Be Exceptional by Joe Navarro

Author:Joe Navarro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2021-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

Speaking Out, With and Without Words

Exceptional individuals speak out for what’s right, and they don’t wait for the perfect place or time to do it. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out with unforgettable eloquence as he stood before the Lincoln Memorial, but he also did it on the streets of southern towns where white police officers wielded their batons while unmuzzled German shepherds were unleashed to maul black citizens, merely because they sought equality. He spoke out in frightful circumstances, never knowing when he would be arrested, beaten, shot, or firebombed, or if he would be one more black person lynched in the night by racist thugs.

As he said, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” And so he did—with dignity and respect even for those who did not respect him.

Dr. King, who had studied Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle for Indian independence through nonviolence, understood that messaging was not only about words, but also about the optics of how we comport ourselves—what we now call our nonverbal presence.

He didn’t cower in the shadows, nor act in hatred under cover of darkness like the hooded Klansmen who hated him. He was at the front of the line, setting the example, openly communicating his belief in the equality of mankind through nonviolent demonstrations. He too had a kind and gentle spirit.

Wherever he went, Dr. King was immaculately dressed, as if going to deliver a Sunday sermon—and, in a way, he was. No matter how hot and humid it was, no matter that police water cannons awaited him and his followers, no matter how many dogs strained at the leash to tear at clothing and flesh, knowing he would be spat on by crowds of angry whites, pelted with garbage, he was there; ever dignified, poised, showing no fear, his shirts pressed, shoes clean and polished, his words well-prepared, communicating with unflagging dignity and certainty that racism was a “hate-filled cancer” in America, and, like it or not, America needed to hear it.

He gave no cause to be disrespected because he respected even those seeking to, without exaggeration, destroy him. The stirring images of him walking among those who sought to harm him, leading the march, demonstrating absolute dedication to truth in the face of power, would be transmitted around the world. They are a case study in the galvanizing power of nonverbals and a lesson in the importance of speaking out when a cause demands it.

Exceptional leaders, the truly worthy, don’t wait for the perfect moment to speak. They speak out when it is most needed. How they communicate that message is very individual. But in the end, it’s a choice they make to be seen, heard, noticed.

This is our duty: To speak up when it matters. To defend against the bullies, tyrants, and social predators of this world who seek to do harm, or the organs of state that would do so.

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