“I was lucky that I was always smart enough to realize that if I wanted to be a better man, I needed to hang out with better people.”  Wendell Weeks, Corning CEO 

The great American philosopher Jimmy Buffet defined so well how attitude determines our altitude with his profound lyrics “It’s those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes; Nothing remains quite the same; With all of our running and all of our cunning; If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”

I have always gravitated to people who did not see brick walls.  They saw opportunity for new directions, alternate pathways or differing methods of delivery.  They understood the objective, conveyed the vision in ways that their team could see, and empowered the collective to achieve ridiculously fantastic results.  

I love the story of Apple’s Steve Jobs needing glass screens for his company’s new product coming, the iPhone.  He was challenging Corning, a 175 year old glass and materials science company, to get uncomfortable.  To commit to supplying the critical element of what would become the transformational product of a generation.  Mundane glass, that had existed for 4000 years was the pivotal variable in the iPhone equation.  And our minds were blown when we first held those units and swiped.

Now Corning was no paper tiger having proved its organizational willingness to change and evolve over 17+ decades.  Yet, in this moment of opportunity, Jobs looked at Corning’s CEO and said:  “Do you know what your problem is?” Jobs asked. When Weeks admitted he didn’t, Jobs continued: “You’re afraid. You know, you’re afraid I’m going to launch the biggest product in history, and I’m not going to be able to do it because you failed, and I’m going to eviscerate you.”

It is easy to get caught up in the intensity and brilliance of Steve Jobs vision, but I believe the story here is of the willingness of an ocean liner (corporate giant Corning) to assume the agility of a speed boat (entrepreneurial spirit) needed to move quickly and reconfigure to meet the need wrapped in the guise of opportunity.  Visionary leadership embraces change and speed when the opportunity becomes clear as glass (no pun intended).

I remember being at a technology conference in the early 2000’s, listening to leaders of then emerging technologies that have impacted our lives today.  Theories that these leaders foresaw as vehicles for life enhancement and societal contribution.  Then the CEO of a design company called IDEO stepped up and owned the room.  He described envisioning new brands and businesses and bringing them to life.  It was clear that if you were a “by the book” type of person that you would be miserable and fail at this company.  If you had never seen a box, a wall, a barrier, you might just fit this company’s culture and more importantly, contribute to motion that was changing the latitudes of dozens of innovations then, that are standards today.  And their innovative mindset and trend establishing corporate culture continues.

Latitude is measured by North and South.  I believe that life can be described as a canoe in a river, either proceeding against the stream and determining one’s own direction and achievement, or pushed by a culture that washes one out on the side somewhere downstream.  I use this illustration to say that life is not easy and neither is seizing opportunity.  Equally, opportunity is available to all, but realized by those who seek it with unquenchable tenacity and vision.  I marvel at brilliant friends who can take exponentially complex issues and break them down into ‘problems’ that can then be attacked.  Many of these same friends look at me as a resource who can deliver results for the problems categorized.  My point is this, we all become much more effective when we accept the gifts we hold and share them for the greater good of the team and society as a whole.

The greatest leader who ever walked the face of this earth was and is Jesus.  In 3 short years he took a ragtag group of marginalized people in a culture that provided zero opportunity beyond the caste in which you were born, and taught them to see eternity.

 He empowered them to speak, teach and provide the hope of salvation and eternity to a World that was ruled by overlords who squashed every threat of hope.  He walked with them.  He ate with them.  He sweated with them.  He mourned and laughed with them.  More than all of this, he empowered them to see beyond themselves.  He included doubters, zealots, corporate flunkies, doctors, achievers and deceivers because he knew that the tenacity that delivered life-changing results existed within each of them.  He changed their latitude of thinking and they changed the latitude of life for 1000’s of generations because of the truth of his vision.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”  John 10:10 (NLT)

Know that latitudinal change lies within you.  Allow your attitude to catch up with the plans for impact you were created to contribute.  Belief is a power that cannot be contained when properly pursued.

You matter.