Good Trouble. At age 80, after 60 years, US Civil Rights titan John Lewis (z”l) continued to make that his motto – to stand up for what’s right and rally support. He heard his parent’s voices, warning him to “not get into trouble” and go along to get along, and consciously chose another path. He said, “Patience is a nasty word” – when the cause is just and asked, “If not now, when?” He did not indulge his outrage, anger, fear, frustration, indignation. Instead, he used those emotions in a way that mobilized support and called righteous people to action, with ever-youthful hope, joy, principle, urgency and courage.
John Lewis (z”l) showed us what a high EnQ can accomplish. He is a model we all can emulate – when we see what needs to be done and when the right thing to do isn’t popular or expedient. His newsreels and interviews are worth watching — to see how he honed his EnQ as a 23-year-old activist and 80-year-old Congressperson. We can also hone our EnQ, whether we’re rallying support for BLM or ADL, for diversity and inclusion inside your enterprise or for doing the right thing for safety, environmental stewardship or the scientific excellence that makes your innovation worthy of being the new standard of care.
Whether you’re 80, as John Lewis (z”l) was when he gave these vibrant interviews with Steven Colbert and Trevor Noah, or at an earlier point in your career, remember what set him apart from a guy in a barber’s chair. It isn’t what you say about injustice and erasing the red lines that keep people from achieving their full potential and delivering the value they can for your team, your enterprise and your community. It’s the support you win, the joy you spread, the inspiration you leave in your wake and the impact you make – one Zoom call, presentation, email, passing conversation at a time. It’s how you use your courage to Make Courage Contagious and join you, so your good trouble becomes theirs as well.
In Israel, as in the US, we’ve lost our icons — titan pioneers like Shimon Peres (z”l) who stood up to injustice and evil in the world and said, “We can be better.” They used their call, “Never Again,” to make the world a better place, and rise from the ashes to shape a better world. As we reflect on John Lewis (z”l) in the US – and continue to reflect on Shimon Peres’ legacy (z”l) in Israel – the torch now passes. How will make Make Courage Contagious when we make “Good Trouble”- so we create a movement, not just a lone voice?
John Lewis (z”l) was a titan. But he wasn’t superhuman. So, as the torch passes, may we all resolve to do what he did – to “never ever give up” – and Make Courage Contagious, one workplace, one partnership, one network, one touchpoint at a time so that…
“Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray”
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Merom Klein PhD and Louise Yochee Klein PsyD are an American-Israeli and Canadian-Israeli couple now living in the USA. Klein and Klein are business psychologists who wrote Make Courage Contagious – to advise enterprise leaders how they can PowerUP the potential of diverse teams so turbulent times are an opportunity to profit from innovation – ethically and responsibly. They are Principals of Courage Growth Partners.
