Trusting Your Intuition - Though You May Stand Alone

When, as a young buck private, in Basic Training at Ft. Sill, in Lawton, Oklahoma - during my tour of duty with the U.S. Army - I observed an event that crystalized for me what it means to follow that small voice in the back of our minds - which is our conscious...the True North of ethical behavior...the courage of one's convictions...

About 200 recruits were in a training workshop - learning how to assemble various radio gear into different configurations. The instructor for the session had finished his lesson material - and now we were to perform an assembly task - as a form of hands-on testing.

The instructor gave directions - and as I recall - specified that each was to do his own work...and then he left the room for perhaps 25 minutes.

199 of the recruits copied the ideas of one or two strong personality individuals...and 199 recruits built the exact same configuration.

One recruit stood quietly amid the chaos and looked intently at the components on the workbench before him. Without sure knowledge of whether the configuration was indeed correct - he quickly assembled his components into what he thought [hoped] was the requested configuration.

When the instructor returned - he quickly walked through the room - and stopped before the recruit with the only different configuration.

The instructor taunted this lone recruit...calling him names, making fun of him...getting the other recruits to laugh and ridicule him for his stupidity.

With all his cunning, the instructor sought to get the lone recruit to change his mind - to waffle - to go along with the crowd. But he would not. Steadfast, he held on to what he believed to be the truth - no matter the consequences - no matter what the crowd said.

When the instructor asked for a show of hands to indicate how many people thought the lone recruit's configuration was wrong...199 hands went up.

It was only then that the instructor exploded with real anger...for most of the 199 recruits had cheated and copied the work of one or two.

They were immediately punished and told to drop and give him 100 push-ups.

While one recruit stood alone...

I was that lone recruit.

That lesson has stood me in good stead throughout my career - when I have felt the compelling need to take action, or speak up - when the pull of my True North, the voice of my conscious, and the force of my intuition overwhelm all other considerations.