Each of us was designed with an internal battle cry – an ultimate saga to live out.
Many times in life and business we come out of the starting gate strong, passionate to live out our ultimate saga, only to find ourselves stalled out or worse yet, stuck in failure half way into our commitment. This common scenario reminds me of the Bible story about Peter walking on water.
Jesus calls to Peter. Focused only on the ultimate saga in this storyline – Jesus, Peter steps out of the boat and actually walks on water. It is miraculous. Better than the Cirque du Soleil! But then Peter looks down. His eyes fixate on something other than the ultimate saga and Peter sinks. He is left dog paddling in circles waiting to be rescued.
Creating and communicating our ultimate saga will keep us from dog paddling in circles and help us have the faith to walk on water and into our destiny.
When you think of modern-day “Peters” who step outside the boat and walk on water, who do you think of?
When I think of examples of leaders that have the faith to step outside the boat to walk on water, Elon Musk immediately comes to mind. Elon Musk has built a futuristic empire on childhood dreams of rocket ships and fast cars (Space X and Tesla). An engineer at heart, Elon is interested in one thing: Changing the world and having an effect on the future.
Elon’s ultimate saga is to invest and engineer wondrous new technology that will change people’s perspective and make people say “wow” (CBS, 2014)! Elon communicates his ultimate saga through electric cars that demolish the image of slow, unsexy electric cars, and rocket ships that have windows for the average citizen to enjoy the views on their trip to the moon.
You may also know Elon Musk through his first company, PayPal which he sold to eBay for 1.5 Billion dollars, gaining 170 million dollars personally from the sale. Investing all of his own money in Space X and Tesla, Elon found himself, nearly underwater, dog paddling without hands, in 2007 when both companies were failing and Elon was personally out of money and in debt (CBS, 2014). His pivot turn-around secret: Behind his determined and resilient spirit, Elon never stopped communicating his goals, his vision and his ultimate saga to anyone who would listen.
For me, the best part of Elon Musk’s story of success is his attitude and his passion for his ultimate saga. In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes (2014), Elon said: “If something is important enough, you should try even if the probable outcome is failure.”
What is your battle cry – your ultimate saga? Would you be willing to fail to achieve it?
Watch Elon Musk’s full interview on CBS 60 Minutes:
CBS. (2014, March 30). 60 Minutes. Retrieved from 60 Minutes: http://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/FPlRN1JlcxSMF7rDGmzuCSWXXrR_kvAO/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musk-s-industrial-empire/
What do you think?