On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese conducted a surprise aerial attack on the United States naval fleet located at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii. The following day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the speech to Congress asking for a state of war to be declared.
His speech would go down in history because of the phrase, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy”.
Here’s what many people do not know about the speech:
There was great concern for the president’s safety and how he was going to be transported from the White House to the Capitol building to deliver the address to Congress and the nation. Believe it or not, at the time, federal law prohibited the purchase of any car over $750. (Yes, you read that right!)
However, one of the Secret Service members had a very creative solution. 10 years prior in 1931, the United States Treasury Department seized a 1928 Cadillac V-8 Town Sedan from the legendary gangster Al Capone for tax evasion. As you would expect, Capone’s car was not just any normal Cadillac. It was a car befitting the most famous gangster in American history.
This particular vehicle came equipped with the following:
- 3,000 lbs of armor
- one inch-thick bullet proof windows
- a specially installed siren
- flashing lights hidden in the grille
- and a police scanner (a must-have for any successful gangster)
Bottom line – the travel/safety problem was solved. After conducting a maintenance check to ensure the car would still run properly, President Roosevelt was transported to the capital building in the safest vehicle they could find – Al Capone’s Cadillac V-8 Town Sedan.
Here’s the leadership lesson on creativity:
Creativity is not skinny jeans that don’t reach your ankles, a low v-neck, a scarf, Converse shoes, and messed up hair. That is not creativity. That is style.
Creativity is the ability to look at the resources you already have at your disposal (like Capone’s car) and discover new applications of those existing resources to solve problems and advance your organization’s mission and vision.
Exodus 4:1-3 records a fascinating exchange between God and Moses:
“Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ The Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ He said, ‘A staff.’ And he said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it.”
In other words, Moses already had everything he needed for success in his hand. The United States government already had everything it needed to safely transport President Roosevelt to the Capitol. Whatever problem you may be facing, you already have everything you need as well.
Therefore, if you are facing a seemingly insurmountable task, I ask you the same set of questions God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand? What resources do you already have? That’s your #1 asset. How could they be leveraged differently to solve problems? How can what is in your hand advance your mission and vision?”
So get your team together. Get creative. Look around. Do an inventory. Like President Roosevelt, you just might find a 10-year old resource sitting in your garage which will solve your problem.
Fun Fact
Capone’s car was sold at auction in 2009 for $309,000. It currently sits in Whiskey Pete’s Hotel And Casino located 35 miles south of Las Vegas.
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