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Color of Inner Credit

Weekly Thought – October 20, 2015

Fred’s bride of 67 years would have been 100 on Sunday of this week. They met in seventh grade English class, but didn’t date until they both graduated from Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville, TN. In those days many scamps called it Human Frog! Her devotion to Fred lasted until her last breath. On this day in 2004 just weeks before her death, she turned to him in their side by side hospital beds, looked at him and said, “You are a good looking boy!”

Please continue to pray for the Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institute as the 2016 and 2017 planning begins. The ability to begin conversations and create connections is a very real mission. Thank you for your encouragement.

Color of Inner Credit

Texas is my adopted home state. I was raised in Tennessee but gravitated toward the Lone Star state through business (“bidness” to Texans) and Focus Weeks on Baptist campuses. I discovered personalities as big as the hats.

My friend Vivian Mead regaled all of us with stories of growing up in West Texas. Her tales of driving people off the sidewalks seemed perfectly natural.

An anonymous friend was a devoted hunter and ended up with a rather balding old lion after a hunt. His wife ordered a wig and had it fitted on the thinning mane.

Colorful personalities are a tangible asset. I have known many businessmen who borrowed against them. But without an equivalent character, color fades. Too many attempt great efforts with only flashy styles without waiting for the slower methods. This creates a hollowness.

One successful Texas told me, “I had the ability to borrow money before I had to ability to make it.” He said he would have missed out if his profit performance justified the money he needed. He had the talent to bring color and productivity together, but not all do. In Texas they have an apt expression: “He is all hat and no cattle!” This is color without anything to back it up.

I found in Eastern corporations the wide open, personality-driven style created wariness. The “Howdy, podner” was a novelty, but often questioned. The genuine articles won over the skeptical, but the ones who tried to ride in on nothing but personality soon found a cold reception.
Colorful personalities are noticed more quickly than others. But there has to be substance – there has to be some cattle to back it up. I enjoy the bold brashness of my southwestern friends, but I also respect the effort they make to be real.

This week carefully consider: 1) Who are my colorful friends? 2) How much of what I do is personality driven? 3) What can I do to develop depth?

Words of Wisdom: “Colorful personalities are a tangible asset.”

Wisdom from the Word: “He commanded them: ‘Carry out your duties with respect for the Lord, with honesty, and with pure motives.’” (2 Chronicles 19:9 NET Bible)

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