and then there was a time my family and I we were flying from Jacksonville where we live now not far from here and we were going to Maine first time ever going to Maine we're connecting in the Philadelphia Airport and I tell you this story because I think it's a great analogy for your leadership during the course of a year in 2013 so we're connecting in Philly we arrive an hour and a half late we landed in Terminal A and we're leaving from terminal F and I know in the Philly Airport you have to connect at c16 which is really far from a you get to c16 you then have to take a bus shuttle which then takes you to F I look at the screen we only have 10 minutes to make our connecting flight I'm thinking there's no way we're going to make it but we got to go for it so I look at my wife and kids my kids were eight and 10 at the time I said all right guys let's start running and there we are now running through the airport those who travel here have you noticed more people running through airports okay on your way home I want to encourage you you to do what I do next time you see someone room by you I want you to cheer them on I do I cheer people on all the time the other day this woman was running by me I said go go go I believe in you you can do it you could tell she hadn't run a long time she was really doing her best and she ran by me like this now I don't always get that response I was in uh LaGuardia New York and I cheered this guy on he gave me the finger but I turned a negative into a positive I said that's right you're number one so that was us now we're running through this airport huffing and puffing it's really far from a to c16 finally we get to c16 and there are no bus shuttles there when we arrive look at the watch 5 minutes to make our connect and flight there's a woman who was handling all the buses I said how long did the buses get here she said 4 minutes so my kids start crying we're not going to make it we're not going to make it I turned to my kids I said guys you have to stay positive you have to believe we're going to make it I'm telling you we're going to make it I turned to the woman I said we're going to make it right she said you ain't going to make it finally the bus arrives we get on the bus we get to terminal F it's the last gate now so now we're we're sprinting down terminal F I left my wife the kids in the dust I was getting on that plane with or without them and just as I arrived guess what happened they slammed the door right in my face I said man my wife and kids are in their way thinking that would help she said I'm sorry sir there's nothing I can do I said you don't understand we have all these plans all the other fights are booked we'll have to stay overnight it we'll ruin everything we have to get on this flight she said I'm sorry sir the plane is pushing back look my wife and kids arrived in that moment we walked to the the big window we see the small plane and it's pushing back and we're just all dejected as we're watching it push back but then as we're watching the plane we realize that we can see the cockpit and then we realize that we could see the pilots we realize that they could see us we make eye contact so my wife and kids start jumping up and down waving to the pilots about a minute later the door opens a woman comes out she says it worked yeah said they're going to let you on the plan we're all excited we walk down the stairs armed the tarmac they stopped the plane the passengers weren't very positive we take off we land another miracle occurred our luggage made it too 10 minutes in Philly a true Miracle our luggage made it from one end to the next so now we're driving away in the rental car and I thought you know it's a great teachable moment for my kids I said you know so guys what you learn from this experience I I think they're going to say you know Dad I want to stay positive I want to believe my 8-year-old said say you know Dad I want to just keep running but when he said it I said you know there's a lot of Truth to that I turned to my wife I said you know what that's one of the keys to leadership that's one of the keys to success it's about the fact that we just keep running through our challenges we stay positive and we never give up you and the positive leader have such an impact on your team your optimism your belief your positive energy is contagious and your positive energy must be greater than all the negativity you face your certainty your belief your faith and what you're here to do and the difference you're here to make must be greater than all the [Music] doubt