I was on a conference call today in which the people on the call were each asked to share a time they’d seen the transformative power of the belief in people. As I listened to each person share their differing stories I kept thinking about these words from one of my very favorite songs:

Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion

. -lyric from Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song”

When one person believes in us it not only motivates us to do and be more ourselves, it also inspires us to then go and do that same thing for others by letting them know we believe in them…sending big waves into motion…

And although we each have only one match, each time we believe in one person we begin a new ripple that will grow and expand…changing hearts and lives of everyone it touches.

Perfect example – One person believing in me gave me the courage to become an entrepreneur. As a leader of thousands of employees I was able to then believe in each of them. And me believing in each of them helped them do and be more and each of them went on to help others do and be more….and all of from just one person who believed in me.

BELIEVE IN PEOPLE! …because that, my friends, is how you can make an explosion.

PS. I love that song “Fight Song” so much that I told my family that at my graveside of my funeral someday I want them to get our friends The Piano Guys to come and perform their version of Fight Song with Amazing Grace along with the bagpipers and drummers and all (I’m inserting their music video below so you’ll understand what I’m referring to). Hopefully I’ll have lived a life worthy of having people say “through her belief in others she made an explosion” 🙂

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )