3 October 2009
The Power of If (part 2)

Filed under gaps + thoughts

Once during a brainstorming session, Dan Uslan, a good friend and former colleague asked our team, “What are your superpowers?” His question served as a great ice breaker and a most effective jumpstart to our meeting. I don’t remember what my answer was, but I know how I would like be able to respond in the future. In the first four lines of the first stanza of his poem, ‘If’, Rudyard Kipling (RK) describes a most incredible superpower.

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;”

Some of you are thinking, “That’s not a superpower. Superpowers are seeing through walls, jumping buildings and out muscling locomotives.” Admittedly, flying around and zapping things with laser beam eyes would be pretty cool, but for me, Mr. Kipling’s words describe a greater superpower. As I see it, though amazing as Clark Kent’s powers are, he didn’t have to earn them. For mere mortals to attain the superpower RK describes, we have to face the fiercest of all arch enemies, ourselves. Let’s face it, we are our own kryptonite.

The first ingredients in this superpower recipe are personal peace, “keep your head,” and calm in the storm, “when all about you, are losing theirs.” Peace and calm provide our inner foundation and fortress, a safe perch from which to view life’s challenges. The next and most volatile ingredient is self confidence, “trust yourself when all men doubt you.” Make sure you don’t add too much, by making “allowances for their doubting too.” Too much confidence and our mixture turns proud and hard to work with. If allowed to set in, pride will destroy our fortress from the inside out.

Well, four lines down and twenty-eight to go. Please share your comments and feelings about the post or your own interpretation of this amazing poem. -Russ

2009-10-03  ::  Russ Leseberg