I recently stumbled on a quote from leadership guru John Maxwell that scared me.
It read:
"Even the most introverted person influences 10,00 people in their lifetime."
Ten...
Thousand...
People.
At first, I thought this statement was total baloney.
And then I thought about it.
REALLY thought about it.
Influencing 10,000 people during our lifetime is ABSOLUTELY possible.
Because the people we influence aren't just our kids, co-workers and others who are close to us.
The people we influence can often be the people that are anything BUT close to us.
People we seldom notice.
People whose names we may not know.
The checkout guy bagging our groceries at King Soopers.
The hourly college kid that helps out in the office a few hours a week
The flight attendant serving us a cup of Starbucks on our red-eye flight back home.
People who are practically "invisible" to us.
If you can believe it, this notion really hit home during a recent family burger run to The Red Robin.
It was crowded, the restaurant was short-staffed and our waitress was scrambling.
I remember my bad mood walking in the door and being seated.
"I'm starving, am paying $9 bucks for a lousy burger and have a waitress that is moving way too slow," is what was racing through my head.
Until our "invisible" waitress...
...became VISIBLE.
It turned out that our young waitress was taking on a full load at the community college while WORKING full-time at the burger joint to pay the bills and tuition. And on this particular night, a night when other wait staff didn't show up for work while she DID show up for work, every nasty customer in Denver also decided to show up.
And the nastiness was wearing on her.
Big time.
But here's where the story gets interesting...
When she brought our order, she paused, and slowly, seriously told us how she appreciated my family's HUMOR. That's right HUMOR.
How she actually NEEDED it that evening.
And that WE pulled her out of a really bad night.
I was stunned.
Because I had no idea we were an influence........just being a family.
And then I felt ashamed.
Really ashamed.
Ashamed for the selfishness that had been blazing through my head when I first came in the door.
The experience made me recall a picture on Linked-In of a quote somebody wrote on their whiteboard at work. It read:
"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always."
So here's what I'm thinking: teaching and coaching are two of the best jobs on the planet because of the big impact one can have on another human being.
But guess what.....you don't have to be a teacher or a coach, or a CEO..... or even the Pope to make a big impact on another human being.
That's the good news.
Here's the scary news....
The news that should give us pause every time we spend time with another human being....
We may not even be AWARE that we are being an influence.....
GOOD.
Or NOT.
If the late Jim Rohn was right when he said that "we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with," the question we must ask is are we bringing the average UP or DOWN for those we spend our time with.
I suspect a mechanic introducing his neighbor to the joy of a lung-busting trail run up Green Mountain to experience the camaraderie of a hard-fought run before sunrise can be as influential as a pastor inviting his neighbor to a church revival if done with a kind heart.
Heck, as my family found out that night at The Red Robin, simply ordering a cheeseburger and fries with a kind tone and a smile can at just the right time can actually make a difference----a BIG difference.
So this week, as we prepare for that meeting at work, or lace up for that new trail with our training partners, perhaps we should bring more to the boardroom and trail than our minds and talents.....
And think about those 10,000 people under our influence.
And consider OUR role in raising the average
AMJ
