Please read this poem, and when you’re done I have some questions for you.

Choices

As I grew up I started to learn
When I was older I learned to imagine
I imagined a hero
But with it a demon
The demon destroyed
But there was still hope
For the hero was there to help,
So may I ask you,
With the choices you’ve made
Have you made heroes
Or have you made demons?

So before we discuss it, let me tell you a little about the author of the poem, Jackson Grant. I am proud to have Jackson as a guest-poster on this blog (my second so far!). He is a student, living in Washington, DC. He is not particularly focused on either social media or leadership, actually, but he’s obviously a deep thinker.

Oh yeah, Jackson is 10 years old.

I point out his age for a couple of reason. First, it’s a reminder not to underestimate people because of their age. This goes for that entry-level employee you have, or that Millennial that wants to be on your Board of Directors. You may see signs of immaturity or lack of skill in these individuals, compared to people in your age cohort. You would see similar things looking at Jackson. He’s 10 for Pete’s sake. But that doesn’t mean he can’t write a really good poem, now does it? Don’t limit the potential of others based on what is in your head. Find ways for everyone to let out the brilliance they tend to keep inside.

The same goes for you, by the way, as Joe Gerstandt pointed out in a recent post. How often do you limit yourself based on what’s in your head, or even worse, what other people ended up putting into your head.

As Jackson points out, we “make” demons. Every day. We create narratives and we make choices that destroy bits and pieces of ourselves and others, and just take a look around the workplace these days to see the results. We’re getting a lot done, but I still wonder to myself how much different things would be if, through our choices, we made heroes instead.

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P.S. If you’re wondering how I came across Jackson, he happens to be the son of my Humanize co-author, Maddie Grant, so I had a bit of an inside track to this young talent!