Unique or YOU-nique
What Rudolph can teach you about YOU!
Halloween has just passed and that means that we are now in the mad dash to my favorite time of the year…Christmas! So in the spirit of Christmas, I wanted to share a Christmas story with you. One of the most popular songs of the season that I remember is the song about a reindeer named Rudolph. You know how it goes…
“Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose...”
Well I won’t bore you with all of the lyrics but I want to share an underlying message that I hope encourages you to look at yourself differently. The message is that “What makes you different is what makes you significant”. None of us are exactly alike and we can make the mistake of trying to be "like someone else" when you are special and necessary just as you are. You see Rudolph’s experience was much like our own experiences we just may have missed how much we have in common with him.
Here’s a couple things to notice about Rudolph:
Rudolph was misunderstood. The first thing anyone noticed about him was his nose, and nothing else “…and if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows…”
Rudolph was felt bullied- “All (not some, but all) of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names”
Rudolph felt like an outsider- “They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games”
Often you know as an individual and especially as a leader, that you were made for something significant but occasionally the people and the situations we are in can drown out that desire. There is not a single leader in history who at some time has not been misunderstood or felt like an outsider even among their own peers. I want to encourage you to know that the feeling of being an outsider and misunderstood, may be an indicator that your opportunity for doing something significant may be right around the corner!
One of the pivotal moments in the story of Rudolph is when he was in "exile" and ended up on the Island of Misfit Toys. At some point in every leader's career he or she will feel like a misfit, like they are misunderstood and wonder if they will ever belong but when that leader embraces the things that make them different, they can may find that there is a problem that they are the ONLY one who can solve it. That is exactly what happened to Rudolph. “One foggy Christmas Eve…” Santa and the entire team at the North Pole were faced with a problem and the only one that was built for the solution, was Rudolph, the misunderstood, bullied, outsider.
It was Rudolph’s unique gift, his special gift that made him special. It was the problem that he applied his gift to that made him significant! So much so that made a song about him. Not only is there a song about him but in the opening of the song, they only “mention” the other reindeer. In fact, most of us cannot name the other reindeer without singing Rudolph's song in our heads! After mentioning the others, there is a small, significant word that separates Rudolph from the rest of the pack, “But, do you recall…”. When you see the word “but” that eliminates everything that came before it. In other words, the other reindeer were here, but Rudolph made a difference! Rudolph did what only he could do and that is what I am encouraging you to do. “Do what only you can do”. You will feel empowered by your opportunity to make a significant contribution and perhaps this time “…you’ll go down in history!”
