The Best Way to See the Light Is to Flip the Switch

Last week we started a two-part series on the Principle of Recognition. This article is the second installment of the series.

The Principle of Recognition is stated in the following way. Whatever you don’t recognize, you don’t appreciate. Whatever you don’t appreciate, you don’t celebrate. What you don’t celebrate may eventually exit your life. In other words, many of us have seldom seen an opportunity until it had ceased to be one. Why? We saw it but didn’t see it. We had sight, but we didn’t have insight.

Do you know what one definition of P.O.O.R. is? Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly. In other words, when opportunity wants to dance with you, you had better be on the dance floor. Some of us reading this article will see The Principle of Recognition by the light of revelation; others of us will just see the light when they open the refrigerator door in the middle of the night. (Sometimes I do both!)

Here’s a true example of a large company who probably wished they recognized an opportunity when they were presented with one.

Guess what big company felt like ‘choking on its own chocolate’ after choosing not to feature one of its products in the 1982 blockbuster film E.T.?  If you said M&M’s, you would be correct!  How did it happen?

After being presented with an opportunity for M&M’s to be the candy that ET ate in the movie, Mars chocolate bar company executives decided that nothing could be gained from allowing their M&M’s to be used in what some of them considered ‘a silly movie.’ Consequently, the little boy Elliott ended up luring the loveable alien E.T. with Hershey’s Reese's Pieces. That one scene in the movie drew millions of customers worldwide into candy stores in quest of Reese’s Pieces. Thanks to this movie mega-hit, Hershey’s sales shot up sixty-five percent!

The Mars executives who said ‘No’ to M&M’s probably lived in big houses, drove big cars, and earned big salaries!  Why? They didn’t recognize the opportunity. They had cognition, but not recognition. The saw the opportunity but they did not see the opportunity. Mars cognized the opportunity, Hershey’s recognized the opportunity. As I said last week, we rarely see what we are not looking for. The Principle of Recognition affects the rich as well as the poor. You will find naysayers at the top and bottom of the corporate ladder.

The same thing happened with the Ford Motor Company. One of their engineers created the minivan. He tried to sell the idea to the executives at Ford. The executive’s response was that there was no study indicating there was a market for minivans. That was logical. That was intelligent. But it was completely wrong. Millions of women were about to prove those studies were wrong.

What did the engineer do? He went to Chrysler Motor Company and presented the idea of a minivan. Lee Iacocca, the President of Chrysler, and his executive team recognized the opportunity, appreciated the opportunity, then celebrated the opportunity and the opportunity became theirs. The minivan saved Chrysler from bankruptcy. The opportunity that exited Ford’s life became Chrysler’s opportunity.

Someone once said that a million-dollar idea comes through the mind of everyone in the world once a day. I think there is a bit of truth in this. Don’t feel bad if you have missed a few of those. That happens to everyone. I think many times it is because we aren’t aware or don’t understand the power of recognition. So, if a million-dollar comes through everyone’s mind once a day, there’s always tomorrow.

The principle of recognition is not just about business or money. It’s about everything. Here’s more insight on recognition.

#1. Spiritual leaders like the Pharisees in the Bible didn’t recognize the divinity of Jesus. The lack of recognition cost them eternity, miracles, and the joy of His presence. Jesus wept over it.

"He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies surround you…because you did not RECOGNIZE the time of your visitation.’”

That’s scary, isn’t it? Even the educated and knowledgeable miss what God is trying to make them aware of. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples, “Having eyes, see ye not?  And having ears, hear ye not?  And do ye not remember?” (Mark 8:18)

#2. The Principle of Recognition can turn a lifetime of failure into success. An excellent example is one of the thieves hanging next to Jesus at the crucifixion. The first, who did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God cursed and was lost for eternity. But, the second, recognized the Christ and begged for forgiveness, and received it. (See Luke 23:42,43)

Do you see this? Two people, same culture, same background, the same situation, can look at something or someone and have completely different observations and outcomes. As I said before, there could be something or someone that you are not seeing, and it could be costing you dearly as in the case of the first thief.

Don’t miss this life-lifting principle. Don’t be the first thief. Be like Peter. Peter stepped out of a boat filled with fear into an ocean of possibility. Why? He recognized Jesus. I hope you do too!