Chip R. Bell's Blog, page 33

The Perils of Corporate Lying

It was not Pinocchio who was my childhood lesson on lying; it was Aesop’s fable about the little boy who cried “wolf.” My grandfather was a master storyteller, always jazzing up stories. His version went more like this:

Long time ago in a sheep village on the other side of Lumber City lived a little shepherd boy named Tom. Tom’s village was surrounded by a thick woods where giant wolves lived. Tom was the village shepherd. He would sleep and eat desserts during the day and watch for wolves at...

Mentoring: The Awakening of Insight

Archaeologists excavating the pyramids discovered wheat seeds that dated back to around 2500 BC. As in the tradition of antiquity, the seeds were there for the dead pharaoh to eat if he got hungry. The find was important because it would enable scientists to determine what variety of wheat was in use in the ancient world and could be invaluable for engineering new types of wheat. Out of curiosity, the scientists planted the 4,500-year-old wheat seed in fertile soil and an amazing thing happen...

Passionate Mentors Remove Spirit Leeches

I was fishing with my granddaddy on a summer afternoon. Like many boys, I was more interested in wading in the water than waiting on a bite. I abandoned my cane pole to go swim. Emerging from the water, I discovered a black leech stuck to my leg. “Don’t pull it off,” my granddaddy advised, “we’ll have to burn it off!”

Leeches suck the blood from their target; spirit leeches suck energy and passion from theirs. Some spirit leeches are dark—they remove optimism, hope and confidence. Mention an o...

Leave the Gate Open for Protégés

In 1907, Carnation introduced a new advertising tagline for its condensed milk product: “Milk from Contented Cows.” Growing up on a cattle farm where we produced our own milk, I often heard the ads and wondered what made a cow contented. Cows seemed to already have a life without much stress. My dad suggested it probably meant milk from a cow that was (or thought it was) free and not confined to a set geography.

“Someone left the gate open,” was the usual explanation for those rare occasions w...

The Mentor’s Message: Be the Best

When I was a boy my parents encouraged me to “be the very best.” Back then, only the very best got a trophy! Nowadays the Wheaties® cereal box mantra has changed to “just do your very best” and all the teams get a trophy just for playing. It’s been a source of discomfort for me for years.

Now before you jump on the “promoting self-esteem” band wagon, let me say that I do not believe a young sand lot baseball player has failed unless he or she makes it to the World Series. But, I keep rememberi...

The Mentor’s Message: Honesty is not a Policy

The Delta regional jet was packed. As the flight backed away from the gate, the flight attendant began her ritualistic safety spiel about seat belts, sudden turbulence and smoking. She ended by saying, “The flying time to Grand Rapids will be two hours…no, it will be an hour and a half…no, actually, I don’t know.” The cabin erupted with laughter and applause.

What jolted the half-asleep plane-full into cheering? Unscripted, raw honesty! We all loved her total candor and confident authenticity!...

The Mentor’s Message: Set Your Protege Free

“Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.”

These powerful words from Job 39 open the movie Secretariat, a film about the greatest horse that ever lived. Not only did Secretariat (real name: Big Red) win the Triple Crown...

The Mentor’s Message: Turn Castor Oil into Champagne

Castor Oil: “A foul tasting oil used in the 1950’s to cure whatever ailment a kid claimed he had that would keep him from having to get on the early morning school bus.”

My mother believed castor oil was a miracle cure. From a stomach ache to sore legs to ringing ears, a spoon full of castor oil was the “all-purpose” answer to almost any malady. But, she added a small twist. Before she directed me to, “Open your mouth,” she would ask: “What is the best tasting thing you have ever eaten?” For m...

On the Loss of a Great Mentor

“Brilliant” is the word we use to refer to a special kind of genius–the type that profoundly influences others. It is more than someone who is simply intellectual. A genius might be a person with a super high IQ but keeps it locked inside. A brilliant person shares the mental gift. “Brilliant” is also the word we use to characterize light. A light with that description is very bright and illuminates a large area. The word comes up a lot when referencing a floodlight, beacon, or lighthouse. Ex...

Death as a Mentor

It is not my style to tell personal war stories. The recent Boston terrorist attack was followed by some struggling with the decision regarding how best to honor those who were tragically killed or injured. Some said pause; some advised cease; and some believed continue on. It brought back memories of a specific wartime incident.

During the late summer of 1969, I was commanding an Army reconnaissance unit with the 82nd Airborne. We had suffered heavy combat losses that bloody summer. Our decis...