5 Amazing Things Business People Can Learn From John McCain

Описание: Yesterday, Senator John McCain passed away at the age of 81 from brain cancer. He lived an incredible life. Many of us know his story: U.S. Naval Academy to Naval aviator to prisoner of war (POW) to the U.S. Senate to running for President twice. However, as business people, what can we all learn from John McCain’s incredible life? These are the 5 things we can learn from him.

1. Passion
Both John’s father and grandfather were 4-star admirals; he grew up with a passion to serve the United States. He had a love for our country that I don’t think most will ever truly understand. Without a driving passion we’re just going through the motions. Have you ever come across someone where it was so obvious that they authentically love what they do?

2. Do what you believe is right
John McCain did not conduct political polls to determine his stance on certain issues. He simply knew what he believed and sided the way he thought was right. Although he was a Republican, many times he sided with Democrats and even publicly bashed some Republicans. It’s such a rare quality today for someone to simply do what they believe is right, even when it goes against what their friends and family think. Many of us think too much about what others think or may say. This causes us to hold back from saying what we truly believe or causes us to change our beliefs to align more closely with those around us. Those who earn the most respect as leaders are those who say and do what they believe, even in the face public ridicule.

3. Accept you’re not going to be liked by everyone
There were a lot of politicians in John’s political party and across the aisle that didn’t like him; however, because he didn’t care about being liked, they respected him. Respect is never given to those who specifically ask for it; true respect is all earned. Many of us want to be liked by pretty much everyone. However, when a person is trying to be liked by everyone, they aren’t truly liked by anyone. It’s because they haven’t showed enough of themselves and their beliefs for others to determine how they feel about them. John McCain seemed to believe being liked was not important, doing what was right was important, which gave him respect and ironically caused people to like him even if they didn’t like what he believed.

4. Our emotional strength is tied to our physical strength
John was held captive in a North Vietnamese P.O.W. camp where he was beaten and tortured daily for five and a half years. When he was offered early release because of his family’s political influence, he declined. This was because P.O.W. protocol said that those who were captured earlier should’ve been released ahead of him. What he showed us was that because we live in a physical world our emotional strength is closely tied to our physical strength. This is not of course how much you can bench press, but more general to physical capabilities and stamina. As business people we get up early, run to this meeting, write a blog, pack bags for a three day trip, run through an airport to get onto that plane, jump in an Uber to get to a meeting. If our bodies don’t have the stamina and strength to do that day after day, our emotional strength will suffer. We can never forget that we live in a physical world, we’re only as good as what our physical bodies can handle, which is why taking care of ourselves physically by eating healthy and daily exercise is so important.

5. Enjoy the journey
John McCain took his job very seriously, but he also knew how to have fun and enjoyed the journey. That’s why we’re all here: we’re here for the journey. Life is not a destination of reaching this goal or that goal, driving around in a Lamborghini or owning three mansions in three states. Those are all nice to haves, but the journey is why we all live and is what you will remember and value when your time comes.

Those are the 5 things we can learn from John McCain’s incredible life. Did I miss anything? Put that in the comments below.

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