Remember this as you gain fame, fortune, position, and seniority. People will hold doors open for you and get you a ceramic cup of coffee. They will call you sir and ma’am and give you stuff. But without the position you hold or when you no longer possess that position you held, you will lose all that stuff and will always deserve a styrofoam cup.
At the Usher’s New Look (UNL) youth signature event that helps teens find their “spark” or passion and live purpose-driven lives, Simon Sinek, author, inspirational speaker, and TED celebrity, presented the 5 Rules to Follow as You Find Your Spark. For the 5th rule, he shared his favorite story, which has now become my favorite story, too, on humility and gratitude through the styrofoam cup analogy. It’s a true story with a message to remind us of the reasons to be thankful and humble at all stages of our lives, and it goes like this:
A former undersecretary of defense was invited to give a speech at a large conference of about a thousand people. He was standing on the stage with his coffee in a styrofoam cup, giving his prepared remarks with his PowerPoint (slide) behind him. He took a sip of the coffee and smiled as he looked down at it.
The Ceramic Cup
He then went off script and said, you know, last year, I spoke at this exact same conference. Last year I was still the undersecretary. And when I spoke here last year, they flew me here business class, and when I arrived at the airport, somebody was waiting for me to take me to my hotel. And when they took me to my hotel, they had already checked me in and just brought me to my room. The next morning, I came downstairs, and someone was waiting in the lobby to greet me, and they drove me here, this same venue. They took me through the back entrance into the green room and handed me a beautiful ceramic cup of coffee.
The Styrofoam Cup
I’m no longer the undersecretary. I flew here in coach class. I took a taxi to my hotel, and I checked myself in. When I came down to the lobby this morning, I took another taxi to this venue. I came in the front door and found my way backstage. And when I asked someone, do you have any coffee, he pointed to the coffee machine in the corner, and I poured myself a cup of coffee into this styrofoam cup. He says the lesson is; the ceramic cup was never meant for me. It was meant for the position I held. I deserve a styrofoam cup.
Enjoy the perks, but don’t forget, it was never meant for you
Remember this as you gain fame, as you gain fortune, as you gain position, and seniority. People will treat you better. They will hold doors open for you and get you a (ceramic) cup of tea and coffee without you even asking. They will call you sir and ma’am and give you stuff. None of that stuff is meant for you. That stuff is meant for the position you hold. It is meant for the level you have achieved as a leader or success or whatever you wanna’ call it. But (without the position you hold), you will always deserve a styrofoam cup.
Remember that. Remember that lesson of humility and gratitude. You can accept all the free stuff. You can accept all the perks. Absolutely, you can enjoy them. But just be grateful for them and know that they are not for you.
We all deserve the styrofoam cup
Simon also shared another similar story he encountered during his trip from New York to Washington, DC on the Acela train. He said:
I remember getting off the Acela… I walked down the platform like everyone else, and I walked past General Norton “Norty” Schwartz, who used to be the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, the Head of the Air Force.
And here I did see a guy in a suit shlepping his own suitcase down the platform just like me. And just a couple of months ago, he was flying on private jets, and he had an entourage, and other people carried his luggage. But he no longer held the position, so now he got to drag his own suitcase.
Never did it sort of remind me more that none of us deserve the perks we get. We all deserve a styrofoam cup.
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