The Five Percent

Embracing the hard part of leadership and life  

2 Timothy 4:10-17B  

Beloved: Demas, enamored of the present world, deserted me and went to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Luke is the only one with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is helpful to me in the ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, the papyrus rolls, and especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. You too be on guard against him, for he has strongly resisted our preaching. At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.    

          Someday soon, I hope you will read something by John Maxwell, who’s the leading light in the field of leadership. In one book, he made this surprising but sage statement, he wrote: “Ninety-five percent of the decisions a CEO makes could just as well be made by a reasonably intelligent eighth grader. But the CEO will be paid for the other five percent.” That means that Ben Forsgren or Ashley Hill or Katie Barrett, as eighth graders, can already make 95 percent of the decisions that the head of Google or Walmart or Disney makes right now. But only if they can make the other five percent of the decisions will they be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year like those CEOs make.  

 

          The other five percent are choices and decisions that are unpopular but nonetheless right, when you might have to stand alone, when there will be a cross and a cost, when you believe that is what God wants you to do but no one else does. And one eighth-grader I’ve seen embrace that other 5 percent is Kate Goldtrap. Why? Well, because she’s absolutely unafraid to stand alone in front of a stadium full of fans, twirl her baton, dance, sometimes drop the baton, pick it back up, and keep on going and smile sweetly through the whole routine. I don’t mean to embarrass you, Kate, by singling you out, but you’re willing to do the other five percent that would be terrifying for most people (including me). I wouldn’t be surprised if someday we see your name as the CEO of some multi-national corporation.

          In the first reading today, St. Paul is also anxious to embrace the other five percent, to do what others won’t or can’t. He writes: “Demas, enamored of the present world, deserted me and went to Thessalonica, Crecens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.” A little later he adds: “Alexander the copper smith did me a great deal of harm,” and he also says, “At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me.” In other words, St. Paul finds himself in the same shoes as Kate Goldtrap, not twirling a baton, but having to stand alone and do what’s right even if he messes up or others oppose and ostracize him. That’s the other five percent. He explains he’s able to do this with the help that comes from Jesus. You see, doing the other five percent won’t just help you become an effective CEO, but it will also allow you to behave as a true Christian, which is worth far more than a million dollar paycheck.

          Boys and girls, here at Trinity we want to teach you how to choose that other five percent. Heck, maybe even coming to Trinity was a “five percent choice.” Some of your friends may have gone to another junior high, but you were willing to stand alone, and make what you believed was the right choice for you. Okay, so maybe your parents forced you to come here, but that counts, too! How much courage does it take for Zane and Mary Kate to run for student council president? That’s the other five percent. Maybe you say “no” to drugs and alcohol, to sex or “sexting,” while others say “yes” – that’s the other five percent. Trying golf or tennis or underwater basket-weaving (we don’t really have that) all demonstrates you’re willing to attempt the other five percent.  Leaders do a lot of the things that other people do, but they get paid for what no one else will do.

          In the movie “A League of Their Own,” (about a women’s baseball team), Tom Hanks gives some great advice to “Dottie” who wants to quit the team right before the World Series. She says to him, “It just got too hard.” He replies: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t everyone would be doing it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” Whether you’re trying to be a CEO or a Christian or a baton twirler, you have to embrace the other five percent: that’s “the hard,” and that’s what makes it great.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!