I saw the movie The Great Debaters again this week for the third time and have been saying the famous lines from it to myself all week. To help his students get introduced to a world within which they felt insecurity and trepidation, the professor in this movie (played by Denzel Washington) sought to motivate them by testing their inner strengths.
The professor tried to get his students to see that they were really competing against themselves--that they were testing their own abilities.
So these are the famous lines from The Great Debaters that were repeated a few times during the movie:
Professor: "Who is the Judge?"
Students: "The judge is God."
Professor: "Why is He the judge?"
Students: "He decides who wins and loses; not my opponent."
Professor: "Who is your opponent?"
Students: "My opponent does not exist."
Professor: "Why does your opponent not exist?"
Students: "He is a mere dissenting voice to the truth I speak."
Neither my competitors or the naysayers I sometimes run across will get the benefit of being the judges for my business or its outcome. My judge is God. My opponent to me--does not exist.
Take these strong words from this movie and apply them to your startup business during these first tumultuous years. You will need them. Thanks Denzel for writing, producing and starring in such a fierce movie!
Who is the judge??!! Who is your opponent??!!
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3 comments:
My opponent doesn't exist!!!!
Strong words of encourgagement. Haven't seen the movie but now I will. Small businesses face too much opposition, we have to find elements to keep uu grounded.
Nice movie! I saw it twice myself. I think that it is very appropriate to attach those words to business; especially startups.
We need to be reminded that the competition starts and ends with us.
I loved that quote from the movie. Very powerful.
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