Your Intelligence and Perspective Makes You Invaluable – LeDonna’s Story

Have you ever felt that you had nothing to offer…no gifts to share whatsoever?

I like listening to podcasts when I walk or drive. I call my car “Library on wheels” and I get immense knowledge from listening to stories of new ideas, challenges, marketing and so on.

What do podcasts have to do with your gifts?

During spells of frustration or despair, it’s common to feel worthless. It can seem that everyone else is far more brilliant and worthy of consideration.

On my Sunday walk, I was listening to the story of LeDonna on This American Life podcast. She started as a security guard at the airport and noticed that something was wrong with the company culture. However, because of her interest in business and managerial type books, she persisted by following the advice in those books and became supervisor after someone noticed her work ethic.

As a supervisor she thought, “Now I can make a change. If leadership is not going to change their perspective, then I’ll work and train the new hires coming in.”

LeDonna faced challenge after challenge, but with each challenge she kept reframing her thoughts, until one day she was terminated for speaking up. But she didn’t stop there and followed up with taking it to court. 

I’m not going to spoil the end for you as I’d like you to listen to this episode. But going to the question of what podcasts have to do with your gifts? When you’re feeling frustrated or despair, take solace in the one thing that you can offer that no-one else can: your unique perspective. 

LeDonna may have thought she had nothing to offer, but as she evolved in this company, she knew she had something to offer the rest of the guards – a new perspective of boundaries and respect.

You see, nobody looks at the world the way that you do, nor thinks in exactly the same way. Once you start to engage your innate intelligence, be it simple and from the heart or complex and of the mind, your unique creativity begins to shine, and you become a beacon of brilliance.

Because LeDonna spoke up and went to court, things started to change and the people that received the benefit at the end, are the guards that still work there.

You may be sitting on the one solution that no-one else can imagine, or you may hold just the right words to bring comfort and understanding to a tense situation. You never know until you start to apply your mind, your perspective and your creativity to something outside of yourself.

And sometimes, you don’t even need to EXPRESS your intelligence. Consider the CEO who sits with her team-leaders, intently listening to their ideas until brilliance is born. By simply sitting in active contemplation, you “magically” amplify the collective intelligence.

How will YOU influence the world TODAY?