On January 18, 1994, retired admiral Bobby Ray Inman shocked the political landscape when he voluntarily withdrew his nomination to be the next Defense Secretary under the leadership of President Bill Clinton. Inman was anything but unqualified, serving under both Republican and Democrat leadership. He served as Director of Naval Intelligence, Vice Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Director of the National Security Agency, and Deputy Director of the CIA. He had chaired several high-profile task forces, most notably after the April 1983 bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, and had served on the board of several publicly traded companies.

Yet, in an hour-long news conference, he explained that the political landscape had become so troubled with trivial accusations and attempted smears that he no longer felt capable to contribute to the needs of the nation. Recapitulating Inman’s announcement, a senior official in the White House administration summarized, “This was a guy who knew how to play the game and thought he could play the game. Only he discovered that the game had gotten a lot harder and a lot hotter.”

The movie “42” is the story of legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American to play major league baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers). He played in six World Series games and drove in the winning score in the deciding game of the 1955 World Series championship game. Jackie was noted for his heady plays, his tenacity, and his amazing ability to steal bases. But, most of all, Jackie Robinson was known for his character. Even in the thick of racist ridicule and criticism, hateful acts and discrimination, Jackie demonstrated temperance.

How did he do it? Did he know how hard it would be to be the first black major league baseball player?  

One of the most interesting scenes in the movie is when Jackie is in a meeting with the president of the Dodgers, Branch Rickey. Rickey is telling Jackie what he needs to do in order for the team to succeed.  He says:

“People aren’t going to like this … they’ll do anything to get you to react.  Echo a curse with a curse and they’ll hear only yours.  Follow a blow with a blow and they’ll say the Negro lost his temper.  Your enemy will be out in force and you can’t beat him on his own low ground … Like Our Savior, you gotta have the guts to turn the other cheek. Will you?” 

After a pause Jackie replies, “Give me a uniform, give me a number on my back, and I’ll give you the guts.”

There seemed to be eternity in that pause.  Jackie had to take a moment to do a heart check.  He had to count the cost!  Though he had no idea what it would really be like, he had to consider that times would be hard and difficult.  There would be times when it would be more painful to live out his passion for baseball than it would be fun.  He was being offered the opportunity of a lifetime ... but, it had a heavy cost.

In 1981 Illinois Bell Telephone (IBT) downsized from 26,000 employees to just over half that many in one year. The remaining employees faced changing job descriptions, company goals and supervisors. One manager reported having 10 different supervisors in one year. Dr. Maddi and his research team were already studying more than 400 supervisors, managers and executives at IBT before the downsizing occurred and they were able to continue following the original study group on a yearly basis until 1987.

Results shows that about two-thirds of the employees in the study suffered significant performance, leadership and health declines as the result of the extreme stress from the deregulation and divestiture, including heart attacks, strokes, obesity, depression, substance abuse and poor performance reviews. However, the other one-third actually thrived during the upheaval despite experiencing the same amount of disruption and stressful events as their co-workers.

These employees maintained their health, happiness and performance and felt renewed enthusiasm.