabbatical when we were in Europe (Click here). The second link is to images from the first 10 days of our 10 week road trip across our magnificent United States of America (Click here).
I hope that you enjoy the images I have captured. They point us to a marvelous and spectacular Creator who cares about every detail of His creation–including you and what is happening in your life today!
I’m incredibly blessed. Blessed beyond all measure. A fully funded four-month sabbatical. A time to rest, recharge, reconnect and retool. Multiple times every single day, I make mental notes of things I could be writing about in this blog. However, spotty internet connections, full days of interesting experiences, new places to explore, and just the promise to myself to not write out of pressure, means those topic ideas are primarily just logged in Evernote for future posts. But “vision” is one of those things I can’t resist writing about on this beautiful day, sitting under a canopy of trees, listening to the birds of Berlin at Hotel Christophorous in Germany.
Two weeks ago, my wife Linda and I experienced an unforgettable ride from our Interlaken hotel to the highest railway station in Europe, 3454 meters (11,332 feet). Frequently called the “Top of Europe”—Jungfrau is one of the highest peaks of the Swiss Alps. An alpine wonderland of ice, snow and rock. A spiritual and emotional tank-filling viewpoint! (Check Gingerich PhotoArt for more photos).
Equally inspiring as the panoramic breath-filling images of the Alpine villages and valleys below, is the vision of the rack-railway that was tunneled to the summit over 100 years ago. It was Sunday, August 27,1893. The 54-year-old industrial magnate and finance expert Adolf Guyer-Zeller was hiking from Schilthorn to Mürren with his daughter. Suddenly he stopped and said, “Now I’ve got it!” As he saw a train travelling up to Kleine Scheidegg, he hit on the idea of building a railway from there to the Jungfrau. That night he sketched his idea on a sheet of paper. The sketch shows the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks as well as the route he planned for the Jungfrau Railway. He attached such great importance to this pencil sketch that he added the following note: “11-1:30 at night, Room No. 42, Kurhaus, 27/28 August 1893” and then his initials GZ.
Yes, that was the moment of vision for Adolf Guyer-Zeller. But the building of this incredible 7 kilometer curved tunnel through rock with a cogwheel railway system using turn-of-the-20th century engineering and technology (much of it done with only picks, shovels, muscle power and dynamite) is even more impressive. And then, the perseverance and price paid to see the vision become a reality. Just four months after his vision-inspiring hike, Guyer-Zeller submitted his application to the government authorities. A year later it was approved.
And then, the reality. Horrible weather. Unexpected obstacles. An accidental explosion of 30 tons of dynamite. Extreme working conditions. 30 deaths and 90 injuries. There was even a two-year pause in the construction while additional funds were collected. Some said, “It can’t be done.” The first train went from the bottom to the top on August 1, 1912. A projected four years to completion turned into 16 years. But, vision became reality.
More than a century later, we and nearly a million others each year, are blessed participants in the fruit of another person’s vision turned reality—a stunning view and an exhilarating experience at the top of Europe.
This is how I wish my life to be remembered. Visions pursued to reality turning into blessings for multitudes. Hardships incurred becoming purpose-filled joys. Labors resulting in fruitful legacy. Success transforming into significance.
How about you? Do you have a vision that is becoming reality? Is there a need for a restart of a vision that is on pause? Do you need to persevere through a tough patch on the journey toward your vision?
Remember these words from the New Testament, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:2-5 NIV).
For a photo journal of his sabbatical journey, go to the Sabbatical 2014 folder on Dennis’ photography website at www.GingerichPhotoArt.com.
I think it is a good thing. It’s been only a week. I turned off my work email, got on a plane and my wife Linda and I left for Europe. But it actually feels much longer. And that’s what feels like such a good thing. Except for a text from someone asking me to circumvent the online reservation system for our church park so she could get a discount, I have been able to totally disengage. I’m beginning to experience the four “R’s” designed for my sabbatical plan.
A view of the Austrian Alps near where we are staying.
In the sabbatical grant proposal to the National Clergy Renewal Program, these words were written regarding my sabbatical plan:
“We treasure Jeremiah 6:16a (NIV) which reads; ‘This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’ We believe Dennis will find rest for his soul as he walks on four ancient paths that we have discerned for this sabbatical. The four paths are as follows: 1) REST; 2) RECHARGE; 3) RETOOL; and 4) RECONNECT.
For Dennis, REST is found through some inactivity but primarily through activities outside his normal routines. He RECHARGES through adventure, exploration, travel and photography. Dennis wants to RETOOL through reading and learning opportunities. This plan will help him to RECONNECT with himself, his wife of 39 years, his 3 adult children and their spouses, 4 grandchildren, extended family and his Biblical, denominational and family heritages. We believe these four paths of his sabbatical will help him to continue inspiring transformissional living in others for many years to come.”
During this first week of our sabbatical, we have breathed deeply of the beauty seen in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, gazed in awe at centuries-old cathedrals and absorbed the impact of lay-your-life-on-the-line choices our 14th and 15th century family members made because of their deep faith. We have been busy—Walked a lot. Climbed many steps. Toured Salzburg on bikes. Driven hundreds of kilometers. Stood in the pulpits of churches my forefathers worshipped in. Pushed the shutter button hundreds of times. Sampled a lot of local foods. And much more!
Yet, we are experiencing rest: mental, emotional and spiritual. And even a bit of physical rest. We definitely are starting to feel recharged. We have been retooling through reading and absorbing the immense knowledge and inspiring insights received by spending a day with Anabaptist/Reformation history expert, Dr. Hanspeter Jecker. And both Linda and I are reconnecting. Our strengths and weaknesses are complimentary and we make a great traveling team. We have been praying together more than ever, reconnecting with God. Anticipating each day as an adventure of faith—looking for God sightings…and there have been many!
This scene in the Austrian village of St. Lorenzen where we are staying reminded us of Psalm 23.
Every day of this sabbatical is a blessing! We are grateful for the leaders and people of Cape Christian who have given us this time off. We are most thankful for the Lilly Endowment—which is fully funding this time away.
And now, take some time to view some images I’ve captured over the past week in the special Sabbatical 2014 folder on my photography website – www.GingerichPhotoArt.com. Enjoy!
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve heard it. “Wow, that’s quite a vacation! I need a vacation like that.” And I want to respond, “It’s a sabbatical, not a vacation!” I know. Most would wonder if there is a difference. If so, what is it? Isn’t a sabbatical just a long vacation?
If you didn’t know, I’m very blessed. I’m a recipient of the coveted National Clergy Renewal grant. Yes, really! A four-month sabbatical full funded by the Lilly Endowment. Even though I started writing the grant proposal 18 months ago, submitted it a year ago and found out I received it six months ago, I still have to almost pinch myself to see if I’m just dreaming. My wife Linda and I fly to Europe for the initial segment of our first-ever sabbatical in just a little over 24 hours!!!
So what is a sabbatical and why would the Lilly Endowment fund them for 87 clergy this year? It may not be obvious, but a sabbatical is anchored the ancient word—Sabbath. Shabbat or Sabbath, starts far back in Hebrew history. It’s a day of religious observance and abstinence from work. Jews keep Shabbat from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Most Christians traditionally observe Sunday as a day of worship and rest. One day of rest out of seven. Jews and Christians would also note that even God rested after six days of Creation. Healthy and sustainable lives are usually marked by a similar pattern.
According to YourSabbatical.com, a sabbatical is “a planned, strategic job pause that allows you to travel, do research, volunteer, learn a new skill, or fulfill a lifelong dream.” This business-focused website, goes on to describe the most meaningful sabbaticals are planned—with opportunity for intentional reflection, professional development, personal growth, transformative insights, and renewed passion.
Sabbaticals are NOT simply vacations. A sabbatical is much more. From planning my own sabbatical and from the reading I’ve done, here’s the difference.
VACATION…..………vs…………….SABBATICAL
Usually not goal oriented Achieves personal and career goals
Reflection is possible Intentional reflection is necessary
Work waits for your return Work has a solid coverage plan
Smartphone is on Smartphone is unplugged to business
Optional sharing upon return Planned sharing with co-workers
Little input from others Seeks input from other sabbatical goers
Paid with short-term funds Needs long-term financial plan
Little thought to enhancing career/life Purpose is to enhance career/life/ministry
Focus on recovery Focus on rejuvenation
There may be plenty more comparisons. In my sabbatical grant application, I proposed four goals for my sabbatical —Rest, Recharge, Retool and Reconnect. In the next post, I’ll expand on how the activities we’ve planned will help these “R”s to be accomplished over the next four months. If you subscribe via email on the home page, you’ll get each post right in your inbox. I will be reflecting and posting periodically during this sabbatical so join me on the journey! And as an added bonus, I’ll have some links on my next post to my photography website with a few photos I anticipate capturing in the Swiss and Austrian Alps! Stay tuned!
QUESTION: What more would you like to learn about sabbaticals? Please share in the comment section below and I’ll make an attempt to touch on them over the next four months. Thanks for going on the journey with me!
It caught my attention. A hat on a shelf in a gift shop. No, it was really the writing on the hat. A lot of people love to give advice. But, advice from a tree? Since when did trees start giving advice? What could I learn from a tree?
Of course, I learned in fourth-grade science that trees are a benefit to our world – shade, oxygen, filtering the air, preventing erosion, providing food, building materials, habitat for wildlife and so much more. Our environment would self-destruct without trees. But can I learn something from a tree? The hat said it all. Four simple things. The way I try to live my life. I think, the best way for everyone to live life. So, here’s some advice from a tree:
Go Out on a Limb – Someone told me early in my ministry calling, “Go out on a limb, because that’s where the fruit is.” Thirty-five years of risk-taking ministry has proven that advice given to a fledging pastor was a nugget of gold. Albert Einstein said, “A ship is always safe at the shore – but that is NOT what it is built for.” I learned from my limb-crawling father—no risk, no reward. As a grass-seed farmer, he taught me to plant the seed even with possibilities of too little rain, cold, heat, birds, insects, weeds or too much rain. Many things might destroy the crop, but there definitely was no harvest if you didn’t go out on a limb and plant the seed.
Stand Tall and Proud – My mother coached me early in life to stand up, pull my shoulders back, and walk with my head in the air. No place for sagging shoulders, head down, looking at the ground as if you had lost your last penny. However, standing tall and proud was very different than walking with your nose in the air. Confidence saturated with humility dissuades arrogance. My parents modeled it.
[Tweet “Confidence saturated with humility dissuades arrogance.“]
Remember Your Roots – The wisdom of age helps me to realize how significant my roots are. As I reflect on a history of great grandparents who were late 19th century immigrants from Europe to America and then early 20th century Far West pioneers to Oregon, I’m humbled. Moving my family to Florida 28 years ago with the modern conveniences of the 1980’s and even some financial backing to found a church isn’t all that impressive. So, I’m using my next four months of sabbatical to explore more of both those European and Oregon family roots.
Enjoy the View – Most every child loves to climb a tree for the challenge and the view. We love to drive to the highest point overlooking a city or a scenic countryside view. Climbing above our circumstances for a different vantagepoint gives a whole new perspective. Unfortunately, we often get caught up in the daily grind and life becomes mundane and joyless. Living life to the fullest includes purposefully slowing down to be grateful, reflecting on God’s grace, goodness and blessings. This intentionality will give you a different angle from which to view your life.
Copyright www.GingerichPhotoArt.com
So, I’ve learned from a lot of things in life. Now, I’ve learned from a tree. And, I will look at a tree each and every day through new eyes. How about you?
QUESTION: What additional advice do you think a tree might give if it could speak? I’d love to hear it in the comment section below. Thanks!
Napoleon wrote, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” I love that. The ability to create and stir up hope in others is one of the trademarks of great leadership. Hope is a core desire to see something come to completion and fulfillment.
In a business or an organization, it is the leader who must be able to influence others to see and pursue the preferred future. The success of an organization hinges on bringing hope to the entire team. People must at some point embrace the vision as their own. When this happens, hope has taken root.
I’m reflecting this week as the church I founded is opening up a park to bless our city. Five acres of the 14 acre church site will be solely focused on providing an environment for families to gather and build memories.
When the church was two years old, we began assembling three city blocks of 48 individually-owned properties. It took a few months short of ten years to get the 48th piece. Along the way, a few folks gave up and thought the church would continue to rent a school cafetorium and never get its own place. But most discovered hope. They held on to that hope for the entire ten-year process. I look back and find it quite amazing that I was able to lead several hundred people to hope in a vision that became a reality.
I recently read a blog on hope by Mark Miller, author of “The Heart of Leadership,” I recognize now how much I was a dealer in hope over those years. How do leaders create hope? Mark Miller correctly notes at least four essential elements required for hope to emerge…
CHARACTER – Leadership skills are never enough to cultivate followship. To become a leader people want to follow also requires leadership character. When you and I are deemed trustworthy, we have the opportunity to plant the seeds of hope. Until then, we have little chance of success.
CLARITY – Vague generalities have limited power to stir hope. For you and I to talk about a better day has limited appeal. However, when we talk specifically about a preferred future, we have a chance at generating hope. Over the 10 years of assembling the three blocks of properties, we kept publically coloring in the poster board map of the 48 pieces, one by one, block by block.
COMPETENCE – People may initially follow a leader who they perceive to have character and delivers a clear message. But, they won’t follow that leader for long if they sense a lack of competence. Without this confidence in a person’s competence, there can be no hope. People see leaders without competence as imposters – not dealers in hope.
CONSTANCY – I mean unchanging or unwavering. Mark Miller said it best, “Leaders understand more than most that progress is rarely a straight line and it is almost always opposed. When the path into the future becomes difficult, it’s easy for people to want to abandon the journey. It is often the leader’s unwavering and unchanging vision that will stem the tide of disbelief and skepticism. Leaders must stay on message regardless of challenges and setbacks or hope will be lost.” Yep! So very true!
Hope, and the ability to generate it, is a big part of what we do as leaders. But the truth is, at some point, we must deliver. Hope without progress is unsustainable. It actually fades rather quickly. I’m so grateful to have the privilege of being a dealer of hope. And even more, I’m thankful I’ve been able to raise up the next generation of young leaders who are outstanding hope dealers.
And, even more powerful, is the reality that leaders are more than dealers in hope; we create the future. That’s what ultimately keeps hope alive!
QUESTION: What additional elements do you think are required for hope to emerge? I’d love to hear it!
A line from the most quoted Psalm in the Bible reads, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life…” (Ps. 23:6). The writer was totally confident that he was leaving a trail of goodness and loving kindness in his tracks. What kind of path will your life carve for those come behind you? Are you leaving behind blessing and benefit or cursing and carnage?
As a pastor, I’ve led hundreds of funerals over the last 35 years. I usually get a good read on the kind of trail people have left behind them. Often I’m inspired. Occasionally I’m saddened. I see the pain caused by careless living or the lack of intentionally blessing the generations that follow.
In Calvin Harper’s blog on Christian Grandparenting, he tells the story of James Boswell—the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson, an 18th century writer, poet and compiler of A Dictionary of the English Language. Boswell’s biography of Johnson became one of the most famous works of the day.
As a boy, Boswell tells of an experience when his father took him fishing. It was a day he reflected on with great fondness well into adulthood. One day that changed when, after his father’s death, James read his father’s diary. In it his father revealed his own view of that fishing day with his son: “Gone fishing today with my son; a day wasted.”
Harper concludes: “You can imagine the trail of negative emotions that must have followed James Boswell’s father for his son because of those few careless words. And if he dared to write them in his diary, one has to wonder what other messages he left in his wake.”
How do we make sure goodness and mercy is following our lives? We can learn from the Psalmist. Right before verse 6 quoted above, David wrote these words in verse 5: “You [God] prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You [God] anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
It seems obvious that God’s gracious and lavish grace was filling the heart of David to overflowing so that his life was a conduit of that grace to others. The goodness of God and the recognition of God’s mercy or loving kindness filled David’s emotional and spiritual reservoir. Out of the spillover, God’s grace trickled and even gushed over those who followed behind.
[Tweet “If our hearts are overflowing with purpose, meaning, grace and peace, there will be a stream of goodness and loving kindness following us all the days of our lives.”]
The people around us will be blessed or disheartened by the trail we leave. If our hearts are overflowing with purpose, meaning, grace and peace, there will be a stream of goodness and loving kindness following us all the days of our lives. What’s following you?
QUESTION: What are some additional ways you’ve learned to leave a trail of goodness and mercy behind you? Share it in the comments below.
It just ended this week. March Madness spilled over into April. It was a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat end to college basketball season. While UConn defeated Kentucky in the final, the NCAA tournament was full of sub texts and life lessons. One of the reasons sports captures our imagination is that it showcases our hopes, dreams and aspirations. Even if we aren’t suited up and out on the floor, at some level, we all want to win.
The harsh reality is that leaders don’t always win. In the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament, there were a lot of busted brackets. Little known teams upset the “big dogs” of college basketball. Number one seeds were beaten by number 15 seed teams. It happens nearly every year.
In the first round of this year’s tournament, Duke University played Mercer University. It was a proverbial David and Goliath match-up. And like life, you should be careful about betting on the underdog. Mercer pulled off a monster upset by beating powerhouse Duke 78-71. Upsets happen. Quite regularly. But what happened after the game is the real story.
After meeting with his own team, Coach Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in college basketball history, went to visit the other team. I know. It seems odd. Of course, it’s normal to do the obligatory handshake with the opposing coach. But Coach K wanted to personally congratulate the Mercer players for one of this season’s biggest upsets, and arguably the biggest in Mercer history.
That story makes for some great life lessons about what to do when you lose. Here are three suggestions.
Accept Responsibility – Regardless of the refs, player injuries or any other factors, the best leaders own the outcome. It’s their team. They are responsible. Win or lose. Mark Miller does a masterful job with this topic when he writes about accepting responsibility as a character issue in his book, The Heart of Leadership.
Be Gracious – None of us like to lose. It is painful. Arrogance walks away with head bowed. Humility congratulates the winners. Leaders need to model the same grace in defeat we should demonstrate in victory. [Tweet “What we do when we lose says more about our leadership character than what we do when we win.”]
Learn From Defeat – Zig Ziglar always said, “If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” [Tweet “Every loss has a potential to improve our game.”] If we refuse to learn from our defeats, we have wasted our pain. When I really think about it, I’ve probably learned more through failure than I have through successes. Leaders are learners. We can learn both in winning and losing.
The Duke Blue Devils lost the game – but Coach Krzyzewski proved once again, he’s definitely a winner and a leader!
QUESTION: What additional things have you learned about making the most out of losing? I’d love to learn from you in the comment section below.
