Great people do principled things over time.
It isn’t just one thing on a March afternoon that makes someone great. That’s doing the right thing. That’s a good thing, but does it make someone great.
Part of what makes someone great is also that we know about it.
Who knows about it doesn’t have to be enormous (although if you want society to regale you it needs to be known by the society at large).
Conditions change and we see greatness differently at different times.
At times, Dr. King was dismissed as a troublemaker by the society at large. Death converted into a martyr for justice. The world change while Mandela was in prison. It caught up to him.
Of all the things Pres. Obama is acclaimed for, to me, marriage equality was a great action. I don’t think it makes him a great man AND it was a great decision.
Death does not make someone great.
Their actions over time do.
The elimination of slavery in the United States and elsewhere in the world was not instantly popular. It was right.
We don’t always have to agree with them during their lifetime.
Thus, when I look at the workplace and what makes someone great there, is the almost magical notice of something that no one else sees, the willingness to take the calculated risk to test the idea, and the ability to persevere in the face of challenges, just as great people do who are challenged by the status quo.
They may fail.
They may pivot.
You may fail at something and may need to pivot to something else.
Don’t hesitate to learn from your past, nor judge yourself a failure if your first idea doesn’t work.
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long as over collectively upon the closed door that we do not see the one which is open for us.”
– Alexander Graham Bell
Most of us know the beginning of the quote. If you consider the second part which is even more important.
Remember, great people, do principled things over time because they see things that no one else does and take action to make them possible.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1900 episodes, and is a member of The Forbes Coaches 
Council.
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