Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Let me explain. And let me also just say that my explanation will not be as eloquent and inspiring as Damon West’s, but the message—or moral—of the story will hopefully be just as thought-provoking and, perhaps, even motivational.

I had the privilege of attending RTRX again this year in Columbus, OH, in conjunction with our executive roundtable, hosted and sponsored by Rockbridge. To learn more about RTRX and to read what our participants shared about the ideas of action, optimism and positivity, and how they all rely on each other to create real change, see our coverage in this issue.

What I truly love about this event is that it gathers colleagues from our industry and challenges them to think beyond the numbers, data points and news, and to dig deep, absorb, understand and, hopefully, share the gems of information presented by accomplished and often well-known speakers.

I always start taking notes, making sure to capture some of the intelligent and introspective thoughts so that I can be a better manager, leader and, yes, human.

One of the speakers this year was Damon West, whose life story of adversity and redemption—from star college quarterback to convicted felon and, eventually, motivational speaker and author—captivated the audience. He shared the “Coffee Bean Story,” a parable often shared as a life lesson. It illustrates how people respond to adversity using a carrot, an egg and a coffee bean to represent those responses. The story resonated with the audience—and it resonated with me.

While in prison, West encountered a fellow inmate who shared it with him, telling him that he had a choice to be like the carrot, the egg or the coffee bean in the face of his circumstances. This concept transformed West’s outlook. He chose to be the coffee bean and worked on changing his attitude and life while incarcerated, ultimately leading to the life of service he now enjoys.

OK, so I had never heard it before, but if you have, I hope reading it again inspires you. And if you haven’t, hopefully it not only inspires but sticks. In short, it goes something like this:

A person struggling with life and its many challenges seeks the advice and wisdom of another. That person takes them to the kitchen and fills three pots with water. In one goes the carrot; the next, an egg; the last, coffee beans. They all are boiled. What happened? The carrot, which started strong, became soft and weak. The egg, which was fragile, hardened on the inside. But the coffee beans transformed the water, creating something new, something good, something desirable.

The lesson, of course, is: Carrots are people who start off strong but, when faced with adversity, become weakened and fragile. Eggs are those who appear fragile but become hardened and unyielding when they face difficulty.

Coffee beans, however, represent those who change their circumstances. Instead of being changedby adversity, they transform it into something positive. In fact, as West suggests: Each day, jump into the pot of boiling water because each time you add more coffee beans, it just gets better and stronger.

So, which are you? Which do you want to become? West said this story changed his life. Somethingso simple, yet so transformational. Embracing challenges and using them as opportunities to create something better can be a game-changer in your life, in your community or in your company. So, on that note, make sure to read our roundtable report, which begins on page 14, to find out how leaders in our industry—your peers—are each agents of change and priming optimists for action.

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