Love Drives Out Hate — Blog

Darkness cannot drive out darkness,

Only Light Can do That!

Not too long ago as the Global Director Logistics and Export / Import Optimization, I reported directly to the CECO (Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer) at a major oil and gas company. Our team (LEXIM – Logistics Export and Import Management) was tasked with transporting product across the globe legally, ethically, and most efficiently.

Studying history in this space, you will find poor choices and wrong doings of companies often resulted in hefty consequences (loss of customer trust, fines, penalties, restrictions, and even business bans). This is serious business for the shipper and transporter and can cause great harm to your customer and your company if the right choices are not made and proper procedures are not followed correctly.

Due to the significant risk, I frequently started my meetings and presentations with the following statement to make sure I had everyone’s 100% attention, focus, and commitment:

There is never a wrong time to do the right thing!

There is never a right time to do the wrong thing!

Based on my upbringing and being a lean six sigma black belt and engineer, mixed with my personal life lessons and a study of history; the above statement seems clear to me.

But what I am seeing today across our nation and the globe is that people vary greatly on what they believe is right and what they believe is wrong.

What is right and what is wrong? It can be simply broken down as follows:

What is missing from the above is the lens that someone is looking through that contains their specific viewpoint and often emotion.

With a clear mind, being wise and insightful, hopeful and optimistic, right and wrong are easy choices. When we get emotional, impatient, frustrated, irritated, defensive, insecure, judgmental, and angry, the clarity between right and wrong becomes cloudy. We are not our best selves and not able to make worthy choices. This leads to harm for us and others.

How we do we ensure clarity in decision making and even before we speak? In last weeks’ blog (below), I shared how to stop a downward spiral with a simple tool called the mood elevator. It highlights to us when we are being negative and give us ideas to quickly transform our mind to a clear and helpful state. The same approach can be used here as well to bring helpful, meaningful progress.

Today, we need another level in the elevator. The LIGHT and LOVE floor!

Nearly 60 years ago in 1963, a great leader saw past the raw human emotion and actions of many and offered a simple yet profound solution that is valid today:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Remember, what we focus on expands and it is our CHOICE!

We are powerful individuals and can overcome negativity to enable the very best of ourselves to solve great challenges. And we are even greater when we are together!