Henry Houdini won fame as an escape artist early in the twentieth century, challenging and claiming he could free himself from any jail cell within minutes.
One time, however, something seemed to go wrong. Houdini entered a jail cell in his street clothes. The heavy metal doors shut behind him, and he took from his belt a concealed piece of strong and flexible metal. He set to work on the lock to his cell, but something seemed different about this particular lock. For thirty minutes, he worked without results. An hour passed. This was long after the time that Houdini normally freed himself and he began to sweat and pant with exasperation. Still, he could not pick the lock.
Finally, after labouring for two hours, Houdini – feeling a sense of failure close in around him – leaned in frustration against the door he could not unlock. To his amazement, as he collapsed against the door, it swung open! It had not been locked in the first place! When Charles Schwab became President of Bethlehem Steel, he made consultant Ivy Lee the following offer: “Show my staff and me a way to get more things done in less time and I’ll pay you any fee within reason.” And in twenty minutes, Lee gave him a simple idea. Lee took a three-by-five card out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and said, “Write down the six most important things you have to do tomorrow and number them in order of their importance. Now put this paper in your pocket, and first thing tomorrow morning, look at item one and start working on it until you finish it. Then do item two and so on. Do this until quitting time and don’t be concerned if you have finished only one or two. You’ll be working on the most important ones first, anyway. If you can’t finish them all by this method, you couldn’t have by any other method, and without some system, you probably wouldn’t have even decided which was most important.”
Lee waited while Schwab wrote his list. Then, he said, “Try this system every working day. After you’ve convinced yourself of its value, have your employees try it. Try it as long as you wish and then send me a cheque for what you think it’s worth.” Two weeks later, Schwab sent Lee a $25,000 cheque for that twenty-five-minutes consultation. He said Lee’s advice was the most profitable he had ever taken. He later credited that lesson with turning the unknown Bethlehem Steel into the biggest independent steel producer in the world in less than five years, and earning him a $100 million fortune in the process. That was an enormous sum of money in the early twentieth century. Was Schwab foolish to pay so much for such a simple idea? He didn’t think so. “Sure it was a simple idea,” Schwab said. “But what ideas are not basically simple? For the first time, my entire team and I are getting first things done first.” Years ago, Henry Ford remarked, “My effort is in the direction of simplicity… All could be much simpler than they now are and at the same time be better-looking.” In simplicity lies genius, says Mozart. All we need do is to autograph our jobs with excellence. When he was only 13 years old, violinist Yehudi Menuhin was invited to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. With distinguished musicians in the audience listening to him, the youthful genius played some of the most difficult compositions by Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms. The response was so enthusiastic that the management called in the police in case the crowd got out of control. Albert Einstein, who had listened with utter delight to the prodigy, avoided the authorities by running across the stage into Yehudi’s dressing room. He embraced the surprised violinist and exclaimed “Now I know there is a God in heaven!”
If we all learn to autograph our jobs with excellence, beyond personal gains, which is obvious, we end up blessing humanity with it. One thing to observe is that when excellence is attained, that’s when more work should be done. It’s not getting to the top that matters, but staying there. Many have shortchanged themselves by being complacent. Because they were doing a good job, improvement became a no issue. It can never be good enough.
I remember reading about Royce. Sir Henry Royce over heard one of his engineers telling a colleague “that’s good enough”. He immediately broke into the conversation by shouting “no, it’s never good enough. That’s what we are all about here. We are here to make it better and then to make it better than it is today and then better than tomorrow. Never say it’s good enough. It isn’t”. And that’s what the goal of excellence is all about. It demands an attitude of great expectation. Today, the name Rolls Royce is synonymous with what is remarkable, beautiful and fine about something. It is the symbol of quality.
I have on this platform told the story of a man who strives for perfection. Michelangelo stands as one of the towering figures in the history of art. His majestic Frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his masterful sculptures bear witness to his greatness. But he was a man never content to rest on his laurels. He spent countless hours on his back on the scaffolding in the Sistine, carefully perfecting the details of each figure. When a friend questioned such meticulous attention to detail on the grounds that “at that height who will know whether it is perfect or not?” Michelangelo’s simple response was, “I will.” After completing what some consider his greatest work, Moses, the master sculptor stood back and surveyed his craftsmanship. Suddenly, in anger, he struck the knee of his creation with his chisel and shouted, “Why don’t you speak?” The chisel scar that remains on the statue’s knee is the mark of a man who always reached out for more. His ambition was to be the best he could be.
Dear reader, take the decision today to brand yourself with every opportunity that comes your way. It was Aristotle who once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”
If I may ask, how far can you go? Leslie was born mentally retarded, without eyes, and with cerebral palsy. Vegetable like, he was totally unresponsive to sound or touch. At the age of six months, he was expected to die shortly. A nurse, May Lemke, was asked if she could care for him at home until that time. She did… for more than thirty years.
When May accepted baby Leslie, she accepted him as just that, a baby – no different from others -to be taught and loved. Year after year, she cared for him, but there was no movement or response. Even so, she never stopped talking to him, singing to him, or praying for him. Music filled their home… still, no response. She and her husband bought an old used piano and put it in his bedroom. She pushed his fingers against the keys. With quiet faith, she knew God would someday help Leslie to break out of his prison. She rejoiced when he began to walk at age 16. Several years later, May and her husband were awakened one night by the sound of Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No 1. Startled, they arose to find Leslie at the piano with a smiling glow on his face. Shortly thereafter he began to talk and to cry… and to sing. And at age 28, he began to talk in earnest.
Dear reader, I think by now we would’ve seen, heard or read enough to convince us that the only sure way not to succeed is by giving up. I believe in miracles, but I think it happens faster when we decide to hang on. All we need is faith that it will come to pass. There are times our situation will look hopeless, but pause and remember that men and women have passed worst situations and still made it to the top. Man can achieve anything he strongly believes in. I remember reading the story of Prince Albert. Prince Albert of England once visited the laboratory of a scientist named Lyon Playfair. According to Playfair’s biographer, Sir Wemyss Reid, as the Prince and scientist stood near a caldron of boiling lead, Playfair asked, “Has your royal highness any faith in science?” “Certainly,” answered Prince Albert. Playfair washed the Prince’s hand in a special solution and then told him to use his hand to ladle out some of the hot metal. The Prince plunged his hand into the caldron and scooped up some in his palm – and he wasn’t injured.
For those of us who are in positions of leadership, give others a chance to develop. Don’t be quick in judging others. Those who do not perform today, with little assistance and motivation, can perform tomorrow. Is there someone God has entrusted in your care? Go the extra mile to make it possible for that person to discover his potentials and put it into good u