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我们聊了一会儿。虽然我还要赶火车，但还是询问能否给他拍张照，他愉快地答应了。随后，我向他道了谢，就匆忙赶路了。
十分钟后，我感到万念俱休，因为我觉得自己忘了摘掉镜头盖，现在再赶回去也来不及了。我恨死自己可能错过了一张精彩的照片。当时我慌里慌张的，完全没办法回想起来，自己摘过镜头盖了没。
那次短暂的邂逅给我留下了长久的印象。他浑身上下仿佛洋溢着一股天生的乐观气息，无论遇到何种苦难，他都可以、并且一定能够取得胜利。以他来讲，这种积极的看来是建立在他历经磨难的基础之上，并且已经深深地植根在灵魂的深处。
每一位希望成为高效组织领导者的人都可以从中学到一个理论。即便乐观主义、个人愿望和坚定的决心不一定能在人的思想上扎根，但它们都是领导力的构成要素。
管理大师吉姆•柯林斯在其经典著作《从优秀到卓越》中曾经提到“斯托克矛盾论”。这一理论得名于斯托克将军，他曾在越南战俘营中度过了七年难熬的日子。正是依靠对两个截然相反的信仰的不懈追求，斯托克将军才得以生存。他坚信：这辈子不可能过得比此次此刻更糟，但总有一天会比以往任何时候都过得更好。
非凡的领导者，或是柯林斯称为第五级的领导者在面对严酷的现实时，都坚信自己最终能够起死回生。面对现实，满怀信心，永不灰心，才是成功的关键。
当然，还有一个无解的难题，就是多年前在纽约那个寒冷、混沌的周日早晨，那位英雄人物的光芒能否穿透我的镜头盖，在底片上留下光影。（见照片）
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We talked for awhile. Although I had a train to catch, I asked him if I could take his photograph. He gladly agreed. I snapped away, thanked him, and continued on my way.
Ten minutes later I had the sinking feeling that I had forgotten to remove the lens cap. It was now too late to go back. I kicked myself for possibly having missed a great photo opportunity. In my haste, I simply could not recall having removed the lens cap.
That short encounter left a lasting impression. He seemed to embody and exude a deep-rooted sense of optimism that no matter what hardships an individual may face, they can and will prevail. In his case, it seems that this deeply positive mental attitude was based on the personal experience of hardship, and rooted in spirituality.
There is a lesson there which applies to anyone aspiring to be the effective leader of an organization. Optimism, personal will, and determination may or may not be rooted in an individual’s spirituality, but they are critically important leadership traits.
Management guru Jim Collins, in his classic book “Good to Great”, talks about the Stockdale Paradox, named after Admiral James Stockdale, who spent 7 difficult years in a Vietnamese POW camp. He was able to survive by relentlessly embracing two contradictory beliefs that his life couldn’t be worse than it was at the present moment, but that someday it would be better than ever.
Exceptional leaders, or Level 5 Leaders as Collins calls them, confront the brutal facts of reality while maintaining absolute faith that they will prevail in the end. Embracing the facts and the faith at the same time, all the time, that is the key.
The unanswerable question is, of course, whether on that cold, gray Sunday morning many years ago in New York, this guy’s halo was bright enough to project his image right through my camera’s lens cap. (See photo.)
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