“I’ve been in work and life situations that seemed hopeless.Sometimes I received counsel to give up, but God gave me grace to persevere, and many times I was a better person for it, and good came from it.”

Are you familiar with The Stockdale Paradox? It was popularized by Jim Collins in his excellent bestselling book, Good to Great.

In their study of how companies moved from being good to great, he and his researchers noticed that there were corporations which accepted the hard facts when things were not promising, and at the same time maintained an attitude and faith that eventually things would turn around for the better, as they in wisdom pushed on.

This was exemplified in the life and experience of Admiral William Stockdale, who underwent horrendous torture as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, for 8 years.

Stockdale dealt with daily brutality, but never lost faith that he would persevere and triumph in the end.

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