For this blog, I offer a simple insight but it can be very key.
Let me just give a picture of when I was fighter jock based at the 107th Fighter Interceptor Group at Niagara Falls IAP with a mission of National Strategic Air Defense. We were a unit that had incredible Synergy and we were a real team. The unit members knew I was a spiritual person but also knew the ethical way that I did not beat people up with it and our level of trust allowed them often while we were sitting 24 hours of Strategic Air Defense 5-minute alert, to initiate very friendly and synergistic discussions together about key aspects.
There was a fellow Major that once told a couple of other squadron mates (and I had to chuckle) “If we go to war, I want to go with Swami because he is in good with the Almighty”. Well, this Major and I were sitting Alert one day and in our Flight Suits, we were sitting in the big chairs and watching tv and he initiated just a casual discussion about Faith and we had a very good friendly chat.
In our chat, he pointed to a chair across the room and talked about faith alone. He pointed out that he had to have faith to go over there. When he finished his point, I said “ yes but there is one other important aspect to keep in mind!” and he asked about it.
I followed up and I shared the following with him:
“Realize that it is not just about the faith. Keep in mind that what if I had the ultimate faith to go over and sit down in the chair….and as soon as I sat down in it, the chair broke into pieces and I fell on the floor and perhaps hurt myself? Realize that it is not my faith that was the problem….the problem was the chair…in other words…..the
OBJECT OF MY FAITH.
The Chair was not worthy of my faith and I had too much faith in it!”
My brother in arms found a good insight and great value in what I had just showed him.
It is a good thought. I simply offer to the Leader as you lead your team and particularly in a challenging scenario, that it is not just about your faith so much as it is about the object of your faith.
There was a fellow Major that once told a couple of other squadron mates (and I had to chuckle) “If we go to war, I want to go with Swami because he is in good with the Almighty”. Well, this Major and I were sitting Alert one day and in our Flight Suits, we were sitting in the big chairs and watching tv and he initiated just a casual discussion about Faith and we had a very good friendly chat.
In our chat, he pointed to a chair across the room and talked about faith alone. He pointed out that he had to have faith to go over there. When he finished his point, I said “ yes but there is one other important aspect to keep in mind!” and he asked about it.
I followed up and I shared the following with him:
“Realize that it is not just about the faith. Keep in mind that what if I had the ultimate faith to go over and sit down in the chair….and as soon as I sat down in it, the chair broke into pieces and I fell on the floor and perhaps hurt myself? Realize that it is not my faith that was the problem….the problem was the chair…in other words…..the
OBJECT OF MY FAITH.
The Chair was not worthy of my faith and I had too much faith in it!”
My brother in arms found a good insight and great value in what I had just showed him.
It is a good thought. I simply offer to the Leader as you lead your team and particularly in a challenging scenario, that it is not just about your faith so much as it is about the object of your faith.
- Randy Swaim, Coaching for Relevance, LLC
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