We live downtown on Market Street in the Marina District, where most runs pass below our patio and windows, but none as large or impressive as the Rock and Roll Marathon with 30,000 runners today. For those 30,000 runners it is a strenuous event, for us it is a parade.
If I were hiring, I would be at the finish line of the Rock and Roll Marathon. I would interview those who came in early to learn about their motivation and where else are they motivated to excel like they just have. I would interview the middle of the pack runners to see where they got their staying power for 26 miles. Not the premier athletes that the first group are, what drives them? For what cause or reason would they subject their bodies to 26 miles of hard labor?
I would look at their costumes — did they go all out to present themselves in keeping with the rock and roll theme, as some did? You would not BELIEVE some of the tu tu’s I saw running by me. One woman had stretch-on fabric tattoo arms that she could conveniently remove after the race but in the moment she was WITH it!
And I would interview the laggards. It was clear, at some point there were fewer young, virile runners and more gray hairs and paunches. This clip is taken of a laggard group. Look at them! They have spirit, they have determination, they are going to go as long as they can go, regardless of the rubber tires around the middle, the scrawny arms or legs, the leg in a cast. They are going to be part of the party for as long as they are, and they are not to be discounted!
Consider, for a moment what it would take to don a Superman outfit and strike out afoot for 26 miles with 29,999 of your favorite strangers. Superman, wherever you are, I salute you.
The lessons of the human spirit abound in this event. If I were hiring I would definitely ask if someone has ever run a marathon or taken on a marathon kind of event, and how they viewed the experience. Myself, although I prefer to avoid physical risk — my risks are in other areas of life — I have traversed a number of treacherous rivers, once with an older friend who had Multiple Sclerosis. Without his medicine he would have been in a wheelchair. I doubt, if the river guides had had a clue, they would have allowed him onto the raft. At one point we capsized and he was thrown over. Getting his stiff, aging body back onto the boat was not easy, and he did it without complaint. It took sheer grit, a character quality that I knew about him before we started this journey.
I knew about him, from this experience, that he had grist for the mill. How about the folks you hire? Do they have character? I don’t mean ARE they a character, I mean do they HAVE character — that abiding quality that gets one through difficulties in life that seem to come ready or not, at work or in life.
It is character that has us exhibit the discernment skills that make us good collaborators and team players. Character eschews gossip, pettiness and being small in the face of the challenges that come with being human.
I was proud of the 30,000 starters of today’s Rock and Roll Marathon. Regardless of how far their bodies got them, they put themselves in the race, and that is what makes life rich and full. Way to go! From watching you at mile six, I would have appreciated any one of you on a team with me.
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