There is life after Rejection

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”This was the response that David Sarnoff received from his associates when they rejected a proposal for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

David Sarnoff's vision, inexhaustible energy, and aggressive personality led to the creation of 20th century radio and television broadcasting and the roots of our wireless communications today. Sarnoff was born on 27 February 1891, the oldest of five children, outside Minsk in imperial Russia. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1900 and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Sarnoff’s first job was as a newsboy; the existence of so much information so cheaply available was a revelation. At fifteen, his grade schooling finished, to support his family he found a job as a messenger boy for the Commercial Cable Company. When his boss refused him time off for Rosh Hashanah, he joined the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America as an office boy and then a telegrapher.

Driven to have an impact on the information industry, Sarnoff was by 1912 managing the new Marconi station atop Wanamaker’s department store in Manhattan. During the sinking of Titanic, Sarnoff sent and received wireless messages for 72 hours, gathering names of survivors for anxious relatives. Sarnoff learned about the business, the technology, and the customers, and more promotions followed.

In 1917, General Electric bought American Marconi and combined its radio patents to form a new telecommunications company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Sarnoff was promoted to general manager of RCA in 1921. Although he had advocated broadcasting entertainment and information since 1915, his superiors continued to focus on point-to-point communications. That July, he helped promote a boxing match as the first broadcast sports event. Up to 300,000 people listened, helping drive sales of home radios, and RCA became a much larger company than anyone else foresaw.But Sarnoff was not satisfied with home radio's success. He advocated the merger of radio with the phonograph, portable radios, network broadcasting (NBC), and development of sound on film for the movie industry. In addition, from 1929 to 1939, as RCA's president during the Depression, he allocated $10 million to develop an electronic television system, based largely on the work of Vladimir Zworykin, who invented a practical electronic camera tube. When other developers and their patents got in Sarnoff’s way, he fought them hard. Philo T. Farnsworth was one of the few who stood up to Sarnoff and won, while joining with RCA to advocate commercial TV in 1940-41.

During World War II Sarnoff served as a U.S. Army officer after bigotry kept him from serving in the U.S. Navy during World War I. He served on General Dwight Eisenhower’s staff, helping coordinate allied communications for the invasion of Europe, and was promoted to brigadier general. For the rest of his life, he would be addressed as “General.” After the war, Sarnoff championed electronic colour television in an eight-year battle with rival company CBS, which advocated an electromechanical system. His support of innovation at the RCA Laboratories, renamed the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, New Jersey, led to the establishment of a colour TV standard in 1953.

Is it Rejection or Redirection?

As you look back on your life, you will realize that many of the times you thought you were being rejected from someone or something you wanted, you were in fact being redirected to someone or something you needed. Seeing this when you’re in the midst of feeling rejected, however, is quite tough. As soon as someone critiques, criticizes, and pushes you away – as soon as you are rejected – you find yourself thinking, “Well, that proves once again that I’m not worthy.” What you need to realise is that possibly, the other person or situation might not be worthy of you and your particular journey.

Rejection is necessary medicine; it teaches you how to reject relationships and opportunities that aren’t going to work, so you can find the right ones that will. It doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough; it just means someone else failed to notice what you have to offer. Which means you now have more time to improve yourself and explore your options. Will you be bitter for a moment? Absolutely. Hurt? Of course, you are human. There isn’t a soul on this planet that doesn’t feel a small fraction of their heart break at the realization of rejection. For a short time afterwards you will ask yourself every question you can think of…What did I do wrong? Why didn’t they care about me? How come? But then you have to let your emotions fuel you in a positive way! This is the important part. Let your feelings of rejection drive you, feed you, and inspire one heck of a powerful opening to the next chapter of your story.

Go beyond the pain of Rejection

Rejection wounds hurt deeply because rejection attacks the very person that we are. It destroys our self-esteem, our self-value, self-worth and our purpose in life. This is why it is one of the most common tools the devil will use to destroy a person's life. God never wanted us to feel rejected or abandoned. He desires for you to know who you really are, and realize how deeply God loves, accepts, and appreciates you, so that you can live out the fullness of what all God has ordained you to be. #RejectionToRedirection #OvercomingChallenges #MindsetMatters #FaithAndGrowth #TurningPainIntoPurpose