ORDER NUMBER
77-03-16
REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
LEADERSHIP:
TO MFT CAPTAINS
March 16, 1977
World Mission Center
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
As a leader you are not only responsible for yourself but for your
members. Anytime you are not leading you should always be thinking
about what you will do when you are. You know very clearly that as a
fund raising team leader your members will all resemble you. You have
to clearly show them the way because unless you show them they will
never learn.
Do you know which is the best team in the United States? Do you know
who the best team leader is? I want each one of you to think all the
time about who is the best leader and then pay close attention to him
so that you can learn from him. You should ask him what he does to be
the best team leader in all America.
If 74 people fund raise they will use 74 different methods; however,
there is only one best way out of the 74. When someone is the best then
everyone should learn his way. Those who have no idea who is the best
can never be the best themselves. The way to improve yourself is to
follow the example of the most successful man.
The first criterion of leadership is organization; you have to organize
efficiently. Second, you must always have a sense of responsibility
for your own team, and in addition you have to teach each of your team
members to have a sense of responsibility. After you have done these three
things then check how intensely you work. At that point your enthusiasm
and long hours of work will mean everything. You will succeed when you
have all of these.
You have to standardize your method of doing things. You must have a
clear idea of what you are going to do, and all your members must know
what they are going to do. If any of them has a better way of doing
things, of course let him suggest it. Organization, a strong sense of
responsibility, enthusiasm and long hours of work are all very essential,
but there is still one more crucial element: clear direction.
The fastest, easiest way to find the best method is to adopt the
best man's technique for yourself. After I came to America I first
thought about how to create the most efficient organization. Once
that organization was built then I felt that I had to take all the
responsibility on myself. As long as I feel that way I can make you men
of responsibility also.
I put these things into practice with more intensity than anyone else.
I put in longer hours than anybody else. I am always thinking about
which direction to go and which method to use. When you move into an
unfamiliar area, you must first analyze the situation. When you think
you know the best way, then put it into practice.
How are you going to learn about that precious new area? Going there
to feel it out yourself will take too long. The fastest way is to send
a few people ahead of the team and let them talk to real estate men and
taxi drivers. Such people usually know an area and can describe it better
than anybody else.
I had to really grasp the heart of the matter in planning for the
Washington Rally. Because I could see the situation very clearly and
other people could not, I just pushed ahead. In the same way you have to
make a good estimate of your area. If you send some people out as your
sensors, like nerve endings, and have them bring you back information,
then you can immediately come to a conclusion and succeed.
I am telling you this because we should have the best organization in
the world. We are not just writing names down on cards. Our planning and
organization must be workable, not just idealistic. It is good if you have
a sense of responsibility yourself, but it will not accomplish anything
until all your members also have that same sense of responsibility. Your
problem is how to transfer your standard to them. You have to study this
process all the time.
Does anyone here think that he has the best organization? Can you say
that you have been thinking about this all the time and training your
members in such a direction? When Mr. Kamiyama reports to me, he tells
me about the teams-who he thinks has an aptitude for fund raising or who
might be better witnessing-but I never believe a word. A slow starter
can prove to be the fastest runner. I only consider a person after he
has had a chance to improve himself.
Just because a baby cannot run the moment he is born we certainly
cannot say that he will never run. We have to give a person a chance to
improve himself, and explain many things to him so that he will feet
a sense of responsibility. In the beginning you may have to carry him
along, not on your back, but by working with him side by side for two
days, teaching him how to do everything. Do you ever think in that way?
Unless you feel that, you will just be using the people on your
team, and after they finish working with you they will go downhill
spiritually. You cannot borrow a person from another area or from other
people and just expect him to work. You have to love and feed him,
care for him in every way; then he will work wholeheartedly with you.
Who is a man of responsibility? He is the one who is determined to make
his followers also men of responsibility. A false leader is always saying,
"Do this and do that," but never does those things himself. He never
works. The man of responsibility, the front-line leader, should always
work harder and better than other people, then they will follow him. If
you live that way yourself then you will not have to tell your members
to follow you; they will want to follow you on their own. Perhaps you
have lots of enthusiasm and your members are inspired to work very hard,
but if they get very little result they will stop working. You have to
be smart as well as enthusiastic. One good quality in a leader is not
enough; you have to be good at everything.
If you know how to shoot a rifle or artillery but in the heat of
battle you don't aim correctly, the shells may land on your own troops
and kill your own men. This happens in real life. To know where to shoot,
a gunner has to know generally what the terrain is like and where his
men are, and then he can adopt the best method.
The first necessity is organization, the second is a sense
of responsibility and the third is knowing how to put these into
practice. In carrying these out you must first have enthusiasm. For
instance, I automatically felt that I was going to come up here very
early in the morning. Why? I never plan that I will work at one hour,
and then rest at another hour. I never know when I am going to work and
when I am going to rest; I may work for 24 hours. When other people are
sleeping and eating then I always think about getting ahead by working
more hours. In that way I will surely be the winner.
When the time comes I will put you to work in the middle of the night
rather than in the day time, and then I will start your training program
early in the morning. Do not ever think that because you never heard or
thought about such a method of working that this is the Oriental way. In
the Unification Church we have a unique way that is unparalleled by
other people.
Are you going to be a loser? No one will sympathize with the loser.
But you will never be losers. Never be discouraged by everything that
people say to you; just go forward and win. So far in America, have I
lost or won? I had to win because no one else is living up to my way of
doing things. Are you going to be losers or winners?
Being winners will be relatively easy. The way do to it is to put
in more hours and have more enthusiasm than others, plus excellent
organization and a sense of responsibility. I know that all 74 of you
have these qualities, but still you have 74 different methods to win,
which are not all equally good. They rank from the best to the worst.
To be successful you must adopt the method of the best man out of the
74 of you.
If you have put in longer hours and been more enthusiastic than other
people, but were still unsuccessful, then there's only one explanation:
your method is wrong. This is the one thing that you must always be
wanting to learn; I am always thinking about that also. If you seek out
the best method all the time, then in two or three years you will have
much experience and you can become the top man.
At the same time, let your members give suggestions about the best
method to use and give comments about themselves. If you are confident
of having the best way, do not just insist that your members follow your
way. If one of them comes up to suggest his own idea, even if you think
he is wrong, do not say, "No, just hush up and listen to me." Rather,
try to find the good points in his suggestion and agree with him on
those. If you come to realize that someone is actually better than you
in some ways, then you can always accept suggestions from him. You need
to have vast information.
We do our best when we are competing with each other in a good sense.
Do you have that sense of competition? Whether you succeed or not in
the long run all depends on how I lead you. The criterion that I go by
is not your face or your attitude; I give you a chance to come up with
the best result. Naturally that has to be my criterion, no matter what
faults you have. Is that a wrong way of evaluating people?
The man who is closest to the Principle should always bring in the
better result, but even a genius may go up and down. If you notice
in yourself a tendency to go up and down, then you must find a way to
correct that. You have to make yourself dependable. A person may win
some victories, but if he is also often at the bottom, then I cannot
afford to depend on him.
If I see a high team average, I think that is good, but if I see that
each member has a similar high average then I value that team even more
because I know that it is a stable team. Once you are stable as a leader
your team will grow. For your first few months or even the first year
it is too early to tell about you. But after a long time, if your teams
are still up and down, with some members having very high results and
others very low results, even though your team average is very good, the
situation reflects your poor organization. By looking at all the results
together I can tell very much about what has happened on a team. Can you
see things the way I do now? A good leader has to be leader of heart,
but at the same time he has to be smart. He must be able to evaluate
the whole environment.
When I came to America I broadened the way for fund raising all by
myself. Did you know that? When I first came to America one leader was
really elated because of the fund raising he had started. I understood the
situation, but I thought to myself, "I can do ten times better than that."
I had an idea and told them the new standard. Nobody believed it in
the beginning, and people said that I just didn't understand America.
To that leader it was like a dream because we had no factory or
capital. But very soon I accomplished that goal.
But now you know all these things and you are actually doing it
yourselves. Now that we have bought the New Yorker Hotel and the Tiffany
Building, when I say that I am going to buy the Empire State Building even
business men are not surprised. They know that eventually we will have
much more property. Now that people know that I can do anything I set my
mind to, even Congress is uneasy for fear that I will want to control it.
We must have a more efficient organization and greater sense of
responsibility about America than the Senators and Congressmen. Often
they only think about how to stay in office, worrying that after the
next election someone else may take their seat. A Congressman's wife
may nag him to not work such long hours.
But we will think about America's whole situation and will work longer
hours than anyone else to put these objectives and sense of responsibility
into practice. I know how to do this, and once we all have this standard
it will be very easy to outdo any existing organization. Does it stand
to reason?
Be sure of what you are fund raising for. The objective is not to
make a few thousand dollars; your overall goal is much greater than that.
While you are Teaming how to get the best result, without even realizing
it you are also walking the road to perfect leadership, so that in three
years you can go to a state and effectively lead a thousand people.
This is not just wishful thinking. I am not just trying to stimulate
you to do more in the short run. By doing this I am training you for
the future. To amount to anything in the future you have to be able to
raise your own money. Now you are pretty confident as far as that goes,
right? You know now that you can at least make money, but you are still
learning how to raise people. What you are hoping is that I will give
you more people so that you can do even better.
I think that you have already accomplished half of your qualification.
But the other qualification for leadership concerns manpower. If you
can fund raise well you shouldn't have too much difficulty in securing
manpower. This is what you will have to do in the future. I am thinking
about using the top team leaders for witnessing.
Why would I change your mission when you are so experienced in raising
money? Actually money is of secondary importance; restoring people is
our primary goal. To do that, there is only one rule-to love the people
in the same way that a father loves his son. That is the greatest rule in
raising people. After that you can apply the basic principle of leadership
which I just explained. Once you have a knack for good organization then
I think that people will easily come to you and you will have many members
in a few months or years. After that your success will be guaranteed.
If you know how to win people and educate them, and if you know how
to earn money, then what else can you do? Actually even many Congressmen
or Senators do not have these qualities to a great degree. You would be
surprised how many Congressmen depend on other people to subsidize them
in running for office. They depend on other people's help, whereas we
depend on our own abilities.
Once you are trained I think that whether you will win or lose is
just a formality. I will figure out how to give you a college degree,
but that is no problem. We already have a newspaper, and the seminary
that is underway is the prototype of our university. Always remember that
you are well along the path with this clear objective. Some people accuse
me of trying to use the American people, but that has never been true.
You may be wondering how this connects to the dispensation of
restoration. God created the world of all things first, and then Adam
and Eve. Because of the fall we must recreate Adam and Eve. This is our
responsibility in the restoration.
When we have good organization, a deep sense of responsibility, and
we carry out our plans meticulously then we can pull the spirit world
down to cooperate with us. With the help of spirit world we are going
to re-create all things. The next 3½ years will focus on restoring
men, very much like the period of God creating Adam. If we have the
confidence to restore all things through fund raising, then we will have
the confidence to restore mankind through witnessing.
Then what would you do to be with God? You must become parents, in
which case your responsibility is to love all things and all mankind.
That is the position of the True Parents. You are going to accomplish
this with the True Parents, side by side, and become good ancestors
for your own descendants. This course is very clear; we have to restore
the lost creation, the lost people, and then become one with the True
Parents and establish ourselves on God's side. This is the basic course
which you will go, not only on a small scale but on the worldwide scale,
even including the spirit world. This is why it is important.
We cannot help but win if we work hard enough to never be outdone by
the past, present or future. Even the people who oppose us acknowledge our
enthusiasm and say that they respect the Unification Church at least for
that. If they have the least bit of respect for us they will eventually
come to us.
When you are competing with other people to bring the result, you
must automatically remember the steps for winning as well as the path
of restoration. Have you ever thought about that? When we start to
do something we had better be confident; otherwise what we do is not
substantial. Before I do anything I always make sure I am confident.
The media tends to put labels on people; for instance, they call
me an industrialist. Actually what they are getting at is that I know
how to make money. I see great opportunities for raising money, even
fortunes. They also call me an evangelist, meaning that I know how to
win people or how to restore people. We know that their labels do not
give the whole picture. Otherwise, how could we even continue here,
with all the negativity and pressure from your families and society?
However, we are still confident to go on, even stronger than before.
God created the world in a certain sequence and we are going to
restore the world in the same sequence. When we examine history its
pattern follows that same sequence. In the Old Testament days people
offered animal sacrifice which represented all things. Through doing
that according to the Mosaic Law, people of that era could show their
faith in God.
In the New Testament era man was emphasized instead of the things of
creation. Jesus Christ gave himself as the offering and many good men
were martyred in the New Testament era. Now in the Completed Testament
era God is restoring the True Parents and the true children.
In what position are we? It is impossible to go on the growth stage
without the foundation of the formation stage or to enter the perfection
stage without both the formation and growth stages. To make restoration
complete we have to have all three stages, not just one. Since the
formation and growth stages have been accomplished already, we are Dow in
the perfection stage. There has been a vertical development of history,
but now we are expanding it horizontally. Now beyond the level of the
Old Testament and the New Testament age offerings, we are coming to the
very core of things. In God's view the Old Testament stage is the outer
layer, the New Testament stage is the middle layer, and the Completed
Testament stage is closest to the center of the universe.
It is in perfect accordance with the Principle that the essence of
each age is now being developed horizontally. The Old Testament era
is represented in the things of creation; the New Testament era is
represented by people, and the Completed Testament era or perfection
stage is represented by the True Parents and true children. Now all
mankind is being elevated to that stage.
When all this materializes, you will find yourself in a much more
elevated situation than Adam and Eve. All they could do was pick fruits
to eat, and they did not even have decent clothing to wear. If you cannot
raise yourself to the parents' position, how can you say you are better
than Adam and Eve? if you boost yourself to perfection then you are the
fruit of the Old Testament and New Testament eras. When you are in that
position, the world will move when you move, and it will stop when you
stop. Is this more real to you than your breakfast which you can taste?
I always teach you substantial things, not vague ideas. The point is
that we should want to work even more than we desire to eat. If you are
hungry and want to eat, but even more than that you want to do your work,
then you understand how you ought to be. If you are concerned least
about your appetite then you are OK. Do you think you can fail if you
feel that way?
When you go back to your teams are you going to put all these
things into practice? Do not ever think that rain is a barrier, or
that you should stay inside and not work because of cold weather. Can
you kill your appetite because it is too cold or because it is raining
too much? Likewise we cannot say that we should not work because it
is raining.
We have to work longer than the time that we spend in eating and
sleeping. Then we will be successful. We must want to do our work more
than we ever desired to love someone in the fallen world. nose who think
they can do that, raise your hand.
Then why are you going to work so hard? Is it because you want
to make a lot of money or because you want to get married? First you
have to occupy God and His love and then get married. All of these will
come to pass in that order. We have to go to the highest level of giving
before we can occupy God's heart and receive God's attention; otherwise,
God will elude us. We will not catch God if we do not do our utmost.
Now you know the real reason why you should do your utmost: to win
God's love and recognition. Then and only then will you know the living
God. Then you can receive all of God's love, and have His power welling
up inside of you.
When you get plenty of sleep, then repent and re-determine yourself
to work harder than you slept. After you eat some good meal then, too,
you should think about working harder than you enjoyed your food. No
one is watching you all the time except the only one that matters:
God. I am telling you again and again that this is the kind of person
God loves and that the True Parents love.
Because of the fall we must offer our economic activity and witnessing
to God; this is the price we have to pay for the fall. Since this is
ultimately the purpose of all men, we are going the right way. What
can I be proud of after I go to spirit world? God will say to me, "You
have so many true children of your own." This is my only source of pride
before God. In turn you will go the same way; God will be proud of you
when you have your own generation of restored children.
We must always review our lives and check whether we are going the
right way or whether we need to be corrected. If we need to correct
something, we must repent and do it. Our criterion is this: we need to
be shameless before all things and all people. We have to do everything
in order to achieve that. After that we must also be qualified to have
children who care more for us than anything.
Do all things belong to you or to the universe? Before anything belongs
to you it belongs to the whole universe. Before you can claim that things
belong to you, you must have the perfect universal character. We have
not known this because of the fall, but now we will elevate ourselves
to become real children of God. Then God will say, "Yes, the universe
is yours." God's children have the privilege of inheriting their
Father's belongings. We have to understand clearly why we should do
these things. Do all the people belong to you or to the universe? We
cannot think lightly of anyone because we do not yet have a universal
character. With such a character we can have all of creation with us,
and all people and we can even possess God.
Do you feel confident that you have that universal character? We have
money here that you can spend freely, but when you are hungry what do
you think about first? Do you think first about eating, or about all
the creation, all people and God?
Even the pocket money you can spend at will must first belong to the
universe. The universe would want you to spend it for the larger purpose
first. If you do not do that then you are violating a strict heavenly
law. In the future, when we ask, "Are you a man who is not shamed before
man or creation?" then you ought to be able to say yes. When you are
dealing with people, do not ever think of yourself as being in a higher
position. Do not ever think of people as handsome or ugly. A person of
universal character would never view someone else that way. We must become
people unashamed of ourselves. If you can think about God and still not
be ashamed, then you have passed the most difficult examination. If you
are a man of universal character then all things will come after you
and all men will try to belong to you. Even God will come to you. This
is so basic that if it were not true, then there would be no reason for
God to exist either, and even if God existed He could never realize His
ideal without a universe of this character.
This training session is very short, but after hearing the words
that I have spoken to you during this time you will certainly change,
won't you? This is not only my philosophy, but this is in accordance
with Principle.
I can make friends with all of nature, even with insects. If I go out
to a field and find some insect then I quickly become friends with it.
Can you understand what that really means? I know you are amazed to
realize how much closer you feel to nature after a few minutes of my
talking like this. Without knowing these things you will never get close
to God, man or nature, no matter how many thousands of years you try. This
is why the Bible clearly promises that you shall know the truth and the
truth shall make you free.
If your team has earned a certain amount of money, can you then make a
false report? Can you keep any of that money for yourself? That is just
as dreadful as cutting your own head in half. Usually I do not have any
money because money no sooner comes in than I spend it. But I always
spend it for the larger purpose. I know the value of the universe, and
I know that mankind and all things would want to see money spent that
way. I ask the money in my pocket, "How would you like to be spent-on
the New Yorker Hotel or on shoes for me?" A person should apologize
to his money when he has to spend it on himself. I really think that
when I buy things. As I give the money in payment I say, "I will see
you again when I buy greater things." Since this follows heavenly law,
don't you think the money would feel good?
We all know that even small insects have a direction; when the sun
rises it has one direction too, doesn't it? Likewise, a godly mind has
a clear direction. All things try to act like that.
When you are working on your mission do you sometimes think of me?
Actually you should be shedding tears and then thinking about me. Do
you sometimes want to see me more than you want to eat? Once you
become like that then the spirit world will open to you and teach you
everything. Then you will know what will happen to you and your team,
and you can be prepared. You will not know intellectually but spiritually.
If you deeply want to learn more about God then that desire becomes
like an invisible antenna and God and the spirit world will communicate
thoughts and feelings to you. This will work for anyone, not just for
some people. The most profound experiences will come when you really shed
tears and want to see me in the midst of difficulties. Then spiritually
I will appear in person and explain exactly what the difficulty is and
how to solve it.
Such experiences are 100% possible. If you are not like that already
then you still have room to improve. I have cried more than anyone
else on earth, past or present, wanting so badly to see God. Only in
becoming like that can you know my heart and receive this heritage.
The world of that heart is absolutely real, and you are not very far
from it. You need only to break through a few layers to also become
like that. You have already heard the simple rule for meeting God.
Compare which is stronger-your sense of hunger, or your desire to meet
God. When you love and miss someone then compare that to your intensity
of feeling toward God. If your feeling toward God is stronger, then you
will know that you have passed the test.
When you go to sleep with this longing then the moment that you
first open your eyes you will again find that longing for God. Even
when you are hungry, try to think about other people. We may launch a
week-long campaign of not sleeping and then you will be better prepared
to understand this. Without exception every worthwhile religion advocates
denying yourself by overcoming your desire to eat, to sleep and to have
sex. That is your checklist. You must always evaluate yourself according
to these criteria.
Another way of putting it is that you should always have the feeling
that you are in debt. Even if people do not quite develop a universal
character after a lifetime of trying, if they have tried then they can
at least stand on that, and they will go to paradise. But we have to
think about the ideal and then actually carry it out. Our ideal is never
static. Before you can carry it out you have to know all these things.
When you have finished your day's activity, then you ought to do
still a little more if you really want to see God. In witnessing, if you
feel that you have done a full day's work, push yourself a little more
in hopes of seeing God instead of resting. This is an incredible way,
but this is the only real way. It is not contradictory to say that it
is a glorious way, too.
I can imagine all the things that have gone through your mind,
feeling fear, wanting to be transferred to another position, wanting to
go to seminary, or thinking how unfair it is that you are still on MFT
after three years. But I want to remind you that in these three years
you have been re-creating yourself, and that life in the world of the
heart is actually the most profound. So no matter how long you are on
MFT it can only improve you; that is why you stay there.
Always remember one thing--God has never forgotten you. You may
have forgotten Him, but He will never forget you. So as long as you
are called to go this way, do it; that is the best way for you. No one
is more qualified to complain than I am, but if I started complaining,
it would make a mountain. Instead I dig deeper, like going down in a
mine, and I find even more precious jewels. This has always been true.
Actually the one who complains cannot go forward because he is putting
limits on himself. Nobody is making him stop except himself.
So far, have you worked as a qualified man of God, or are you still
experimenting? Do you cross back and forth over your boundaries or do you
stay on one side most of the time? From now on, where will you dwell? On
God's side? As long as you abide by your promise I can guarantee your
success.
I have given the standard and it should be carried out. After
accomplishing it then you can realistically hope for something better.
But without achieving it first, your hopes are not so realistic.
As a team captain you should always figure out how much better you
can do this month than last month. Then you can make a plan, taking into
consideration all the personalities on your team. Make a workable plan
and really stretch yourself to fulfill it. Are you going to do that?
Before leaving here for your own area, pledge to God in deepest prayer
to show Him your new standard. Once you go out, try your best to meet
that standard.
Your objective this month is to break your old record. Each one has
to work in a very integrated way. You have to evaluate your situation
correctly, so spend some time in prayer. Once you go back you will
be different and will be a new example. Once you make your standard
permanent then even if you make mistakes in the future, you will never
fall below that standard.
It is important that you achieve that standard, because even though
you may lose everything else you will still have that standard. Once
it becomes established it will become your record which will never
change. Now you know clearly the path and direction to take. This has been
our best meeting, and I will watch and see if you have truly understood
what has been said.
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