I’m reading “Humility: The Secret Ingredient of Success” by Pat Williams, Jim Denney and wanted to share this quote, see below, with you. I love to read, and this is one of my all-time favorite books along with “Extra Innings” by Fred Claire. If you have young kids, high school age I would make this mandatory reading…before they get their iPhone back😊
We live in a narcissistic age, when our leaders and celebrities seem very impressed with themselves—and they think we should be impressed with them, too. Many believe that the key to success is a supersized ego. “Wrong,” says Pat Williams. “The key to true success is a humble spirit. Almost all of the people we regard as truly great—people who have had a lasting impact on the world—are people of humility.”
Pat Williams is a motivational speaker, author of 90 books, and cofounder and senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Named one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history, he is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts and won a league championship as general manager of the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. Pat and his wife, Ruth, are parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations. An Army veteran, former minor league baseball player, and host of three radio programs, Pat also teaches Sunday school in his Orlando church.
“Shortly before Christmas 2005, Coach Tony Dungy’s eighteen-year-old son James took his own life. It was a devastating loss, a parent’s worst nightmare. A few weeks after James died, a man came to Coach Dungy and said, “My son’s fiancée recently committed suicide. Now my son is depressed and he talks about ending his own life. Could you call him and find a way to help him?” So Coach Dungy called the young man and said, “My name is Tony. Your dad asked me to talk to you.” Tony told the young man how much he had suffered after his son James took his own life. “You know, son,” he concluded, “I don’t know why God allowed my son to die. But maybe it was so that I could talk to you and tell you, ‘Don’t do that to your daddy.’” Then he asked the young man to call him in the morning, and the young man promised he would. Coach Dungy talked to this young man by phone every day for a week. Finally, the young man said he was doing better, and he promised not to take his own life. Then the young man asked, “Tony, what do you do for a living?” “I’m a football coach,” Dungy replied. “College or high school football?” “I coach the Indianapolis Colts,” Tony said. Only then did this young man realize he’d been talking to Coach Tony Dungy. An arrogant person might have tried to impress this young man. But Coach Dungy was only interested in serving this young man and saving his life. That’s humility in action.”