View from the Summit

Authenticity is essential to fulfilling your destiny. If you aren’t being real with yourself, if you’re just living a facade, do you think you will ever truly reach your full potential?

A gift can come in many different forms. When people talk about giving, the immediate inclination is to think of material possessions or a monetary value. However, some of the most generous gifts have nothing to do with money. Good business leaders are giving of their time, advice, and encouragement, and give the gift of empowerment to faithful workers who show aptitude.

Election season usually includes conversations about the trustworthiness of candidates. That is an even bigger topic of conversation today. Trust matters. You and I can’t do anything to affect the trustworthiness of other people, but we can take steps to make sure we are trusted.

In chapter six of our book of the month, The Impact Equation, the authors talk about trust. They pose an interesting question: “It’s easy to understand if we trust someone else, but how can we tell if someone trusts us? That isn’t as easy.”

In reality, we usually don’t know if people trust us until we discover they don’t. Then, it might be too late to address the issue. People today are more skeptical than ever. Why? Maybe it’s because of their experiences. They have valid reasons not to trust some people or professions.

A lot of people invest a significant time and resources trying to become famous. Some will go to outlandish ends to earn an audience. In 2013, a couple from India used Photoshop to insert themselves into a picture of someone reaching the summit of Mount Everest. They wanted the fame but didn’t want to make the climb.

Other people have done similar things in an effort to grab their thirty-seconds of fame. But, what did they do with the remaining 86,370 seconds that day and every other day of their lives? Rather than look for 30 seconds of fame, why not invest your time becoming a person of significance?